Fans Slam Love Is Blind’s Daniel After Taylor Accused Him of Following Her on Instagram Before Filming

Love Is Blind star Daniel Hastings found himself in the hot seat after the first six episodes of season 8 premiered on Netflix. Fans slammed the Minnesota native after his fiancée, Taylor Haag, accused him of following her on Instagram before filming, questioning the integrity of the experiment.

“I can’t believe you knew what she looked like … defeated the whole point of [Love Is Blind],” wrote one Instagram user.

Another added, “Why you playing in that lady face! She nailed this photo.”

In episode 6, Taylor, 32, told producers she was convinced Daniel, 30, had seen her before they met, recalling that he followed her Instagram before filming. She described a specific photo where Daniel was sitting “in front of a Christmas tree” with his “legs crossed” and “holding a drink.”

However, Daniel told Taylor that he didn’t have an image that matched that description.

“I have a picture of me in front of a fireplace, not a drink in my hand,” the sales account executive said.

A December 24, 2020, post on Daniel’s Instagram appeared to match Taylor’s description. In the image, Daniel sat in a chair with one leg propped on his knee while wearing Christmas pajamas. He held a book in one hand and a cat in the other while a fire blazed in a fireplace behind him. The room was filled with Christmas decor and a few presents sat on the floor beside the chair.

During Love Is Blind episode 6, viewers saw Taylor visibly upset as she explained to the cameras that something was bothering her after she saw Daniel for the first time.

“When the doors first opened, and I saw Daniel, I thought, ‘He looks so familiar to me,’ but I couldn’t place it,” Taylor said. “Is he familiar because I’ve pictured his face through a wall 15 million times? Is he familiar because I’ve heard his voice? I have this, like, overwhelming feeling that when the doors opened last night, that was not the first time that he saw me.”

Taylor added that a “couple of months ago,” she remembered “getting a follow request,” but she said that she “never followed the account back.”

“I’m fairly positive Daniel followed me on Instagram not long before coming to the show,” the season 8 star continued. “I just remember seeing this one picture from this account of him being in front of a Christmas tree in a chair with his leg up with a drink. For some reason, that picture stuck in my head. It says I’m a registered nurse. It says that I love Taco Bell. It says that family and faith are important to me. All of these, like, major things. I have a Christmas highlight of how much I love Christmas.”

Taylor and Daniel connected over those specific topics during their time in the pods, which made her wonder if her connection with him was genuine or if she had been manipulated. She addressed the issue with Daniel just before they were set to head out to Honduras with the other engaged couples. As of now, it’s unclear whether or not the couple decided to end things, and fans will have to wait until the next three episodes of Love Is Blind premiere on February 21.