In case you’ve missed it, the latest season of Netflix’s hit reality dating TV show, Love Is Blind has taken over screens and social media over the past few weeks. The premise of the show is simple, strangers speed date for about ten days in “pods,” or soundproof rooms dedicated to giving people the chance to fall in love with another person’s personality, and not their looks. (1)
After ten days, couples who are still interested in moving forward with one another will leave the show engaged. After the couples leave, they take a romantic vacation to Mexico and then spend a couple of weeks attempting to integrate one another into their lives. The show culminates in the couples deciding whether or not to actually go through with their planned marriage. (1)
Needless to say, the show is rife for drama, and one couple has recently caught the attention (and ire) of viewers after the latest batch of episodes from the latest season of Love Is Blind dropped. Spoilers for the latest season of Love Is Blind are ahead, so be warned if you aren’t caught up with the show.
In season 7, episode 8 of the show, viewers watched a nasty confrontation between couple Stephen Richardson and Monica Davis. It was revealed that Stephen went to do a sleep study, and while he was there, he was drunk and sexting another woman. Stephen and Monica did split at the end of the episode, but the revelation has left viewers reeling.
Read on to find out everything about Stephen’s cheating at his “sleep test”, and if it’s possible that he wasn’t actually at a sleep test at all.
So…What Happened With Stephen and Monica in Season 7 of Love Is Blind?
The dramatic confrontation between Stephen and Monica occurs at the end of episode 8, after viewers watched the same couple go on a cute flower pressing date and talk about their future earlier in the same episode.
The scene starts with Monica and fellow contestant Taylor talking about the cheating, with Monica telling Taylor that “He went and did a sleep test last night. Did he do a sleep test last night? I don’t know.”
Monica then sits down and confronts Stephen on camera, confronting him about the inappropriate text messages that he sent another woman. She directly confronts him about his whereabouts, and after Stephen reiterates that he was at a sleep test, Monica tells him that “[she] do[esn’t] know if [she] believes that.”
Stephen continues to reiterate that he was texting the other woman while he was at a sleep test, and Monica continues to confront him about lying to her and lying about his intentions with her. The episode ends with Stephen leaving their shared apartment, and Monica breaking down in tears.
Now, like Monica, you might be suspicious about whether or not Stephen was actually doing a sleep test when he started texting inappropriate things to another woman. Luckily for you, we know a thing or two about sleep and sleep tests here at Sleepopolis.
Is It Possible That Stephen From Love Is Blind Wasn’t Actually At A Sleep Test?
For his part, Stephen has largely maintained that he was at a sleep test while he was drunk and texting another woman. Recently, he gave an exclusive interview with People Magazine, where he told the publication that “I did make a completely stupid mistake while being drunk at a sleep test with somebody who texted me.” (2)
However, alcohol and cell phone use are typically pretty big no-nos when it comes to participating in a sleep test. According to Penn Medicine’s Sleep Study FAQ, participants should not bring “pagers or cell phones, as these items may interfere with hospital telemetry equipment, disrupt the sleep study and affect your test results.” (3) While this is true of Penn Medicine’s sleep study process, it could be that phones were allowed wherever Stephen was conducting his sleep study.
However, what is definitely not allowed at sleep studies is the consumption of alcohol. According to the Mayo Clinic, you should not “consume drinks or food containing alcohol or caffeine during the afternoon and evening before a sleep study,” because, “alcohol and caffeine can change your sleep patterns. They may make symptoms of some sleep disorders worse.” (4)
In my opinion, it’s definitely possible that Stephen wasn’t actually at a sleep test, since he claimed to have his phone and have been drunk while doing the test. If Stephen was actually at a sleep test like he claims that he was, then he probably wasn’t doing the best job at accurately completing the test. Granted, we viewers will never really know what goes on behind the scenes, and at the end of the day all we can really do is speculate.
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Sources
- Woerner, Meredith. How Netflix’s new reality series ‘Love Is Blind’ works. Variety. February 14, 2020. https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/netflix-love-is-blind-pods-rules-1203504741/
- Goldstein, Joelle. Love Is Blind’s Stephen jokes it’s ‘probably smart to put a aassword on your phone’ after sleep test incident (exclusive). People. October 9, 2024. https://people.com/love-is-blind-season-7-stephen-richardson-speaks-out-after-sleep-test-incident-monica-davis-breakup-exclusive-8725957
- Sleep Study Frequently Asked Questions. Penn Medicine Princeton Health. https://www.princetonhcs.org/care-services/sleep-center/sleep-study-frequently-asked-questions
- Polysomnography (sleep study). Mayo Clinic. February 17, 2023. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/polysomnography/about/pac-20394877
