Netflix Faces Backlash As 'Love Is Blind' Season 9 Star Mike Brockway Sparks Controversy

It wouldn’t be a season of Love Is Blind without at least one walking red flag, but ... Mike Brockway might just take the cake for Season 9. If you’ve been anywhere near Reddit or TikTok lately, you’ve seen it — the internet has absolutely exploded over the controversy surrounding Mike from Season 9 of Love Is Blind.

The tea on this man has spilled all over social media, and it is piping hot.

From unpaid invoices to a secret girlfriend and an alleged attempt to turn the show into a real estate promo, fans are dragging Mike and Netflix all over social media.

Let’s start with the basics. Mike Brockway, a 38-year-old real estate investor from Denver, came onto Love Is Blind Season 9 claiming he was all about growth, beaches, and helping others succeed.

His Instagram bio even read, “The best way to predict the future is to create it,” which … aged poorly.

Shortly after the cast reveal, fans started to recognize Mike — not from real estate deals, but from unpaid work and shady business dealings. People flooded the comments on Netflix's official Instagram post announcing the cast, with multiple allegations that Mike owed them money, ghosted cleaners, or ignored emails for months.

One Reddit user wrote, “Would love for Rikki to dig into this. I’m worried this is another example of LIB not running background checks on participants and putting women in potentially unsafe situations.”

That thread blew up fast and quickly turned into a laundry list of complaints, including everything from accusations of scamming to people literally calling Netflix irresponsible for casting him.

And guess what? Rikki did dig in as the Love Is Blind community had hoped she would. TikTok creator and reality TV sleuth @storytimewithrikkii came through with a lengthy breakdown that had fans glued to their screens. In the video, she shared texts, DMs, emails, and even legal letters from people who say Mike never paid them for work related to his Airbnb properties.

Some of the messages had gone unread for months. Others included formal letters from lawyers asking for overdue payments. And while the word “allegedly” still floats around, the sheer volume of receipts makes it hard to deny that something shady went down. As Rikki pointed out, it’s not just one person — it’s a pattern.

In his casting bio, Mike said he’s “passionate about helping others succeed.” Fans were quick to twist the knife: “Yeah, as long as he doesn’t have to pay them or be nice,” one commenter joked. Another said, “Sounds like something a guy in a pyramid scheme would say.”

Red flags? Try crimson. Others even called out the fact that Mike works in real estate — a profession that, combined with the alleged unpaid invoices and questionable ethics, had fans saying Netflix should’ve seen this coming a mile away.

Now here’s the part that almost got lost in the chaos: Mike reportedly went into the pods with a girlfriend already in the picture. While this hasn’t been confirmed officially, the rumor is widespread — and unfortunately, not unheard of for the franchise.

Other cast members in past seasons have also been accused of entering the experiment while still tied to someone on the outside.

But even that scandal — which would’ve been headline-worthy on its own — got completely eclipsed by the avalanche of business allegations and backlash toward Netflix for failing to vet him properly.

Let’s be real — fans aren’t just mad at Mike. They’re also furious with Netflix and the Love Is Blind producers for what feels like another example of reckless casting. Here’s what one fan on Reddit had to say, “At this point I believe LIB puts women in danger on purpose ... There have been too many women alleging assault, scammed, and emotionally traumatized to believe anything else.”

Others speculated that the show struggles to recruit men and may be lowering the bar just to fill out the roster — even if it means exposing women to unsafe situations. Whether that’s true or not, the fact that this kind of backlash is now a recurring theme raises big questions about Netflix’s accountability on the matter.

Let’s just say this didn’t go the way Mike probably planned. From what fans can tell, he may have gone on the show to boost his business and image. Instead, he’s become the villain of Season 9 before the first episode even dropped. This controversy has people rethinking how much faith they put in Netflix’s vetting process, and Rikki’s receipts only made it worse.

Whether Netflix responds or tries to edit around it remains to be seen. But one thing’s clear: the viewers aren’t blind, and this season’s drama started long before the pods even opened.