​Shake’s Body Language During The Love Is Blind Reunion​​ Was “Poised For War”

Tuning into the Love Is Blind Season 2 reunion, nobody really knew what to expect. Were Shayne Jansen and Natalie Lee working things out? Had Mallory Zapata and Sal Perez reunited? Was Shake Chatterjee ready to apologize? Spoiler alert: No, no, and no. Although viewers might have been surprised by the way things turned out, the actual cast members seemed to know what was coming when they sat down together to discuss what went down. In particular, Shake seemed to know exactly how the conversation would go, and according to an expert, his body language during the Love Is Blind reunion was even “poised for war.”

Patti Wood, body language expert and author of Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma, explained that Shake appeared to “position himself for battle” during his explosive appearance on the reunion. When hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey questioned why he appeared on the show, Shake seemed to have a defense ready.

Wood notices that Shake sat “out and forward on the couch with his upper leg and knee outward.” Per her, this is a common “alpha male position,” that signifies that he was preparing for a fight. Here’s how she breaks it all down.

Shake Used A Lot Of Hand Gestures

In this clip, as Shake defended himself against the idea that he was on the wrong reality show, he gestured dramatically. And although that was not too far from his baseline (throughout the show, he regularly communicated with his hands), it is notable that he was the only one expressing himself this way during this section of the reunion. “Compared with everyone else, he was the only one that’s gesturing,” Wood explains. “He was the only one that’s up, open, forward, and expressing.”

Throughout the conversation, he used a variety of gestures, but they all pointed at him being impassioned by the discussion. Wood adds, “He was very, very excited. His voice went up an octave in excitement. That showed a little bit of stress and strain on his voice, as well.”

He Wanted People To Agree With Him

ICYMI, a lot of the criticism of Shake has to do with his treatment of Deepti Vempati, his ex-fiancée. During the show, he regularly talked about how he wasn’t sexually attracted to her — though he rarely opened up to her with such candor. During the reunion, he defended himself by saying, “We all have our physical preferences.”

And although that might not sound too controversial, his body language added an extra layer of aggression to the statement. When he said that, he flung his hand out. Per Wood, “That forward hand motion is aggressive. It’s a call. It’s a plea that ‘this is true for everybody.’”

Though Shake may have wanted his cast mates to agree with him, their body language made it clear that he was on his own. While he spoke about love being “blurry” instead of blind, Deepti appeared to have a “micro-facial cue of rage,” per Wood. “She leaned back, pushed her head back, and closed her eyes,” Wood explains. “As if to say, this was so exasperating.”

Meanwhile, the men sitting on the couch beside him were all putting on a show of “disengagement,” actively leaning away from him.

Shake’s Words Don’t Match His Body Language

If you just read a transcript of Shake’s quotes from the reunion, you might not understand why he was in so much hot water. Besides him flirting with Vanessa (yikes), a lot of his words made sense — in theory, at least. For example, when Shake claimed, “Every woman here is beautiful,” that sounds good, right?

But Wood notices that he “punched the air” as he said it. “It was a symbolic weapon cue,” she says. “It was like he was trying to fight off hatred of him with that statement.” He also “pointed downward” at the women around him. The non-verbal cue there? Wood guesses, “It was saying, ‘You’re beautiful but not really.’”

His gesture then changed. With his palm facing down, Shake explained that he isn’t attracted to them. “It was a put-down and dismisses everybody else,” Wood adds.

Yep, that sounds about right.