7:55 Ironman 70.3 athlete under fire for body-shaming doctor on Netflix show
Love Is Blind fans are hitting Chris Fusco where it hurts: his race results
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If you’ve never watched the Netflix reality series Love Is Blind, the 10th season has unexpectedly intersected with the running and triathlon space, and not in a positive way.
Chris Fusco, a 33-year-old account executive and self-proclaimed fitness enthusiast from Columbus, Ohio, formed a blind connection in the show’s pods with physician Jessica Barrett. But once the two met outside the show’s confined environment, Fusco said he struggled to see their relationship working in the real world.
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During the show, Fusco told Barrett that he “typically dates women who do Pilates or CrossFit” and suggested he didn’t feel a strong physical attraction to her because she doesn’t work out. Fusco added that he likes pushing himself through endurance challenges such as marathons and Ironman races.
Fusco’s comments sparked backlash online, with fans of the show accusing him of body shaming and other runners hitting Fusco where it hurts: his race results.
According to his Athlinks profile, Fusco placed 136th out of 140 competitors in the men’s 30–34 age group at an Ironman 70.3 Ohio race in 2022, finishing in 7:55. Most recently, he ran the 2025 Columbus Marathon in 4:30:21 (wearing his famous black Ironman hat), which placed him in roughly the 30th percentile of all finishers.
We aren’t saying either achievement is not impressive; it takes consistent training to complete both challenges, though fans think comments toward Barrett are a lot coming from someone who isn’t exactly close to winning their age category.
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“The running community is about being supportive, but you lost that privilege when you decided to insult a successful woman on national TV,” one fan wrote on Instagram, which echoed many other comments.
Another commenter added: “He was wearing an Ironman hat, so I thought he had for sure done a sub-10 full Ironman to have this ego… Man child!”
Despite the backlash, Fusco told Entertainment Weekly that he does not regret participating in the show, though he acknowledged he may have made some mistakes. “I’m not really too worried about what the blowback will be [from my comments] once people see what happens in these episodes,” Fusco said.