There Is No Offseason for TikTok’s Top LIB Correspondent
Giving the internet reality checks on reality stars is quickly becoming Rikkii Wise’s full-time job. Although she’s currently an office manager for a home-care company in Los Angeles, when Love Is Blind is airing on Netflix, she usually spends four to 12 hours a day on content for her TikTok account, @storytimewithrikki, where she has racked up 7.7 million likes. “During a season, you never know what’s going to happen,” Wise says. “I’d literally be going to work with makeup on and my hair done and my little light, just in case I needed to run to my car and make a video … it got to a point where when Love Is Blind is on, I just take the month off.”
In addition to impassioned episode recaps, Wise — who has a bachelor’s degree in journalism — has a reputation for sharing behind-the-scenes cast-member “tea,” from SK’s cheating scandal in season three to Tyler’s “secret-children debacle” in season seven. During the Minneapolis season, she spoke with multiple women for a two-part video about Alex, complete with screenshots and geotagged photos. (He hasn’t publicly responded to the video’s claims, which include that he threw parties at which he supplied minors with alcohol when he was 20 and made disturbing remarks about sexual assault in texts as well as a college essay.) While relevant parties sometimes reach out directly with information, Wise credits her viewers for also helping her scour the internet for existing rumors to investigate. “Without them, I wouldn’t know half the stuff that I know. Usually what starts it is they’ll send me a Reddit post or Facebook group and say, ‘Hey, find out if this is true for us,’” she explains, noting that she has debunked “fake tea” before. “I love that my followers will be like, ‘We’re not going to believe it unless Rikkii posts it, because that means this has been verified.’”
This year, Wise launched the Reality Receipts Podcast with fellow realitea spiller Ashley Thomson (“The whole Trevor girlfriend debacle — she’s the one that blew that wide open”), whom she met through TikTok and has become close friends with. The podcast, which reached No. 15 on Spotify’s TV and film chart after a month, was the first to report that Sara and Joey from the most recent season of Love Is Blind were dating. And according to Wise, they already have intel on the next two seasons in Denver and Columbus. As they continue to do preliminary research on those casts, the duo have also been covering The Valley, Battle Camp, Temptation Island, and other reality shows across networks. In lieu of a more regular release schedule, they drop episodes whenever there’s enough drama (in April, that meant 13 episodes in 30 days). For someone who covers reality TV like it’s a sport, there’s never an offseason: “It’s go, go, go.”
How do you vet the tea that you share?
I’ve become really good at weeding out the b.s. I get emails and DMs every day with crazy claims. Someone once reached out to say that a cast member was trying to come off as a sweet, innocent girl when she’s actually the “hometown ho” and has all these STDs. I was like, “You don’t have her medical records, you didn’t sleep with her … I don’t really know what you want me to do with this information.” But when there’s a hint of validity, I’ll move forward and say, “Okay, tell me more.” And I ask for proof. If it’s a text message, I need to see the phone number, and I’ll cross-reference to see if I can link that number to the individual online or through a phone provider. I always need pictures; I always need screenshots. I need a receipt.
It sounds like you’re pretty confident in the system you have now. But when you were first starting out, were you ever fooled by someone?
Oh my gosh, yes. I will never forget, season five, there was a girl who posted a TikTok — and we see this happen every season now — who was a complete catfish. Her claims were that she was pregnant by Uche and ended up terminating the pregnancy. Something wild like that. I hit her up, and she said she would send me receipts. My better judgment told me not to post until then, but I did a video about her video, and it ended up being completely false.
That was the one and only time that I said, Oh wow, I got it wrong. But I did do my best to make it right! I made follow-up videos where I not only exposed that girl for lying but also found and reached out to the real girl whose pictures she was using. I was so new to it at the time. I didn’t know how much my word meant and how many people trusted me as a source. As horrible as that was, it was a huge turning point and lesson for me to understand the weight of my platform. And I’ve never ever posted without receipts again.
One of your biggest recent videos was about the allegations against Alex. How did that story come about?
I wasn’t going to touch it. I was like, That’s very serious. A Reddit thread is not enough for me to say anything. I didn’t reach out to any women in regard to this story, but there were maybe seven or eight different women who came to me. And they gave me the strength. I was like, If they’re brave enough to come forward and tell their story, why should I be scared to be the one to give them a voice?
At first, they wanted to remain anonymous and didn’t want me to share certain things. I kept telling them, “These tidbits of information are vital to the story. If we don’t share this, we don’t have much.” As the story progressed, they were like, “Oh, someone else is going to share this? Then you can share my stuff, too.” They started becoming empowered and saying, “We want people to know. And even if these screenshots do link back to me, you can use them because they’re important and they’re valid and they’re real.” And there was a lot of information. It took me, like, a week to put everything together.
Did you reach out to Alex before posting the video?
No. Usually I will reach out to the person the story is about, just to see if they have a comment. Nine times out of ten, they read the message and don’t say anything. I know Alex viewed my Instagram Story when I posted it. But to me, this information was so overwhelming — and it linked directly back to him — that … I mean, what can you really say besides a lie?
Do reality stars ever share details with you to try and directly influence the narrative about themselves?
All the time. And I see it coming from a mile away. Sometimes I’ll have cast members kind of spilling their own tea from an “anonymous” page, and I’m like [rolls eyes], This is totally so-and-so. They’ll send an “anonymous” email and have all these details … I’m like, Okay, you want me to do a video about you. Cool.
I know cast members have questioned your credibility before. For example, Ashley from season seven of LIB appeared to be referring to you in interviews when she mentioned “fake” TikTok journalists. How does that feel?
It’s really funny because now the proof is in the pudding. And I posted a follow-up video showing how I knew the texts I had were coming from Tyler’s number. I think she owes me an apology. [Laughs.] I’m just kidding — I’m not worried about it. That was her job at that point: to protect her man. You don’t have to call me a liar because of it, but I get that in the moment she just wanted to believe what she wanted to believe. We’ve all been there.
People are always going to try and say that I’m lying. It just happened with another big story that we broke on the Reality Receipts Podcast: that Sara and Joey are dating. Everyone was like, “No, they’re not!” Sara came out on The Viall Files and was like, “No, we’re not!” And then Monica said what she said, and it was exactly what I said. Even though they don’t want to call it dating; they want to call it “figuring it out” or whatever label … Monica felt like they were seeing each other. So when I tell people that I have reliable sources, I mean it. I understand that when it’s not favorable, people want to deny it. But the truth always reveals itself in time.
Do you know if Sara or Joey saw your posts?
I don’t, but I’m sure they have. Honestly, I’d say anybody on Love Is Blind or any dating reality-TV show is probably familiar with my content. I see a lot of them in my views all the time. I’m like, Hey, girl! [Laughs.] Especially when it’s something negative about them, I’m like, Well … [shrugs with both hands up], sorry! I don’t know what to tell you.
Which Love Is Blind cast members have blocked you on social media, if any?
Micah, Jess, Ashley, and Tyler. Although Tyler seems to have unblocked me on TikTok, because he commented on one of my videos.
What’s your reaction to being blocked?
You can block me, but I know that you’re still watching my content. And I’m still going to see your content if there’s anything worth seeing because my supporters are going to screen-record it and send it to me.
If you block me because you didn’t like what I said in a recap, that’s silly. I’m giving my thoughts on a character that was heavily edited on a television show, based on what producers wanted us to see. I understand that; you should understand that. If that’s not who you really are, then you shouldn’t be offended. Like, I ran into Sandy from The Ultimatum at a concert, and she was like, “Oh my God, you’re so funny!” And I drug her through the mud. My interpretation of what was depicted on television was not positive to her in any light. So I always appreciate when the cast can laugh and see that it’s nothing personal. Sometimes my podcast co-host, Ashley, will be like, “Oh my God, so-and-so’s yelling at me!” I’m like, “So what? They’re not your friends.” Now, if you’re blocking me because of tea about your real life that comes out after the show that you wanted to keep hidden, that is more so something I understand. But don’t go on reality TV if you don’t want your secrets coming out. You could’ve slapped Sarah-Jo in the fifth grade — Sarah-Jo’s gonna DM me and tell me about it.
What advice would you give to Netflix’s casting team? Some viewers feel that it could do a better job vetting people for the show.
Even if there is no police report or formal complaint, Netflix could do its due diligence of getting into the social-media groups and taking a peek to see if there’s anything atrocious being said about some of these men. “He’s a player; he used to cheat a lot” — that’s not necessarily something that should keep people from being on an experiment and finding love, because people change. But when you have allegations like Alex’s, that should be taken more seriously. Women were saying things about Alex way before the show aired, so I do think Netflix had an opportunity to talk to some of them and decide for itself if it thought the story was valid. And just in talking to them alone, I think Netflix would’ve said, “Ooh, maybe we can find a way to edit this guy out.” They edited Carter out of season five; it can be done.
Now, I do think certain people are cast for the drama, because without the drama, there’s no show. Having some people who are cheaters or are trifling? That’s fun. As much as people say that Netflix should do a better job casting, people ate up the Tyler tea, you know what I mean? They loved it. But there comes a line where it’s not fun. It’s just about knowing that balance.
Would you ever want to work in tandem with Netflix in any capacity?
I’m not opposed to it. I’m really passionate about hosting and interviewing. I would love to host a reunion one day and ask the right questions. [Laughs.] A girl can dream. But there’s also an element of staying true to my audience. If I am in partnership with Netflix, they can control what I say, do, and post. And I think people appreciate my content and trust me because I keep it real. But if there’s a way to do both, call me!
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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