'Love Is Blind' stars Micah and Irina call their on-air behavior a 'coping mechanism' after fans dubbed them 'mean girls'

• Fans have criticized "Love Is Blind" stars Micah Lussier and Irina Solomonova's on-screen behavior.
• They told EW that their actions were a "coping mechanism" to maintain "a little sense of normalcy." 
• Warning: This story contains spoilers for season 4 of "Love Is Blind." 

"Love Is Blind" stars Micah Lussier and Irina Solomonova defended their on-screen behavior after viewers dubbed them "mean girls."

The pair spoke with Entertainment Weekly before the Netflix season 4 premiere on March 24, when the first five episodes aired on the streaming service. In the days after, Lussier and Solomonova faced criticism online for what some fans called "mean girl" behavior in the pods.

"For us, it was really helpful to have a little sense of normalcy," Lussier, 27, told the outlet. "Being able to laugh and make light and make jokes and, well, maybe sometimes the jokes didn't land or maybe it didn't look the best, but we needed that in that moment to feel like a normal person. Because you're a part of this experience that is so beyond words. To be able to make a little bit of light out of such a hard thing was really helpful."

Lussier added that she and Solomonova are in their twenties, meaning they "have to grow up from our mistakes."
Solomonova told EW that every contestant processed being on the show in their own way.

"Me and Micah's coping mechanism was laughing about it. And I honestly will say on the record, 100%, I did not intentionally ever want to hurt anyone. [Hearing] that I hurt people's feelings genuinely breaks my heart," Solomonova, 26, said.

Solomonova went on to say there are likely "some bridges that I'll have to mend" and didn't intend to hurt anyone's feelings.

"But I think, for me, in the experience I was kind of zoned out and in my own thing of how I'm feeling, and I didn't really realize how that could affect other people," she told EW. "With Micah, we were laughing because, yes, it was very serious and it was very intense and it was very hard, so I don't want to brush it off and say that we weren't taking it seriously."

She added: "We didn't intend to be mean or intentionally hurt anybody at all. That does honestly hurt me, hearing that, and I hope I can have some conversations to fix that later."

Lussier and Solomonova did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Insider's Esme Mazzeo previously reported that Solomonova and Lussier participated in one of the series' cringeworthy moments. In episode two, Lussier and contestant Amber Wilder were both interested in Paul Peden, who ultimately chose to pursue Lussier. After Lussier saw Wilder crying, she told Solomonova to eavesdrop on her and the pair laughed at Wilder as she cried.

The next three episodes of "Love Is Blind" air on March 31.