Shauna Rae was already in the car, on her way to her first-ever blind date, when her phone lit up. The matchmaker was cancelling. The man had pulled out before they had even met — and Shauna’s first feeling wasn’t disappointment. It was relief.
That was January 25, 2022 — Season 1, Episode 3, “Love At First Height.” By the end of the night, a stranger named Abraham would be asking for a second date, and Shauna would tell the cameras he smelled nice.
Honest note: no breaking news today — no new season, no announcement. This is one night from January 2022, told start to finish.
Why Her Mom Was Picking the Date
Shauna was 22, 3-foot-10 after childhood brain cancer treatment left her with pituitary dwarfism, and she had given up on online dating. At her mom Patty’s suggestion, she tried a matchmaker instead. She had never been on a blind date, and she worried how a stranger would react to her height.
Stepdad Mark and sister Rylee drove her, Rylee offering an escape call if she wanted out. Then the matchmaker texted en route: the man had cancelled. Shauna was relieved — a man who cancels a first date wasn’t the kind she wanted anyway.
Axe Throwing With a Stranger Named Abraham
The matchmaker tried again, and this time the date happened. All Shauna knew about the man was his name: Abraham. She walked into an axe-throwing venue, and he greeted her with a hug. He later admitted he thought he was being punked — but he’d come with no expectations, just to have a good time. The football player didn’t come off as a jock. He came off as spiritual.
YOU MAY LIKEThe Baby Cancer Battle That Made Her 3-Foot-10: Shauna Rae’s Full Health JourneyHe’d brought pizza — every kind, all with meat. Shauna doesn’t eat meat, so they skipped dinner and went straight to the axes. She hit a bullseye on her first try while he struggled. They played 21, Abraham won, and by the end he was asking to do it again. She told the cameras he smelled nice. The night became one of the season’s run of firsts — a bright spot in her dating history on camera.
The Call That Came Weeks Later
In the Season 1 finale on February 15, 2022, the matchmaker called: things with Abraham had fizzled — neither wanted to go there. Shauna admitted she had never had a healthy long-term relationship, and she wanted one now.
The matchmaker already had a name ready. Thomas was 22, a volunteer firefighter who, like Shauna, lives with pituitary dwarfism — under five feet tall, his growth stopped by childhood cancer. Their date started with a tour of his fire department, and even with Mark and Rylee crashing dinner, fans fell for him instantly. Shauna later told Entertainment Tonight it was the first time she had met someone with the same condition face-to-face.
The Question Fans Still Argue About
Team Abraham says the matchmaker moved too fast. A bullseye, a hug, a promised second date — and then one phone call ended it before it began. Team Thomas says the spark with Abraham was friendship, not romance, and the firefighter was the real story all along. Either way, the caution she shows now — the boyfriend rule she still keeps — started here, in dates her family vetted first.
So here it is: if the matchmaker had booked a second axe-throwing night instead of dialing Thomas, would Shauna’s love life have turned out differently — or was Abraham always just the warm-up act for the firefighter?
