"Where does Channon fall?" Mercedes questions men in Ready to Love, putting them on the hot seat about Channon’s ranking in their connections

Ready to Love, season 11's latest, which premiered Friday, December 26, 2025, shifted the focus from romance to real accountability.

This episode, 8, titled "Meet the Detroit Friends,"  brought the women’s closest friends into the process, and for Channon, that means welcoming someone who is not afraid to shake the table.

Mercedes, a familiar face from Ready to Love Season 2 in Miami, shows up with one mission: to protect Channon’s heart by getting straight answers from the men still courting her.

Channon brought in her sharp-witted friend Mercedes to test her top connections: Darius, Devon, and Steven. Mercedes did not hold back, firing off tough questions about their other connections, family situations, and timelines for commitment.

The guys admitted Channon ranks high but not at the top, top two or three out of four or more, leaving Channon feeling misled and Mercedes with major concerns.

No one emerged as a clear frontrunner, and both women walked away unsure about picking any of them.

Here's what happened in the latest episode of Ready to Love season 11

Mercedes kicked things off in Ready to Love by diving straight into the rankings, putting the men on the spot right away.

After greeting Darius, Devon, and Steven, the tone quickly turns serious. Even Channon acknowledged what was going to come as she said in a confessional:

“I know that Mercedes will likely be hard on them, but she knows what important questions to ask. She knows what to look for. She can smell BS probably a mile away.”

Mercedes noted how Channon had three guys there, signaling multiple connections, and started with Darius at the end of the table.

"Do you have multiple connections outside of Channon?" she asked. Darius joked at first, saying "No. None. No, I'm just kidding" before admitting Yeah, of course.

When she pressed on how many, he paused, then said, "Relax. Um, I think I have four." Mercedes breaks it down bluntly. “Wow, you guys started with ten. So how many are left?” When he answers, “Six,” she does the math out loud: “So you have four out of six. That’s like 66%.”

Then comes the line that makes everyone shift in their seats: “So you like 66% of what is on the buffet. Where does Channon fall out of your four?”

Darius squirmed, saying it put him in a tough spot, but Mercedes pushed for honesty. He owned up:

"I have probably two really, really strong connections, and Channon is one of them." So top two, she confirmed, and he agreed.

Moving to Steven, Mercedes asked the same, who shot back, "Top three right now. Yeah, 100%." Then Devon chimed in without waiting: "I would say out of my four connections, uh, Channon has climbed her way is one and two."

Channon was clearly not buying it as she said in her confessional, 

"All of the men really say the same thing, like top two, top three. And for me, that's a problem."

From there, Mercedes shifted to personal backgrounds, grilling them on their kids and marriage history. She asked Darius about children and marriage, who revealed, "I never been married actually. I do have two adults and two younger children."

She probed his longest relationship, 11 years, and why no marriage:

"You know, when people pivot in different directions, sometimes your endgame goal doesn't align properly. All growing in different ways."

Later, Mercedes got serious about timelines. One guy suggested three months to continue, six for long-term. Steven pushed back:

"I don't think 6 months is necessarily enough time to know whether or not you want to spend the rest of your life with someone. But I do think it's a good starting point." Mercedes countered: "How much time do you need to know that's your person and you want to marry them?"

Channon laid out her own stance, saying, "I want to have children. I want to be married. I'm not waiting past a year." Devon focused on marriage qualities, saying he pours into someone but needs it back.

The guys felt the heat afterward. Devon confessed in a confessional:

"Mercedes came in with a purpose, and it was to find out as much information about us as she could. Definitely felt like a grilling session."

Channon debriefed with Mercedes, who praised Steven as a "resume checkbox" match but had huge red flags overall, as she told:

"I didn't like that you were one out of three. So we don't know if that's number one, number two, or number three."

Channon agreed she felt duped; they wouldn't specify feelings or exact spots. When asked who Mercedes would pick, she said they had potential but none today. Channon echoed: "After today, I don't know if I would choose any of them either."

Stay tuned for more updates.