ICYMI: Netflix’s Love Is Blind live reunion was a bit of a clusterfuck from start to finish.
Originally touted as the first live event on Netflix, high traffic ended up crashing the site, forcing the show to run hours late. Eventually, the live event was abandoned in favour of a standard taping. But even then, some people were locked out of watching it for over a day. In short, it was a mess.
Yikes.
Whether it was exacerbated by the excessive wait or simply because the tea was tepid at best, Love Is Blind fans walked away from the reunion disappointed.
Where was the drama?! Why was everyone on the villain’s side?! Why is Vanessa Lachey arguing with contestants?!
But while the on-screen reunion was a big ol’ disappointment, the internet has come through (as always) and delivered some serious tea about the Love Is Blind contestants.
From hour-long podcast rants to cryptic Instagram posts and rogue and regretful interviews, there’s enough drama in here you’ll almost wanna rewatch the whole season again (I said almost).
Ahead, we’ve dug out the best Love Is Blind tea we could find on the internet — from secret pod engagements to sneaky link-ups after the show — that will fill that little lacklustre Love Is Blind reunion-shaped hole in your heart.
Josh got engaged in the pods
While we usually follow five or six couples who get engaged on Love Is Blind, it’s not usual for couples to get engaged to each other but have production decide not to follow their story.
Season four was no different, with Netflix revealing two couples who got engaged on the experiment but didn’t have their story followed: Jimmy and Wendi, and Ava and JP.
But one TikToker has managed to sleuth out that there might just be a third couple to add to that list, and it involves someone we’re quite familiar with.
In a video, the TikToker argues that the elementary school teacher, Monica, actually got engaged to Josh (yes, the same Josh that’s now with Jackie).
In an Instagram post, Monica posted a photo of her wearing her engagement ring, along with a cryptic message explaining how she ended an engagement after filming.
“As my relationships began to develop, I thought I had found somebody who finally saw me and accepted me for me,” she wrote in the caption.
“I accepted his proposal and we were onto the reveal. During the reveal, reality set in and my heart and mind were torn. I wasn’t sure if I had made the right decision or picked the right person.”
Although Monica doesn’t mention who she got engaged to exactly, it’s widely speculated that her brief-fiancé was none other than Josh.
Yes, the same guy who told Jackie that it was her or bust, probably got engaged to another woman.
It makes sense given Josh’s history with Monica, with multiple cast members, including Marshall, say that the two had a connection.
Catch the full tea below:
@storytimewithrikkii Replying to @london.girl.24 For those of you who were confused by my last post here you go! Josh, yes THE Josh also got engaged in the pods! 🫡 #loveisblindseason4 #loveisblindreunion #loveisblindseason4recap #jackieandjosh #jackelinabonds
Paul & Micah dated after the show & she broke up with him to date another dude
During the reunion, it felt like we were getting a surprisingly good portrayal of Micah, considering fans have been #TeamPaul for most of the season.
With whispers from castmate Zack, it was clear that Paul was being tight-lipped about a lot of what had happened with Micah.
But rogue interviews with TMZ have started to reveal what really went down after filming ended, including spilling extra details about what their relationship was like after filming and their attempt to date each other again.
‘Love is Blind’ cast member Paul Peden’s chatting about what REALLY happened after the cameras turned off: pic.twitter.com/ddxmN5rTDD
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 18, 2023
“We dated a bit, it didn’t last very long,” Paul told TMZ. “I went to visit her and then pretty much after I came back to Seattle she, like, broke it off, just like that.”
“She immediately fucks off to Europe with some random person, like, a random dude. I’m like, okay, cool.”
Micah wasn’t having it though, and dropped a comment on the TikTok video, hinting that she’d unearth some unsavoury things about Paul. “Ooooh, this is how we are going to go about things 😂 noted,” she wrote.
In a later Instagram post, Paul clarified his statement to TMZ, explaining that the two were broken up at the time.
“I want to clarify: we were broken up at that point and she was within her right to date whoever, as could I.”
“The vacation wasn’t until months after they had begun dating and we had broken up.”
“Just because it hurt me doesn’t mean it was wrong.”
It’s giving strong “Oh shit, I shouldn’t have said that” vibes. Given that Micah is set to sit down in an interview with Nick Viall on Wednesday, it feels like there’s something big that we’re missing between these two. Expect the tea to continue brewing.
Marshall spilt the TEA (& then some)
In an interview with The Viall Files, the podcast hosted by ex-Bachelor Nick Viall that’s now notorious for chatting with some of reality TV’s biggest names, Marshall spilt more tea on his relationship with Jackie — and that’s putting it lightly.
In the hour-and-a-half-long podcast, Marshall discussed everything — from dating cast members after the show had wrapped up, to his relationship with Josh, his ex-fiancé’s new boo.
In one wild excerpt, Marshall addressed Jackie’s on-screen allegation that their sex life was trash.
“I’m a freak,” he said. “We had a lot of conversations about it [sex], and [Jackie and I] explored that in Mexico.
“You can see it in that conversation when she’s like, ‘We don’t have sex, bro’, and I’m like, that’s on me?
“She was dealing with a feminine issue, and I was waiting for her to heal. That’s it. It was really wild for her to bring that up and act like I’m not crushing it.”
Basically, Marshall just letting us all know that he’s an animal in the sack. Okay.
In another segment of the podcast, Marshall spills that Jackie threw him under the bus in an interview, referring to her request for him to be more “aggressive”. According to Marshall, she also fed him lines for him to say the next day.
The whole podcast is honestly serving if you feel like yeeting away almost two hours of your day.
Marshall & Josh were good friends in the pods
While the show made it seem like Marshall and Josh hardly knew each other, it was apparently the opposite, making for one really confusing situation.
In the same podcast, The Viall Files, Marshall detailed his relationship with Josh, explaining that they were extremely close in the pods.
“Josh and I had a very, very deep connection,” he said on the podcast. “We were almost like Brett and myself — we were almost on that level.”
“So I’m sitting here, bearing my soul to this dude about a girl that he’s also in love with. So I felt like I slighted him as much as he’s slighting me.”
“He didn’t just say that to Jackie — the fact that he was gonna pack his bags and leave if she wasn’t leaving with him. He said it to Monica too.”
“That’s why I got upset.”
Damn. It really adds an extra layer to the whole Marshall/Jackie/Josh love triangle.
@realityashley Great interview with Marshall check it out on The Viall Files ❤️👏 #loveisblind #loveisblindreunion #loveisblindfinale #loveisblindseason4 #netflix #netflix #loveisblindnetflix #realitytv
Paul dated other people from the pods after the show ended
In an interview with E! News, Paul says that after he and Micah had broken up, he reached out to a couple of people he connected with in the pods, including his other love interest, Amber.
In the interview, he said saying they had a “cordial moment” after filming and spoke about there not being any “hard feelings” between them.
“There was an acknowledgment of the connection that we had and that it was real,” he said. “But we didn’t date or anything like that.”
He also admits that when he first got out of the experiment over a year ago, he dated Wendy, the aerospace engineer from the pods.
“I talked to her a lot and I had an insane connection with her, like mirror image.”
“We were never exclusive but we went on dates, if that makes sense.”
Seems weird to then be so critical of your ex dating someone else, but hey, that’s just me.
Jackie apologised to Marshall
In a meaty Instagram story posted on Tuesday, Jackie continued her endeavour to clear her name, offering an apology to her ex-fiancé, Marshall.
“I want to take the time to express my gratitude and appreciation for Marshall clearing up that I did in fact end the relationship before meeting Josh at the coffee shop,” she wrote.
Since the season has started airing, Jackie has been dropping receipts left, right, and centre in an effort to prove that she didn’t meet up (and smooch) Josh before she and Marshall broke up, as the edit suggested.
While her receipts do prove that Josh and her got together after the break-up, fans have still been understandably critical, highlighting that they got together the literal day after she broke up with her fiancé. Yikes.
Jackie goes on to confirm that the leaked text messages, which have widely been criticised as being homophobic, were real. Ugh.
Vanessa Lachey apologised to Paul
The reunion was giving ultimate ~uncomfy~ vibes, with Vanessa Lachey’s… interesting interview style grating on many people’s nerves.
As part of the reunion, Lachey focused heavily on Paul and his comments about Micah not being nurturing, so much so that many feel as if she unnecessarily grilled him and wasn’t being an objective third party.
After the reunion, Paul slammed his reunion interrogation, accusing Lachey of personal bias.
“I thought that I detected a little bit of personal bias there. I’m not sure what it was,” Paul told PEOPLE.
“And I guess she’s within her right to drill on personal bias, but she shouldn’t present as being an objective neutral party if that’s the case.
“But I think it’s fair to continue follow-up questions. But if we’re going to go that route, we need to be able to have a full-length conversation.”
But it seems like Lachey has since apologised to him after Paul posted a photo of a bouquet of flowers onto his Instagram Stories with the caption “Thanks for acknowledging the accidental misleading @vanessalachey”.
Bouquet tea!!!
There’s bound to be more tea unearthing, so keep the kettle on hot. Until then, enjoy these unhinged Twitter reactions to the ‘live’ reunion.
marshall to nice bc i would have looked at the camera and been like “hey jackie… #LoveIsBlind #LoveIsBlindLIVE #LOVEISBLINDreunion pic.twitter.com/djgVixkJuA
— Bridget Blaha (@bridgetblaha) April 17, 2023
so we had one of the most emotionally intelligent cast of men this season and yet Nick and Vanessa closed the reunion with Bartise?
let us have nice things#LoveIsBlind #LoveIsBlindLIVE pic.twitter.com/b8uOi8K28f
— T (@trinawatters) April 17, 2023
normalize not asking people multiple times on (not live) national television when they’re going to have a baby#LoveIsBlindLIVE #LoveisBlind pic.twitter.com/7OdmvxIbF6
— T (@trinawatters) April 17, 2023
the love is blind cast sitting in silence next to each other for the past 30 minutes as netflix is trying to get their shit together #LoveIsBlindLIVE pic.twitter.com/qCEEnwH6zH
— livi (@elvnhopp) April 17, 2023
If it wasn’t for Brett and Tiffany looking like Black excellence and a 800 credit score I would’ve left #LoveisBlind #LOVEISBLINDreunion pic.twitter.com/fk5gEABJ44
— Yvonne Pearson (@Pinkdollstyle) April 17, 2023
