The internet may be vicious, but producers have made sure that those impulses are well-fed with some provocative edits. (Although according to the New York Times, “top producers insist that what they see is (mostly) what you get.“) Netflix has more seasons of this marriage show planned, and they presumably will be filled as much with toxic drama as with affection. Kwame and Chelsea Griffin said the portrayal of their relationship in the final cut didn’t fully reflect their love story and provoked unwarranted criticism. He specifically mentioned a moment when he told Chelsea he considered going by his first name “Alex” (his full name is Alex Kwame Owusu-Ansah Appiah) while blind dating in the pods because he feared using “Kwame” would lead people to prejudge him. “The rest of that moment was… I am so proud of my name, but for some reason that’s not in there,” Kwame said.
By the end of the reunion episode, the cast seemed frustrated by the way things went down with one another during shooting, and with the reactions from judgemental viewers. “I think it was extremely reductive in the way that they [the episode] dismissed all nuance and complexity in why I said no” at the altar, Paul told ET after the event. Hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey awkwardly tiptoed between interrogating cast members for bad behavior while also knowing they all were ultimately on the same team for capitalizing on it. Vanessa also puzzlingly asked sweethearts Tiffany Pennywell and Brett Brown whether they consummated their marriage at the wedding, which felt like a crossed line. Meanwhile, audiences were left wanting more accountability from Jackie and mean girls Irina Solomonova and Micah Lussier.
If you’re still interested in the details of what happened on the reunion episode, here’s the update: the married couples are all still together. Tiffany and Brett — this season’s fan favorites — remain adorably positive. Chelsea and Kwame — whose relationship seemed complicated up to the moment they said yes — are seemingly happy together. Bliss Poureetezadi and Zack Goytowski — who got together after he called off his first engagement to Irina — are also going strong, and Zack seems to have gained favor with her father, who had not been supportive of her engagement.
As for the people who didn’t get married: Paul and Micah dated briefly after the show wrapped up but ended things soon after. Micah stood by comments she previously made that while the officiant at the altar asked her first whether she would take Paul, she turned the question to him because she wanted to know that he was confident in his feelings for her and not just rolling with the momentum of her saying yes. Vanessa Lachey grilled Paul about his comment made after the wedding that he found it hard to envision Micah as a mother. Micah said this was incredibly hurtful, especially because he never brought that up to her during their relationship. Paul’s response was that his comment was poorly phrased, but because there was something missing between them, he wasn’t bringing out qualities in Micah that he had hoped to see in a partner.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to learn from the reunion was that Jackelina is still in a relationship with cast member Josh Demas after abrasively calling off her engagement to Marshall (Jackie and Josh did not appear at the live event but did a pre-recorded segment with Vanessa Lachey). Marshall addressed leaked text messages about him and Jackie, and said it’s been a year since filming wrapped, and asked Jackie for a truce. Irina, who betrayed the trust of her fiance as well as the women on the show, did her best to apologize for her behavior overall and for treating Zack so poorly during their engagement. There was a cameo at the end from Season 3 cast member Bartise, who recently became a father with a woman who is not on reality TV, and his baby; he asked when the rest of the cast would be having babies, a question Lachey amplified with bewildering enthusiasm (many viewers are criticizing her hosting performance after viewing the episode.)
It was ultimately a bizarre experience waiting for a live stream that never was, and then watching the recording the next day of updates that were, for the most part, not particularly exciting. That’s fine. Good relationships often can be incredibly boring. But Love is Blind will continue to drum up conflict for better and for worse. ●
