The ‘Love Is Blind’ Season 5 Reunion Was a Massive Flop
After watching all 11 episodes of Love Is Blind’s fifth season, we’re confident in saying that this was the biggest flop the Netflix series has produced yet. Only one couple ended up saying “I do” at the altar, after just two made it there in the first place—and only three even left the pods engaged. (Well, only three that we got to see on-screen, at any rate; justice for Renee.) One contestant recognized another’s voice in the pods, creating a season-long mess that ruined a third contestant’s experience altogether. Love triangles led to tensions sprang anew outside of the pods, and … truly, the list of terrible missteps could go on.
Unfortunately, all of this led to a pretty boring reunion. After Season 4’s botched live reunion, Netflix went the safer, pre-taped route this time around. But that—and Season 5’s most controversial participant declining to attend—led to a manicured, relatively drama-free check-in with the cast.
If you already feel exhausted from all the rigamarole Season 5 had to offer and would rather tap out of this wan reunion, we’ve collected the highlights, below.
Yes, Lydia and Milton are still together
Despite Lydia’s involvement in one of the most complicated, infuriating Love Is Blind dramas in the series’ history (more on that in a minute), she and her baby-faced fiancé have stuck it out past the altar. And they’re actually cute together! Milton’s admiration for (and fierce defense of) his wife made him the episode’s standout guest. Their closeness and constant loving touches weren’t as gross as one may have predicted, should that person have been put off by the seemingly wide maturity gap between the two during the show. Instead, they were cute reminders that, hey, maybe this experiment isn’t totally bunk after all.
No, Izzy and Stacy are no longer dating
Stacy rejected Izzy at the altar, telling him that she didn’t feel ready for marriage yet after just a month of dating. (Honestly, this is the only correct response to this show’s question of “Will you marry me?”) But she didn’t want to break up, she explained; she just wanted to take things more slowly. Izzy seemed game at first, but after production liquored him up he thought it through, he left the wedding feeling completely pissed off at his ex-fiancée.
During the reunion, the pair revealed that they mutually decided not to get back together, stopped talking for more than a year, then recently rekindled a friendship. Now, Stacy and Izzy are both happily dating other people. This did not preclude Izzy from repeatedly touching Stacy’s leg on the couch during the reunion, but what is this show but a haven for horned-up, socially inappropriate weirdos?
Chris dated—and promptly dumped—Johnie
For someone who left the pods alone, Johnie had one of Season 5’s more compelling arcs. During the pods, Johnie chose Izzy over Chris, even though he seemed like her top choice for most of their time there. Izzy obviously chose Stacy instead, and Johnie tried apologizing to Chris, in the hopes that he’d give things another go. Chris earned major props from viewers for standing up for himself and telling Johnie he didn’t want to be with someone when he knew he was her second choice.
‘Love Is Blind’ Season 5 Finale: Who Said ‘I Do,’ and Who Said ‘No’?
This history made it surprising that they showed up as a couple during a post-pod get-together for all the contestants. They ended up seeing each other at the airport on the way home, mending their fences, then dating. But at the reunion, Chris admits that their relationship was short-lived—and that not long after the party, he met someone else. Instead of breaking up with Johnie himself, he simply ghosted her; Johnie only found out that Chris had dumped her through a friend. But Johnie seems to have forgiven Chris, and Chris is still dating the woman he left Johnie for. If we were that woman, we’d watch our backs, but so it goes.
Izzy and Johnie made out once
Despite co-host/national menace Vanessa Lachey’s insistence that this must have been something more, Johnie and Izzy insisted that they just kissed one time after a drunken cast meet-up, long after filming wrapped. Considering they spent time raging at each other at that infamous post-pods BBQ, this reveal was kind of shocking. But Izzy and Johnie said emotions ran high during that one-on-one, and their makeout was firmly a one-time thing.
Aaliyah and Uche dated
Season 5’s undisputed villain was Uche, who spent his time in the pods acting conceited, condescending, and incredibly judgmental. He constantly lectured Aaliyah, the woman to whom he ended up professing his love. But at the eleventh hour, Uche revealed that he’d previously dated Aaliyah’s show-bestie Lydia, sending the show spiraling into chaos. Aaliyah ended up overwhelmed by the revelation (and Lydia telling Aaliyah highly detailed information both about Uche and her short relationship with him), leaving the show before Uche could even propose.
The ‘Love Is Blind’ Uche-Lydia Nightmare Keeps Getting Worse
After the pods, we saw Aaliyah and Uche meet up to see if they could move past their differences. While they seemed unable to do so, Aaliyah shared at the reunion that she and Uche briefly dated. Unfortunately—and unsurprisingly—Aaliyah said that he was unable to tamp down the douchebaggery, and they broke up not long after. But Aaliyah is now dating someone who “treats [her] like a queen,” which was the best news of the entire reunion.
Lydia still claims she had no idea Uche would be on the show
The weirdest reality show “coincidence” of the 2020s must be exes Lydia and Uche finding out that they were both on Love Is Blind during the filming of Love Is Blind. This revelation sent the show off the rails, with the fanbase anointing both Uche and Lydia as TV terrors. Clearly one of both of them had masterminded getting on the show together, either to get back together (Lydia) or stir up some juicy, clout-chasing drama (Uche). They certainly earned a ton of screen time because of it, with Uche’s unwarranted appearance at that BBQ leading to a shouting match between the two. Uche claimed Lydia was stalking him; Lydia claimed that Uche needed to get a life. Only one of these people, as we learned at the reunion, was correct.
With Uche refusing to appear at the reunion, Lydia had to clear the air about their casting herself. She says she was blindsided to hear someone she recognized on the other side of the wall, as she had no idea that anyone she knew would be there, let alone dated. Months before they were even cast, the pair briefly discussed seeing the casting call for the show, Lydia said—but that was it, and they never spoke of the show again. Nick Lachey also affirmed the producers’ story: They were shocked and wanted Lydia and Uche to leave after they discovered each other in the pods. Yet their emphatic disinterest in getting back together kept them on the show.
Lydia ended up getting married, so whether or not her story is fully true, ditching Uche clearly worked out for her in the long run—even if she lost Aaliyah as a friend because of him.
JP still sucks
JP and Taylor were the first couple to get engaged in the pods, and they were the first couple to break up. After JP revealed himself to be an utterly silent, American Flag-obsessed weirdo during the post-pods Mexico trip, Taylor found herself struggling to connect with him. Once JP finally opened his mouth to tell Taylor that he hated her makeup and thought it made her “fake,” she stood her ground and broke up with him. It was, is, and will always be a baller move.
One would hope that JP learned a lesson from losing this lovely lady over her makeup (which wasn’t all that dramatic anyway; surely he had not seen Stacy’s unblended bronzer). Alas, he did not. Instead, he awkwardly blamed the cameras for making him clam up, as if no one else had cameras in their faces 24/7. When that excuse didn’t do much to absolve him, he ultimately claimed that he just didn’t find her attractive—that seeing her was “shocking and off-putting.” Yes, he apologized for phrasing his complaints about her makeup poorly, and Taylor forgave him. But based on the reactions of the rest of the cast to him just walking out onto the set, if there’s anyone who should have said no to showing up to this reunion, it’s JP. Because at least Uche being there would have been some very loud, very explosive fun!
Nick and Vanessa Lachey are still terrible hosts
To fans, the Lacheys are irredeemable at this point. They’ve long railed against the couple, and since that terrible Season 4 reunion, they’ve actively petitioned Netflix to fire the Lacheys from their hosting dyties. Unfortunately, their terrible dynamic hasn’t changed one bit. Vanessa spent the reunion needling Izzy and Stacy for more information about their occasional run-ins since filming wrapped, hounding Johnie for more information on her relationship with Chris and catch-up with Izzy, and re-traumatizing Aaliyah, Lydia, and Milton by pushing them to talk about Uche. Nick is also just a garbage interviewer, stammering questions and compliments long after the moment has passed. The good news: With only one married couple this time around, at least Vanessa couldn’t get up in arms about why none of the cast has a baby yet.
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