‘Love is Blind’ reunion: Light on love, heavy on drama

Aaliyah, Milton and the rest of the season 5 contestants came together one last time at the reunion.

After countless twists, turns, and breakups, season 5 of “Love is Blind” has come to a close. This season has taken viewers for a ride, breaking the fourth wall in ways we had yet to see on the popular reality dating series. Even after the finale, the surprises continued during the reunion episode, which dropped on the streamer last weekend, as Aaliyah, Lydia, Milton and more came together one last time to reflect on their experience.

Out of all of the hopefuls in the pods this season, only two couples made it to the altar and only one made it to an actual marriage on the other side: Milton and Lydia. Even we did not expect these two to make it all the way to the end, but at the reunion special, the only couple left standing proved to be very much in love, standing as the only bright spot in the hour-long episode.

In case you missed it, Lydia was a major player in the series, caught in the middle of a jaw-dropping love triangle with her ex Uche, who also appeared in the pods. While Uche and Aaliyah, another woman in the pods, were consistently pursuing each other at the start of the experiment, the revelation of his relationship with Lydia and subsequent fallout proved to be too much for them, with Aaliyah quitting the experiment altogether. More on Aaliyah later.

For Lydia, her happy ending with Milton took center stage at the top of the reunion. The two seem very much in love, breaking down their time together over the months since shooting the series. “Two years ago I could have never imagined feeling this way and being this way,” Milton gushed, holding Lydia’s hand on the reunion couch. “It’s beautiful.” The two also shared that Milton’s family, who expressed major concern during the series, are very much Team Lydia now. Milton even said that his mom is “almost too close” to his wife.

Elsewhere, there is not much “love” to be found at all in the “Love is Blind” reunion. After catching up with exes Chris and Johnie and Izzy and Stacy, the reunion then shifted to Aaliyah, who finally spoke on her experience and fallout with Uche and Lydia.

As we mentioned, Uche and Aaliyah finally saw each other in person outside of the pods earlier in the season, that did not end well, with the lack of trust between the two dashing all hopes of the pair ending up together at all. For Aaliyah, she questioned if Uche and Lydia knew, before the experiment, that they would be doing the show together. Aaliyah spoke to this tension and entire experience at the reunion.

“I felt like I came here to have the genuine ‘Love is Blind’ experience, and I didn’t get that,” Aaliyah said, specifically looking back on her friendship with Lydia, who in episode 4, told her everything from the car Uche drove to the kind of whiskey he likes to drink.

“I set my boundaries with Lydia when we had the discussion on the couch and she didn’t respect my boundaries,” Aaliyah continued. “I didn’t feel like they were gonna continue to be respected throughout and that’s not the type of situation anyone should have to endure or deal with when going into an engagement. That should be a happy moment, that should be a sacred moment and I did not get that respect that I was requesting multiple times.”

Host Nick Lachey also mentioned, as we covered earlier this month, that the producers decided to keep Uche and Lydia’s connection a secret from the other contestants until later in the experiment. When asked, Aaliyah said that she wished they were allowed to know this information from the beginning and that she would have “kept her distance” from Lydia.

Aaliyah also pressed Lydia on her intentions to join the show, revealing that the two had a one-on-one conversation off-camera where Lydia said she spoke with Uche about coming on the show. In a confounding response, Lydia does say she and Uche discussed the “Love is Blind” casting call on the phone, however she had “no confirmation” Uche would also be a part of the show.

The entire situation — while riveting and engaging reality TV — is unfortunately at the expense of Aaliyah, who seems to be the only loser in the situation. Not only did she not get a chance to truly see if “Love is Blind,” she also was forced to question friendships, in front of the world no less. Still, Aaliyah revealed she is in a “happy and loving” relationship now and believes everything happened the way that it was supposed to.

Aaliyah did reveal that she and Uche gave it one more shot off camera, which (surprise) did not go well, saying that she was told she wasn’t “the type of woman he normally found attractive” and that he took a “mean and condescending tone” with her. While Uche was invited to the reunion, Lachey said he declined the invitation.

“Love is Blind” has yet to be officially renewed for season 6, but we don’t see it going anywhere. The addicting reality series is as popular as ever, and the drama that ensues is as engaging as ever. But hopefully, as the show continues, we can get back to the “love” aspect of the series that made us fall in love with it in the first place.

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