Spoilers for The Ultimatum season 3 episodes 1-8 ahead. Of all the couples on season 3 of The Ultimatum, Caleb Lefterys and Mariah Zernik have been perhaps the easiest to root for. Like the rest of the pairs, Caleb and Mariah have some issues to work on before they decide to tie the knot, which is why Mariah issued the ultimatum in the first place. She's ready to become a wife at the tender age of 24, while Caleb is a bit more hesitant. However, with the season 3 finale on the horizon, fans are guessing that the couple might just make it to the altar. Read on for our breakdown of Caleb and Mariah's time on Love is Blind season 3, including all the clues toward whether they end the season engaged.
What happened between Caleb and Mariah on 'The Ultimatum' season 3?
Two years into their relationship, 24-year-old Mariah has given 29-year-old Caleb the ultimatum. Mariah seems emotionally intelligent beyond her years; she is very clear about knowing that she wants marriage and kids. Meanwhile, Caleb is concerned that she may be rushing things.
Before they "break up," Caleb thinks about the future, sharing his worry that she could get to 40, and possibly resent him after realizing she never got time to focus on herself. The moment hints that Caleb is thinking about them long-term, just toward the future and not the present. However, Mariah also mentions that communication was an issue for her and she feels she didn't get enough reassurance from him in the past.
During the week of speed-dating, Mariah forms a friendship with Micah, and they believe they could challenge each other to learn in a trial marriage. Meanwhile, Caleb clicks with Aria. They had a similar upbringing, and can both get vulnerable quickly. After the Choice dinner, Mariah and Micah and Caleb and Aria are ready to start their trial marriages...but just days into the timeline, Micah quits the show, along with his girlfriend Chanel and another couple, Dave and Vanessa. Mariah's left to spend the three-week trial marriage by herself—minus occasional friend meet-ups with Nick—while Caleb goes through his time living with Aria. The rest of Mariah's scenes, until she reunites with Caleb, are very Nick-centric, so the only sense we get of how she spent her time are clips of her reading self-help books like Jay Shetty's 8 Rules of Love.
Aria and Caleb's trial marriage is the easiest of all the temporary couples. The pair have chemistry and in between doing skincare together, they discuss serious topics like trust issues and communication styles. Plus, they're both clear that the other is very different from their "exes."
On Caleb's end, Aria is more independent and skeptical than Mariah. At one point, Caleb says that Mariah trusts through "blind faith" that he's the right person for her, and he finds that a bit scary. Later on, Caleb admits that part of his hesitation with marriage is fueled by his baggage of worrying that he could be a good husband and father. In theory, that's the type of introspection that The Ultimatum process is meant for.
However, you could also argue that the trial marriages are designed to spur wandering eyes and jealousy, and the best trial marriages can make for insecure original partners. The pair starts platonically, but Aria forms a bit of a crush, especially since Caleb is so different from her original partner Scotty. Caleb also admits that he also has an emotional connection in a confessional.
However, before the girls' night, Caleb doesn't want Aria to tell Mariah they've formed an emotional connection. He seems to come at it from a place of let me be the one to tell her, but Aria wants to be honest with Mariah. So after the girls' night, Mariah gets concerned that Aria and Caleb could've formed a stronger emotional connection than she and Caleb at that point in their relationship.
That potential Mariah-Caleb-Aria love triangle adds some friction after the Changeover when everyone returns to their original partners. Caleb continues to assure that there's nothing between him and Aria beyond friendship—and maybe he's focusing on the fact that he doesn't intend to pursue a relationship with her—but Mariah can tell that her confusion about where he and Aria stand is valid. Caleb seems to want to shut down the discussion and have a fun mood instead of a serious one, but Mariah doesn't want to hold off on delving into her worries, including their communication issues.
Eventually, Mariah breaks down and expresses that, since they reunited, the negative energy between them has been her frustration with how hard The Ultimatum process has been. By their final date, the couple is cuddling while fishing and admitting that they both need to work on their insecurities instead of bringing them into the relationship. (May this be the healthiest example of The Ultimatum in the show's run so far?)
Are Caleb and Mariah still together after 'The Ultimatum' season 3?
We'll have to wait until December 18's season 3 finale and reunion to get the full reveal of whether Caleb and Mariah ended The Ultimatum engaged—but there are a couple of social media clues. The pair currently follow each other, and an eagle-eyed Redditor spotted a recent couple pic of the pair from Mariah's second Instagram page, which is currently set to private. There's no way to validate the Reddit post or to know when the picture was taken, but fans are guessing that Caleb and Mariah are season 3's best chance at a happily-ever-after.
