In what has been a surprising update, it has been revealed that two other couples left the Love Is Blind pods engaged.
The second season of the popular Netflix reality dating show premiered in February, during which viewers watched as 30 individuals from Chicago entered the pods in the hopes of falling in love.
The experiment proved mildly successful once again, as 12 members of the cast paired up and fell in love, with the show going on to film their progression to in-person relationships - and engagements - outside of the pods.
The six couples include Shayne and Natalie, Nick and Danielle, Shaina and Kyle, Shake and Deepti, and Mallory and Salvador.
However, as reported by E! News this week, it turns out that two other couples also left the pods engaged.
According to the outlet, the couples included Caitlin McKee, 31, a medical software salesperson who became engaged to Joey Miller, 30, a business strategy consultant, and Kara Williams, 32, a client service manager, who accepted a proposal from Jason Beaumont, a 31-year-old flight attendant.
McKee and Miller shared the news of their unaired engagement and relationship on social media, where the 31 year old shared an Instagram album of photos of the couple and wrote: “What a whirlwind the last few days have been since @loveisblindnetflix season two has premiered! Watching the couples meet in the pods, fall in love and experience their first reveal transported me right back to that place.
“What you didn’t see is that I also found love in the pods and left the show with a fiancé. @millerj5001 and I had an amazing summer and fall with the opportunity to travel, meet each other’s families, and build a genuine relationship without the cameras and crew.”
According to McKee, she and Miller ultimately chose to go their separate ways, but are “choosing to remain friends”.
McKee also said that she will “be forever grateful” for the Love Is Blind experience as she “made genuine connections with friends that will be in my life forever, laughed harder than I have in years, cried more than I probably should have,” and “learned a heck of a lot about myself and who I am and want to be as a person”.
Miller also shared insight into his relationship with McKee on Instagram, where he also shared multiple photos of the pair and reflected on the experience meeting on the Netflix show.
“Meet @caitlinmckee. We vibed from first pod date, got WAY deep WAY fast, surprised each other with Drumsticks/tacos/Tequila/Bieber serenades, got engaged without ever seeing each other, and had an amazing summer and fall together without all the cameras,” he wrote. “Grateful to @loveisblindnetflix for introducing me to such a strong, caring, and compassionate woman. We are no longer together, but absolutely fell in love blindly.”
Beaumont also revealed on Instagram that he left the pods engaged, with the former cast member posting photos of himself and Williams and explaining that lots of people have asked him why he had “no luck in the pods”.
“SURPRISE! Kara Williams & I walked out of the pods an engaged couple as well! Kara has been one of the most charismatic, loving, & supportive people I’ve ever met, she is hands down one of the strongest women I’ve ever been around,” he wrote.
In the post, Beaumont reflected on the couple’s “emotional rollercoaster” of a journey, before noting that “at the end of the day we always found a way to make each other laugh”.
“Although our relationship was not featured, it was still authentic. Kara & I had conversations in 10 days that had never even come up in my previous long-term relationships. I remember the first two days of dating these amazing women in the pods, I was so nervous, and afraid to be vulnerable,” he recalled. “Kara found a way to knock that wall down for me & be myself which became the turning point for me in this entire experiment.”
However, he also revealed that, like McKee and Miller, he and Williams decided to part ways as well.
As for why Netflix did not include the couples in footage from season two, Love Is Blind creator Chris Coelen told Netflix’s Tudum that the show did not have the resources to follow the two additional pairs.
“You only have so many crews and so much budget and so much time,” he said. “It would be amazing to follow everybody, but you just have to decide what feels like a good group to follow.”
While speaking to Variety about which couples the show ultimately chose to follow, Coelen added that it’s a “lot of guesswork”.
“I mean, it’s a lot of guesswork, to be honest. We don’t know what’s gonna happen. In season one, we were following Kenny Barnes and Kelly Chase, and we were like, it’s gonna be so boring. They’re gonna say yes, and, of course, they’re getting married. And they didn’t,” he explained. “We had no idea and continue to have no idea what’s going to happen in the stories that we choose. If we are so lucky as we have been in season one and season two to have more engagements than we’re able to follow, then we go with our gut. Like, these seem like a good, genuine, cross section of authentic stories.”
The revelation that the show chose not to include two additional couples was met with criticism from viewers on social media, who revealed that they wished Love Is Blind had included the other cast members.
“How does Netflix not understand that we want as much Love Is Blind content as humanly possible,” one person tweeted.
Another said: “Annoyed because I would’ve liked to see them too.”
The disappointment was also evident in the comments on Instagram, where fans of the show shared their frustration over the decision.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see this,” someone commented under Miller’s Instagram post, while another fan wrote: “The world is collectively punching the air right now because we didn’t get to see this.”
Others suggested that the producers made a mistake choosing the couples ultimately featured in season two, with one person writing: “You would have been the most likeable couple of the season I bet. Big missed opportunity as they chose to chase tired drama lol.”
The Independent has contacted Netflix for comment.
