All episodes of Love Is Blind season three are officially available to stream on Netflix, which means fans finally know which couples say “I do” at the altar and which couples don’t live happily ever after.
The third season of Love Is Blind, which premiered on 19 October, was full of relationship ups and downs after five couples left the pods engaged. Alexa Alfia and Brennon Lemieux were the first couple to get engaged in the pods, followed by Nancy Rodriguez and Bartise Bowden, Raven Ross and SK Alagbada, and Zanab Jaffrey and Cole Barnett. Matt Bolton also proposed to Colleen Reed in the pods.
As the couples started living together and meeting each other’s families, cracks in the surface began to show. Bowden and Rodriguez disagreed over their abortion views, Barnett’s family refused to meet Jaffrey until they were married, and Reed and Bolton got in a heated argument that had viewers telling Reed to “run”. Couples like Alfia and Lemieux seemed poised to get married, but if there’s anything to be learned from the last two seasons of Love Is Blind, it’s to expect the unexpected.
So, who gets married in Love Is Blind season three? Beware, spoilers ahead.
Alexa Alfia and Brennon Lemieux
Since the beginning of season three, Alfia and Lemieux seemed to have formed a genuine emotional connection in the pods, and even a physical one once they met in person. Although the two definitely had their lifestyle differences, their commitment to each other remained solid. In episode 10, Alfia is seen walking down the aisle but a preview for the season finale teased that Brennon might get cold feet.
Everything was smooth sailing for Alexa Alfia and Brennon Lemieux in the season three finale. The two exchanged heartwarming vows and both said “I do” at the altar.
Now, Alfia has fully embraced married life after changing her Instagram name to @mrsalexalemieux and posting several loved-up pictures with her husband.
On 11 November, Alfia posted a sweet tribute to Lemieux, writing in the caption: “May 2021 I met my lobster. I fell in love with your southern drawl, your infectious laugh, your twisted humor, your incredibly detailed memories, your goofiness, your confidence and a million other little things. This love didn’t happen slowly or overnight. It happened in every moment I spent with you. You are the best person I have ever met and I’m lucky to even know you, much less get to spend my life with you. You are my home.”
Nancy Rodriguez and Bartise Bowden
This Love Is Blind pairing has caused quite a stir throughout season three. Although Bowden proposed to Rodriguez in the pods, he couldn’t help his physical attraction to ex Raven Ross and even made it known to his fiancée. Things took an even bigger turn when Rodriguez and Bowden disagreed over their abortion views and family planning timelines. In episode 10, viewers watched as Rodriguez walked down the aisle. Rodriguez said “yes” to marrying Bowden, but the episode ended before viewers could see Bowden’s answer.
Now that the season finale has dropped, it’s been revealed that Bartise Bowden says “I do not” to marrying Rodriguez. When the 32-year-old speech pathologist ran away from the altar crying, Bowden pulled her aside and explained that he felt they weren’t ready for the real world. But it was Rodriguez who pulled the plug and called off their relationship entirely. The wedding wasn’t without it’s drama either – the entire affair led to a tense fight between Bowden and Rodriguez’s brother, Steve.
Since then, Nancy Rodriguez has revealed that she felt “blindsided” by Bowden the moment he said “no” to marrying her. “Right after the wedding, we took time apart,” she told PEOPLE. “I think for me, you saw me, I was like, ‘It’s black and white. You said no. I’m out.’ I had to do that to protect myself, because at that point I was so blindsided that I needed to process, how did this happen?”
Looking back, she realises where their relationship went wrong. “Rewatching it, it was like, ‘Oh, that’s how it happened,’” she said.
However, Rodriguez hopes that she can be friends with her former fiancé, although Bowden may need to grow up a bit first: “I would hope that Bartise and I could be friends at some point and later on in life, maybe in his 30s, we can be friends. But I don’t see the benefit of us being friends at this point.”
Raven Ross and SK Alagbada
Perhaps the most shocking moment from episode 10 was when SK Alagbada told Raven Ross he couldn’t marry her. Since Alagbada plans on moving out to California to pursue his graduate degree, he explained that they have a “very unique and complex set of circumstances” in their relationship. The two said they still love each other, but Alagbada felt it was not the right time to get married.
However, the reunion special revealed that Ross and Alagbada have decided to give their relationship another go. The two have been dating long-distance since the cameras stopped rolling in summer 2021. Ross detailed the struggles of keeping their relationship a secret when she explained how her boyfriend has been receiving DMs from women on Instagram. “We’re watching this and he’s like, ‘Oh my god, babe, I have to show you. I’m getting so many DMs,’” Ross recalled. “I was like, ‘Stay out of my man’s DMs.’”
“I see y’all ladies,” she joked.
As for maintaining a long-distance relationship, the couple explained how they’ve been able to keep the romance alive while Ross is in Texas and Alagbada is in California. “Our communication, I think I can speak for both of us, we’ve never been on this level in any other relationship,” Ross said. “Every time, I feel like we reach a new level.”
“Nothing is perfect, but we’ve grown so much from this experiment. From what we went through, from being apart, it makes it so much better when we’re together,” she added. “Of course, I would prefer to be with him every day, but we’ve grown so much from it and it’s really beautiful to do that.”
Zanab Jaffrey and Cole Barnett
Zanab Jaffrey and Cole Barnett were the biggest wildcard relationship of season three. The two had many ups and downs, insecurities, and even blowouts leading up to their wedding day. In one shocking moment, Barnett even called Jaffrey bipolar because of her “attitude” and criticism of him.
In the season three finale, Zanab Jaffrey seemed ready to get married – but just not to Cole Barnett. In fact, the 32-year-old flight attendant told off the 27-year-old realtor at the altar. She called him out for critiquing her and lowering her self-confidence, as Jaffrey’s guests applauded her for speaking up. “The last two months have not been picture perfect,” Jaffrey told Barnett as she made the choice to say no to continuing their relationship. “You have disrespected me. You have insulted me. You have critiqued me. And for what it is worth, you have single-handedly shattered my self-confidence. And I hate that you have had that kind of effect on me.”
Things got more heated between the former couple during the reunion special. Jaffrey accused Barnett of controlling her eating habits and making disparaging comments about her appearance. “The pushing food away from me, asking if I’m gonna eat that, trying to get me to order a salad, the daily comments about my face and my body were not used,” she said, as she listed moments from their relationship that weren’t shown on screen. “And that’s great, because it really did protect you.”
Jaffrey then faced widespread backlash online from viewers who accused the flight attendant of exaggerating Cole Barnett’s treatment towards her. In response, she posted a since-deleted apology to Instagram, writing, “I’m sorry you weren’t in that relationship. I’m sorry you didn’t feel what I felt. I’m sorry we don’t have the same triggers. I’m sorry me standing up for myself, offended you so greatly.”
She concluded the caption: “One thing about me, I choose my words carefully and I stand by everything I said.”
Colleen Reed and Matt Bolton
Colleen Reed and Matt Bolton seemed to have hit it off in the pods, but things took a turn during their first major fight while on their pre-honeymoon vacation in Malibu with the rest of the cast. Since then, the couple has been thrown off by their disagreements and miscommunications.
While Bolton seemed to have cold feet on the day of their wedding, his nerves melted away once he saw Reed walk down the aisle. During the season finale, the couple said “I do” and were officially married.
Since the show wrapped, both Reed and Bolton have posted loving pictures of each other to Instagram. In one post, Bolton paid tribute to his newlywed wife nearly two years after their wedding day, writing: “God sent me this angel in a very unorthodox way. Allowed us to learn and grow by facing us with challenges, but also let us completely open up to each other and we fell in love. Love is never easy and it takes work, but I wouldn’t want it with anyone else. Through the ups and downs, the joy and the adversity, you taught me to be patient and never run from problems. Here we are a year and a half later stronger than ever! Here’s to us little squrl!!”
All episodes of Love Is Blind season three are streaming on Netflix.
