Love Is Blind stars Raven Ross and SK Alagbada have given an update on their relationship status after Alagbada called off their wedding at the altar.
The third season of the popular Netflix dating series, which premiered on 19 October, follows the same format of the first two seasons, as contestants form a connection with each other and get engaged through a wall – also known as the “pods”.
At the start of season three, 34-year-old data engineer SK Alagbada proposed to Raven Ross, a 29-year-old pilates instructor, in the pods. Alagbada and Ross had a slower start to their romance than some of the other engaged couples this season, but they seemed to develop an even deeper emotional connection as time went on.
But when it came time to tie the knot, Alagbada left viewers in shock when he said no to marrying Ross.
He explained to his fiancée they still have some logistics to sort through, and there was a “very unique and complex set of circumstances” in terms of their cultural differences and future plans. Ross still had much to learn about Alagbada’s Nigerian culture, and Alagbada was planning on moving out to California to earn his Master’s degree. Although the two said they still love each other, Alagbada felt it was not the right time to get married.
Shortly after the episode aired on 2 November, Raven Ross and SK Alagbada broke their silence on the wedding that never was, and where they stand as a couple now. Speaking to TV Insider, Ross said that although she “understood” why Alagbada had rejected her at the altar, the moment still caused a lot of “hurt.”
“I’ve always understood why he said no,” Ross said on Wednesday. “We had a lot of things working against us. SK literally moved probably four days after we wrapped filming to go to grad school across the country in a different timezone.”
“Our cultural differences, huge,” she added. “We started off really slow, which was our own thing. We had an incredible journey, but our whole thing was doing it on our own time, and unfortunately time just wasn’t on our side.”
Ross continued: “We had a lot more logistical things to figure out inside of our relationship, so it’s not that I didn’t understand. It still hurt. I understood what was happening and I knew why, but I was just still emotional because I was super in love with him.”
Meanwhile, Alagbada said he stands by his decision to call things off with Ross.
“I don’t think I have any regrets currently about my decision on that day. I didn’t feel like I had gotten enough to be able to move forward with that step,” he explained. “Me proposing to her was me getting the opportunity to do that in the real world, and when we got back to Dallas, the real world came at us really quickly. We had a lot of other things to resolve that were still outstanding, and it just wasn’t enough for me to overlook and say ‘yes’ just because we’re at the altar and it was time to go.”
However, Alagbada still feels “really bad” watching the moment play out on screen, and seeing how “heartbroken” Ross was made things even more difficult: “I feel really bad watching it all over again. Watching her cry and [seeing] how heartbroken she was, as well as my family present.”
He added: “Watching my mom in that situation was very difficult for me.”
The dramatic moment not only came as a shock to viewers, but to Ross herself. In a recent interview with PEOPLE, the pilates instructor explained how she was on “cloud nine” leading up to their wedding day. “I was clearly really shocked,” Ross told the outlet. “I feel like the whole time, I was definitely not portrayed as an emotional person. So it was probably shocking for everyone to see me be such a crybaby.”
“But it was a really emotional day,” she continued. “I definitely was unprepared. We had gone through this whole experience. I was definitely on cloud nine after our build-up of having a great relationship, so I was a little shocked.”
Following the episode, Alagabda told E! News that there were several things the pair “saw differently,” and added that he didn’t feel like “adding marriage on top of that will help fix those differences.”
Although Love Is Blind fans must wait until the season three finale and reunion episodes to learn the current status of their relationship, Alagbada did reveal that he is “on good terms” with Ross and they’re taking their relationship “one day at a time.”
The first ten episodes of Love Is Blind season three are available to stream on Netflix. The season finale airs on Wednesday, 9 November.
