The sixth season of Love Is Blind has officially dropped, with a set of 30 new singles now entering the pods.
On 14 February 2024, fans saw the beloved series make yet another return, with hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey. The season followed the same layout as the previous ones, but this time with contestants from Charlotte, North Carolina entered the pods, where they got on dates with people without ever seeing them in real life. From there, contestants go on to get engaged in the pods, before meeting for the first time.
Following the usual array of love triangles and drama in the first six episodes of season six, five couples walked away engaged: Amy and Johnny, Amber Desirre “AD” and Clay, Chelsea and Jimmmy, Jeramy and Laura, and Kenneth and Brittany.
The couples have now headed into their romantic vacations, before they go and move into their apartment togethers in North Carolina. After days of living together, they will decide at the end of the season if they’ll say “I do” or not at the altar.
Although we don’t know who made it down the aisle, the next three episodes of the season will be airing on 21 February, followed by three more episodes dropping on 28 February. The season finale, where viewers will see couples get married, airs on 6 March.
Back in March 2022, the reuion special of Love Is Blind season two dropped, where it seemed that the social experiment may have been successful for at least two couples – Nick Thompson and Danielle Ruhl, and Jarrette Jones and Iyanna McNeely. But more than one year since the reunion special aired, both couples are now divorced.
These are the couples from Love Is Blind season two that are still together.
Shayne and Natalie
Natalie Lee is a 29-year-old consulting manager from Chicago, who instantly hit it off with 32-year-old real estate broker Shayne Jansen. The two formed a strong emotional connection in the pods, despite an awkward love triangle between Jansen, Lee, and another contestant, Shaina. Jansen ultimately proposed to Lee and the two left the pods as an engaged couple. However, things didn’t go exactly as planned when they returned home to Chicago.
In the season finale, Lee rejected Jansen after revealing they had a fight the night before their wedding. She said during the reunion special that the fight changed everything for her, and was a wake-up call that the two had big issues to work through as a couple. Lee and Jansen also revealed during an episode of After The Altar that they briefly rekindled their relationship after filming ended. However, the couple ultimately decided to separate for good.
Today, Jansen and Lee are individually focusing on themselves. In October 2022, Jansen shared the news of his mother’s passing on Instagram, revealing in an emotional post that he’d lost his “best friend”.
“I lost my best friend today. For the last year we’ve been inseparable. Coffee every morning to Schitts Creek every night. I’m broken inside but I know I can live with zero regrets knowing we did everything together,” Jansen wrote alongside photos of himself and his mother. “I’ll never be able to replace my FaceTime partner on the daily.”
Lee, on the other hand, was previously romantically linked to fellow cast member Salvador Perez. In March last year, she shut down romance rumours during an episode of the Tea With Publyssity podcast.
“I’m close to Sal,” she revealed on the podcast. “I know that there’s been speculation — ‘Are you and Sal dating?’ — We are not, we’re just really, really close friends.”
When asked if she’s been dating since Love Is Blind wrapped, Lee admitted that she’s focusing on herself instead.
“I’m not putting any pressure on myself,” she shared. “If I find someone, I find someone. If I don’t, I don’t.”
In July 2022, Lee shared several photos from her Caribbean vacation with fellow reality star, The Bachelorette’s Blake Moynes. But Lee seemed to friendzone Moynes when she captioned her Instagram post with the star: “Thank you @blakemoynes for bringing me on this trip of a lifetime! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard with someone. You’re a friend for life.”
Lee has since launched a podcast with her friend and Love Is Blind season two co-star, Deepti Vempati, titled Out of the Pods.
Shaina and Kyle
Kyle Abrams proposed to 32-year-old hairstylist Shaina Hurley during season two, but after many bumps in their relationship, they called it quits. Abrams, a 29-year-old construction worker, originally turned Hurley off in the pods when he revealed that he is an atheist. He thought the two could work through their differences, but Hurley — who is a devout Christian — was unable to look past his religious beliefs.
During the reunion special, she apologised to Abrams for leading him on in the pods and accepting his proposal, despite having strong feelings for Shayne Jansen. However, Hurley felt that she was compromising “her relationship with God” by being with someone who is an atheist.
Perhaps the biggest reveal from the reunion was Abrams admitting that he should’ve proposed to Deepti Vempati instead.
“I wish I saw what was right in front of me,” he said about Vempati. “That’s my biggest regret.”
Things seemed to have turned out well for Hurley, however, who married her boyfriend Christos Lardakis at a Chicago courthouse in July 2022.
In September 2023, Hurley announced she and Lardakis were expecting their first baby together. “We are proud to announce Baby Lardakis coming soon,” she captioned her post on Instagram. “God is so good!”
Nick and Danielle
Nick Thompson and Danielle Ruhl were the first couple to get engaged in the pods on season two. Despite their doubts and fears, Thompson and Ruhl both said “I do” at the altar and were excited to start their lives together as husband and wife. The two revealed in the reunion special that they’re still happily married almost a year later and living together.
Ruhl and Thompson continued to share glimpses into their marriage on Instagram, including dressing up in costumes, red carpet dates, and behind the scenes footage of their first dance as a married couple.
That is untilTMZ found that Ruhl had filed for divorce from Thompson on 15 August 2022. Ruhl last posted an image of herself and Thompson to Instagram on 1 August stating that she had “the best time” at festival Lollapalooza this year.
On 19 October 2022, Thompson revealed that he and Ruhl are no longer on speaking terms amid their divorce. “For my own mental health and healing, I had to create a boundary with her that I’m not engaging anymore,” Thompson told US Weekly.
The star also opened about what led to his divorce, adding, “There wasn’t a big catastrophic event.”
“Just over time, these things started building up...I don’t want to speak for her, but I know I wasn’t feeling like I was getting the partnership I needed to be successful and to kind of move forward with the relationship,” he said.
Both Thompson and Ruhl have since spoken out against the show, which Thompson claimed has “ruined his life” in a recent interview with the Daily Mail. Meanwhile, Ruhl alleged that she underwent a psychological screening before filming, but confessed that she shouldn’t have passed the screening due to her history of mental illness and previous attempted suicide.
Deepti and Shake
Things started off rocky for 31-year-old data analyst Deepti Vempati and 33-year-old veterinarian Abhishek “Shake” Chatterjee. In the pods, Chatterjee struggled to get past the superficial details, like asking Vempati questions that hinted at her weight and appearance. He ultimately proposed to Vempati, but was soon rejected by her at the altar. In the end, she chose herself.
Chatterjee came in hot during the reunion special, but the rest of the cast of Love Is Blind were tired of his antics. Chatterjee doubled down on his sizeist comments and said that having a “big weight discrepancy” in a relationship is “very hard for me to get past that.”
After the reunion aired, Chatterjee publicly apologised to his former fiancée for how he treated her in a video posted to his Instagram page.
“I’m sorry, @lifewithdeeps,” he wrote in the caption. “I’m ready to take accountability for my actions and be better. While I’ve reached out privately, I think it’s also important I apologise publicly for the sake of your family and friends that I’ve upset as well.”
Chatterjee was noticely absent from the three-episode follow-up After The Alter, which premiered in September 2022. Perhaps because the veterinarian has moved to Miami with his new girlfriend, Emily Wilson.
Meanwhile, Vempati and Abrams announced their split just days after confirming their romance on After The Alter. During the spin-off series, Abrams was seen telling Vempati he wanted to start a “legitimate relationship” with her, and told her that he wanted to be “exclusive”.
“We’re going to actually try this?” Vempati said, to which Abrams replied: “Yeah, sure. I want to.”
But on 19 September 2022, Abrams confirmed on Instagram that the relationship had ended months prior to the show airing on Netflix.
“I understand many of you are curious as to where Deepti and I stand today. Since After The Altar was filmed, we had decided to go our separate ways in early summer,” Abrams said.
“Thank you to everyone who has followed our journey through arduous vulnerability and has supported us along the way.”
Abrams added that he has now moved on from Vempati.
He explained: “I have since embarked on a new relationship which I intend to keep private for a bit. As for what the future holds, I have not a clue. Going forward I plan to live each day in the present without any regret.”
Iyanna and Jarrette
Jarrette Jones proposed to Iyanna McNeely in the pods, but she wasn’t his first choice. Jones, 32, was drawn to McNeely, 27, for her strength despite her challenging upbringing, but the project manager also had a relationship with Mallory Zapata, a 32-year-old communications manager from Chicago. Zapata rejected Jones’s proposal because of her stronger connection with another contestant, Sal Perez. McNeely had reservations after learning she was a second choice, but Jones confirmed to her that Zapata rejecting him only made him feel more confident with his feelings for Iyanna.
When speaking about the love triangle during the reunion special, McNeely revealed that she felt more angry with Jones than Zapata for the way he flirted with her during the pre-honeymoon trip to Mexico. Jones apologised to both his wife and Perez for his actions during the retreat.
Although, McNeely and Jones said “I do” during the season finale, the couple were the first the announce their divorce in August 2022 after one year of marriage. “After much thought, we’re saddened to share that we have separated and will begin the process of divorcing,” the pair said in a joint statement on Instagram. “While we have love for each other, our lives are going in different directions, and that’s okay. Coming to this decision was far from easy and we will always wish each other the absolute best.”
The former couple went on to ask for “some space we close this chapter of our lives,” before thanking their “Love Is Blind family” and Netflix “for this unforgettable opportunity and support.”
“Each of you have brought overwhelming love and joy into our lives,” they added. “This experience has taught us so much about ourselves, vulnerability and love. We don’t regret a single thing!”
Mallory and Sal
Mallory Zapata had a strong connection with Jarrette Jones, but ultimately her relationship with Salvador Perez, 31, won out in the end. Even though the Chicago-based executive assistant proposed to Zapata, their relationship had a rough start once they left the pods. He was insecure about her relationship with Jones, while Zapata was unsure about her physical attraction to her new fiancé.
On their wedding day, Perez turned Zapata down, but the two had an amicable conversation about taking smaller steps in their relationship, starting with a proper date. As it turns out, they met for coffee when the cameras were down, but soon learned that they were very different from each other and the connection fizzled.
While Perez and Zapata decided to end their relationship before the Love Is Blind season two reunion, Zapata is still single. During After The Altar, Perez introduced the cast to his girlfriend, Jessi Palkovic.
