Warning: This article contains spoilers about the first six episodes of Love Is Blind season 9.
If you were bored during Love Is Blind last season, don’t worry — season 9 is already delivering more drama in the first six episodes than we got in all of season 8.
The Netflix reality dating series moved the action to Denver after last season’s lackluster Minnesotan singles failed to deliver the kind of shocking reality TV viewers want. And thankfully, the singles from the capital of Colorado understood the assignment in the pods. There were love triangles, love squares, dramatic exits, and a breakup full of so much gaslighting even viewers might get confused about what happened.
By the end of the first batch of episodes, six couples got engaged in the pods and made it to their in-person reveals. However, only five couples moved on to go on the post-pod tropical vacation together. Here are all of the season 9 cast members we saw get engaged in the pods, and who broke up immediately after putting a ring on it.
Ali and Anton
Adam Rose/Netflix
Ali on ‘Love Is Blind’
The first couple to get engaged seems like they have a fairytale love story (so far, at least). Ali and Anton bonded in the pods over their similar upbringings, as they both moved to America and had to deal with learning a new language and culture at a young age. We didn’t see either of them making connections with other cast members on dates, so their engagement seemed like a given. And their reveal was picture perfect, so they could be this season’s non-problematic couple who actually makes it to the altar.
Adam Rose/Netflix
Anton on ‘Love Is Blind’Madison and Joe
Adam Rose/Netflix
Madison on ‘Love Is Blind’
This next couple has already delivered major emotional whiplash — to each other and to viewers. While Madison and Joe initially seemed like they’d be another unproblematic couple with their sweet relationship in the pods, more and more red flags kept popping up during their reveal and continuing into the trip in Mexico.
During the reveal, a visibly shocked Joe could barely form words, and told Madison he felt like he was kissing a stranger. Not a strong start, and it just got worse from there when they got to Mexico and he admitted that he’s usually into “thinner” women and not someone who has a “larger physique.” He said that’s why he wasn’t “at peace” during their reveal. But don’t worry, Madison, he said that he’s “at peace” with her now. How romantic!
Adam Rose/Netflix
Joe on ‘Love Is Blind’
Madison told Joe she felt sick because his comments made her feel like she’s not enough for him, but they still get physically intimate with each other on the first night together. However, Joe proceeded to get blackout drunk at the pool party with the other couples, went back to nap in their room, and told Madison not to come with him.
When she checked on him hours later, he didn’t remember anything and kept repeating the same questions to her. He also laughed at her trying to take care of him, and things deteriorated fast. Madison spent the night crying about Joe’s behavior, so there is definitely trouble in paradise for this couple already.
Annie and Nick
Adam Rose/Netflix
Nick on ‘Love Is Blind’
Annie and Nick’s path to getting engaged was winding and confusing. They both were in messy love triangles before choosing each other.
Self-described “wish.com Zac Efron” Nick actually told Kait that he loved her first, but she told him that she wasn’t ready to say it back yet. That ended up being a good thing, because Nick pulled a total Uno reverse when he found out she wasn’t religious, so he rescinded his love and ended their relationship.
Adam Rose/Netflix
Annie on ‘Love Is Blind’
Kait called him out for love bombing, but he moved on pretty quickly with Annie, dropping the “L” word with her immediately after breaking up with Kait.
Meanwhile Annie was also falling for Brenden. It seemed like she was more interested in him than Nick, but since Nick said he loved her pretty quickly and gave her strong validation from the start, she ended up choosing Nick over Brenden. In a case of worst timing ever, Brenden tried to fight for Annie, but it was too little too late for her. She accepted Nick’s proposal, and things got awkward in the men’s living quarters when Nick celebrated his engagement when Brenden was still in the room. But their reveal and beginning of their trip in Mexico seemed to be smooth sailing for these two.
Megan and Jordan
Adam Rose/Netflix
Megan on ‘Love Is Blind’
Who would have thought someone named “Sparkle Megan” would be one of this season’s most sought-after singles? She was in a love square with three very interested parties in the pods until she got ghosted by her No. 1 choice Blake, who chose to leave the show without saying goodbye to her.
But Sparkle Megan didn’t let that bump in the road derail her mission to find a husband. Her love square turned into a love triangle with single-dad Jordan and health-obsessed Mike, but she fell for Jordan after finding out his 5-year-old son had the same type of diabetes as her late father. She believed that was fate, or a sign that her father approved of Jordan.
Adam Rose/Netflix
Jordan on ‘Love Is Blind’
When Sparkle Megan broke up with Mike, he told her that she was making a mistake, especially when she told him that she would never go for Jordan normally and that she and Mike would be a done deal if they met out in the real world. She decided to trust in the experiment and try something different, but began to doubt her choice by how Mike handled the breakup (and when he hinted that something about Jordan wasn’t right for her … a.k.a. his arm and leg tattoo sleeves).
However, Sparkle Megan seemed more than into Jordan’s tattoos during their reveal. A slight hiccup came during the vacation pool party when Jordan was having too much fun joking around with Joe, and Sparkle Megan got annoyed. But so far, this couple seems very into each other. How they’ll handle integrating Jordan’s son into the equation is the big question mark after the first six episodes.
Kalybriah and Edmond
Adam Rose/Netflix
Edmond on ‘Love Is Blind’
Raise your hand if you’re shocked that the man who was licking the floor while doing push-ups, confessed to eating his own boogers, and said he’s “about to cry with a boner” actually got engaged? Yes, Edmond and Kalybriah fell in love in the pods and got engaged, despite his many, many quirks.
However, trouble began brewing for this couple right away in Mexico when Kalybriah proposed a hypothetical issue and didn’t like Edmond’s response. She asked him what he would do if a buff man grabbed her arm in a club, and he would rather de-escalate a situation than get into a physical altercation.
Adam Rose/Netflix
Kalybriah on ‘Love Is Blind’
Then, Kalybriah asked Edmond if they could wait until they got married to have sex, and he agreed … until he found out that all the other men had sex on the first night in Mexico. Then his attitude changed real quickly. He told the men that he’s “gotta hit it before marriage” and cried when Kalybriah revealed she had one-night stands in the past with men she didn’t care about. He threw a temper tantrum about it, crying about how he’s always “too f—ing nice.”
Oh, and let’s not forget he massaged sunscreen into Kalybriah’s feet for a long time during the pool party. That somehow felt more inappropriate than watching them hook up.
Kacie and Patrick
Adam Rose/Netflix
Patrick on ‘Love Is Blind’
The award for messiest couple of the season goes to Kacie and Patrick. After Patrick was ghosted by his No. 1 choice Anna — who left the show without saying goodbye — he decided to give his “distant No. 2” option, Kacie, a shot. They fell in love with each other, although Kacie said a lot of things that were red flags, including that she was recruited by another dating show in the past and her last relationship was with a guy she saw on Instagram and thought was hot.
Patrick was clearly very insecure about his appearance and ethnicity as an Asian man, but Kacie validated him and made him feel secure in their connection, even telling him that all her siblings were in relationships with non-white partners. They got engaged, but the moment they had their reveal, everything felt off. Kacie was clearly not into Patrick, despite how hard he was trying to make it work.
Immediately after their reveal, back at the women’s hotel, Kacie told producers that Patrick “deserves someone better than me.” She made Patrick come to the lobby and told him that she loves him and “was so happy,” but that she can’t go to Mexico with him. She just wanted to go home, and he took the news surprisingly well. She told him that the producers were trying to make this about his appearance, but she claimed that wasn’t the problem.
Adam Rose/Netflix
Kacie on ‘Love Is Blind’
Cue the mixed signals. Kacie was crying but kept making out with Patrick, at one point even wrapping her legs around his waist, so he thought they would just continue their engagement when they got home without the cameras. He believed her when she said that being on the TV show was just too much. He didn’t hear when she whispered that she didn’t know if she’ll “be there with him” when they got home.
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And here’s where it got really wild. Kacie told producers that Patrick deserves someone who is “obsessed” with him, and that’s not her. “I understand how that is about to look,” she said in her interview. Patrick didn’t think Kacie was gaslighting him, but she totally was. Grainy camera footage from 45 minutes earlier caught Kacie telling a producer that she doesn’t think an attraction will grow with Patrick: “I just know it won’t.” So this is about his appearance after all. Yikes.
The first six episodes of Love is Blind season 9 are now streaming on Netflix. Episodes 7-9 debut Wednesday, Oct. 8, episodes 10-11 come out Wednesday, Oct. 15, and the finale streams Wednesday, Oct. 22.
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