Okay, look. When Netflix first dropped Love Is Blind back in 2020, I was right there with everyone else, leaning into my TV, half-rolling my eyes, half-obsessed. The premise? Get engaged to someone you’ve never even seen. Like, literally. You chat through a wall, fall in love with a voice and a personality, and then bam-you’re planning a wedding in a few weeks with a complete stranger you just met in person. It’s wild. It’s absolutely bonkers. And honestly? I didn’t think it had a snowball’s chance in hell of actually working.

So, Does This Pod Thing Actually Work, Or What?

I mean, come on. We’ve all been on those awkward first dates where the person is great on paper, their voice is fine over the phone, but then you meet and it’s just… no. The vibe’s off. There’s no spark. The way they chew their food just sends shivers down your spine, and not in a good way. So, to ask people to bypass all that initial, very human, very superficial (but also very real) gut reaction stuff and jump straight to “I do”? It felt like a recipe for disaster. Or, at the very least, a short-lived, highly dramatic season of television. Which, let’s be real, is probably what the producers were hoping for.

But then, something kinda crazy started to happen. People actually fell in love. And got married. And, get this-some of them are still together. Years later! My jaw dropped the first time I heard about Lauren and Cameron. Like, no way. They actually made it work? And they’re still together? Color me surprised. Really, really surprised. It’s almost… heartwarming, if I’m being honest. And I’m not usually one for heartwarming reality TV stuff, you know? I’m usually here for the mess.

The show, now, it’s a whole franchise. Eight seasons deep in the U.S. alone, plus international versions popping up everywhere. People are still signing up to date in those weird, glowy pods, hoping to find their soulmate through a wall. And a fair few have, apparently. The whole “first Love Is Blind baby” thing? Yeah, that’s a real headline. Bliss Poureetezadi-Goytowski and Zack Goytowski. They went through a whole rollercoaster, remember? He broke up with her for Irina, came back to Bliss, and now they’ve got a baby. It’s a lot. But hey, it worked for them. Who’d have thought?

The OG’s and the Surprises: Who’s Still Standing?

Okay, so let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Who actually managed to navigate this wild experiment and come out the other side with a spouse? Because, for every Lauren and Cameron, there are probably five couples who crashed and burned harder than my last attempt at baking sourdough (it was bad, really bad). And that’s the thing, the show highlights the successes, obviously, but the failures are just as, if not more, telling.

But first, the wins. And yeah, there are some pretty big wins here, considering the circumstances.

• Lauren Speed and Cameron Hamilton (Season 1): I mean, these two. They’re basically the gold standard. The blueprint. Everyone who goes on the show is probably secretly hoping for a “Lauren and Cameron” story. They just clicked, in the pods and out. And they’re still going strong. You love to see it. You really do.
• Amber Pike and Matt Barnett (Season 1): Another Season 1 success story, which just adds to my confusion about how Season 1 ended up being so… effective? They had their drama, sure, but they stuck it out. Good for them, I guess.
• Alexa Alfia Lemieux and Brennon Lemieux (Season 3): These two were pretty solid from the jump, if I recall. They seemed like a really good match, very comfortable with each other. It’s nice when that happens, isn’t it?
• Tiffany Pennywell and Brett Brown (Season 4): Okay, this one felt like a fairy tale. They were so cute together. And they’re still together. Not gonna lie, I was rooting for them.
• Chelsea Griffin and Kwame Appiah (Season 4): They had some bumps, especially with Kwame’s mom, but they worked through it. And yep, still married.
• Bliss Poureetezadi-Goytowski and Zack Goytowski (Season 4): Like I said, the baby news is huge. And kind of a testament to sticking with your gut, even if it takes a weird detour through another relationship first.

It’s not a huge list, I know. But for a show that asks people to get married after, what, three weeks of knowing each other, half of that through a wall? That’s actually pretty impressive, if you ask me. It’s more than I expected, anyway.

“It’s easy to dismiss these reality show relationships as fake or fleeting, but when you see couples genuinely build a life together, it makes you wonder if maybe, just maybe, there’s something to it beyond the drama.”

The Drama, The Divorces, and My Unsolicited Advice

Now, for the other side of the coin. Because let’s not pretend it’s all sunshine and roses and “I do’s” that last forever. For every couple that makes it, there are a whole bunch who realize, post-pods, that maybe love isn’t quite that blind. Or that real life-rent, jobs, family, weird habits-hits a lot harder than a romantic notion developed in a soundproof room.

I mean, think about it. You go from this intensely isolated, highly emotional environment where all you do is talk about your feelings and dreams, to suddenly living together, sharing a bed, meeting their crazy aunt, and having cameras follow your every move. It’s a pressure cooker. And it exposes all the cracks. Quickly.

Remember Deepti and Shake from Season 2? Oh, man. That was a rough one. Shake basically told everyone who’d listen that he wasn’t physically attracted to Deepti. In front of her! On national television! She deserved so much better. And she walked away from him at the altar, which was, frankly, iconic. Good for her. You gotta know your worth, right?

And then there are the couples who do say “I do” but then quickly realize it was a mistake. Like Iyanna McNeely and Jarrette Jones from Season 2. They were cute, seemed to genuinely like each other, but the real world just got in the way. They announced their divorce about a year later. Which, sadly, isn’t all that uncommon even for couples who don’t meet in pods. But still, it’s a reminder of the unique challenges these folks face.

The thing is, the show sets them up for this almost fairytale ending, but it doesn’t really prepare them for the mundane, everyday stuff that makes up a marriage. It’s one thing to bond over shared vulnerabilities; it’s another to figure out whose turn it is to take out the trash or how to blend two very different financial situations. Those are the real tests, I think. The ones that don’t make for great TV, necessarily, but are crucial for actual, lasting love.

What This Actually Means

So, is love truly blind? After all these seasons, all these couples, all the drama and the genuine moments of connection, I’m still kind of on the fence. Part of me, the cynical journalist part, says no. That initial attraction, that physical spark, it matters. It just does. We’re wired that way. And trying to force a connection without it is always going to be an uphill battle.

But then, there’s the other part of me, the one that got a little misty-eyed watching Lauren and Cameron’s wedding. The part that sees Bliss and Zack with their baby and thinks, “Huh. Maybe.” Maybe taking away the superficial stuff, even for a short time, really does allow some people to connect on a deeper level than they ever would otherwise. Maybe it strips away all the nonsense we usually focus on and forces people to actually listen to each other, to value personality and shared values above all else.

Here’s what I think: Love Is Blind isn’t about proving love is blind for everyone. It’s about showing that for some people, under very specific, highly artificial circumstances, a blind connection can be the catalyst for something real. It’s not a foolproof method, not by a long shot. It’s a high-stakes gamble with a lot of public scrutiny. But the fact that even a handful of these couples are still together, still married, still building lives and families? That’s more than I ever expected. And honestly, it makes me think a little bit about what we all prioritize when we’re looking for love. Maybe we could all benefit from closing our eyes, just a little, sometimes…