‘Love is Blind’s Aaliyah Explains Why She Fled the Pods: “It Was Really Tough”

You never know what to expect from Love Is Blind. This is the show that always keeps you guessing, whether it’s breaking all the rules with a face-to-face proposal or trying to convince us that dogs “love” drinking wine (they do not and should absolutely not). The first week of Season 5 started off with a doozy of a reveal that led directly into a cliffhanger that no one saw coming — unless you read the episode title, I guess. SPOILERS ahead for Love Is Blind Episode 4, “She’s Gone…?”

The romance between practical-minded lawyer Uche and spoken word enthusiast Aaliyah definitely traveled the rockiest of roads in Week 1, from Aaliyah confessing a past infidelity to Uche dropping the biggest bombshell in Love Is Blind history: he actually dated Lydia, another woman in the pods, the same woman who guided Aaliyah through her rocky patch with Uche. This kicked off a chain reaction that ultimately led to Aaliyah making Love Is Blind history as the first participant to ghost their person before they get a chance to propose. Instead of hearing a response, Uche — presumably with a ring in his pocket — heard, “Unfortunately Aaliyah has decided not to continue with the experiment.” No matter who you are, you never want a producer to have to intervene in your proposal.

In an interview with Decider, Aaliyah opened up about the latest in a series of shocking Season 5 moments. “Arguably, yes, people would say it was a sudden decision,” said Aaliyah about leaving the pods. “But we’re in an experimental environment where things are really expedited. so you have to make choices quickly throughout the whole process. You have to go into something like this knowing who you are and what you want and sticking to your standards. There was just something in my gut, my intuition, telling me, ‘Okay Aaliyah, I think this is the right thing for you and for everyone involved in this situation.”

The situation wasn’t entirely Uche’s fault, either; as Aaliyah told us, “Uche was always my number one from the first day.” Rather, the situation was worsened by Lydia — Uche’s ex, and Aaliyah’s pod bestie. Uche said that he and Lydia only dated for a few months and then he broke up with her. Lydia, however, reacted by bulldozing over Aaliyah’s request to not talk about Uche. Lydia proceeded to tell her about Uche’s dog, his friends, that he is OCD and a workaholic about his “dope” house, his Tesla, his favorite color, and his favorite whiskey.

Aaliyah clearly hated every second of this, but Lydia is too excited to talk about the toy that she bought for Uche’s dog Kobe to notice. Lydia even bent the truth, saying that she and Uche had actually decided to start up their relationship again “at zero” in the pods. Note that in the footage of that exchange, Uche immediately shoots down Lydia’s idea of starting over “at zero.” Then Lydia said that she actually saw Uche in January, three months ago, and that they had sex.

“There were a few things stated that I was like, ‘I don’t even think outside of this experiment environment I would have wanted to know that about somebody’s past relationship,” Aaliyah told Decider. “It was mind-blowing for me. I was just really shocked. It took a long time for me to process that, and then being in this expedited environment, you don’t really have that time. So it was really tough.”

The next time Aaliyah and Uche met in the pods, Aaliyah repeated all of this to Uche, who was quick to clear things up. Yes, they had sex a few months ago, and no he did not agree to start “at zero” with Lydia in the pods. They both managed to get comfortable enough to talk about wedding rings — but when Uche returned later to propose to Aaliyah, he was greeted with silence. She was gone.

That’s how Aaliyah made Love Is Blind history, albeit more in a dramatic way instead of a romantic way. But judging by the teaser footage for the rest of the season, Aaliyah and Uche’s story is not over yet. It also looks like Uche and Lydia’s story isn’t over yet either!

The next installment of this saga premieres on Netflix on Friday, September 29.