Love Is Blind recap: Most shocking moments from every episode

Warning: This story contains spoilers from the first five episodes of Love Is Blind, which are now streaming on Netflix.

Did you think the premise of Love Is Blind—where 30 singles meet and talk to each other through a wall, making romantic connections without ever seeing each other in person in the hopes that some get engaged and married less than a month later—sounded too ridiculous to work? The first five episodes have finally been released, and the new Netflix reality dating series has more than a few surprises up its sleeve.

Somehow, multiple couples ended up agreeing to get engaged after knowing each other for only two weeks—with the first 10 days of that very short timeframe spent in different rooms entirely (and it turns out even more couples got engaged than were actually shown in the episodes!). The actions of these "singles" (and the show's hosts!) are more surprising than anyone could have predicted. With a premise as wild as this, it was hard to narrow down the list of the most shocking moments of the series—but that's exactly what we've done.

Since Netflix is releasing the first season of Love Is Blind in three batches, below we rounded up all the biggest WTF or gasp-inducing moments from the first five episodes (which are now streaming). Check back here on Thursday, Feb. 20 for all the wildest moments from the next four episodes, and then Thursday, Feb. 27 after the 84-minute finale—which is sure to be the most shocking of all if any couples actually make it down the aisle and say, "I Do"—drops on Netflix.

Episode 1: “Is Love Blind?”

Day 1 of the pods: 37 days until weddings

1. Love Is Blind is hosted by married couple Nick and Vanessa Lachey, and when Vanessa introduces herself to all the singles at the start of the experiment as "Vanessa Lachey," Nick follows with, "I'm obviously Nick Lachey, her husband." Where did that "obviously" come from? Plus there is a huge missed opportunity for any one of the singles to shout, "Stay out of it, Nick Lachey!" Clearly, there are no One Tree Hill fans in this crowd.

2. Pretty quickly into the episode it's revealed that not only do the couples have to get engaged after only 10 days of conversations through a wall, but they also have to then get married just four weeks later. That's shocking in and of itself. Who would sign up for a timeline this accelerated already knowing that you're missing out on making physical connections with your potential fiancé/fiancée? This "experiment" is even crazier than predicted.

3. One of the male singles—Carlton—straight up leaves the pod without even saying goodbye to the female single—Amber—he was on a "date" with because she is talking about how she became her own "masculine energy" instead of having father issues after not having a responsible male presence in her life when she was younger. Rude! It's already clear that this guy is going to be a problem. It will be interesting to see if he's one of the males who ends up engaged by the end of the pod part of the experiment.

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4. On the guys' side of the living quarters, 31-year-old Taylor reveals to his fellow male singles that he's a virgin while on the other side of the wall, the women are all talking about penis size. What a contrast! Absolutely living for these gender dynamics being flipped, especially on a show centered on guys getting down on one knee to propose to women.

Day 2 of the pods: 36 days until weddings

5. As the women drink mimosas and gossip about how all their dates are going so far, they wonder what all the guys do when they can't play video games (since no devices including phones, tablets, and televisions are allowed to be used during the pod part of the experiment). "Bro, I bet I can do more pushups than you," they joke, imitating their potential new husbands. The camera smash cuts to: the guys competing in how many pushups they can do. You literally cannot make this stuff up!

Day 3 of the pods: 35 days until weddings

6. Jessica is torn over two of the single guys: Mark and Barnett. Her basis for liking Mark is because he has a Christian tattoo and because he says he wants kids. She likes Barnett because he says he wants to hang out with her when she comes home from work. Both sound like a solid foundation for marriage! There's totally nothing wrong with this. Prediction: Jessica makes it to the altar with one of these guys.

Day 4 of the pods: 34 days until weddings

7. Cameron and Lauren are the first couple to say "I love you" to each other. It's been only four days! And that's not even four full days they've spent with each other since they've been going on dates with other people and have been separated by a wall the whole time! And he's crying! Cameron basically also tells her that if they get married, divorce isn't an option: "We have to make it work." Lauren looks positively terrified at that. She says it best: "I've had meals in my refrigerator longer than that. That's crazy!"

Day 5 of the pods: 33 days until weddings

8. "I know she's the one. I'm ready to propose to Lauren," Cameron says after having conversations with a stranger over the course of only five days without ever seeing her in person. The look of shock and terror on her face when she realizes what's happening is how it feels to be a viewer watching him go down on one knee. And after they get engaged, they still don't get to see what the other one looks like.

Episode 2: “Will You Marry Me?”

Day 6 of the pods: 32 days until weddings

9. It turns out engaged couples still have to wait one more day after their proposal to finally meet in person. So now Cameron and Lauren are allowed to see each other and they make out immediately. Bold move. "I'm going to take care of you," Cameron calmly whispers to her. Is this supposed to be romantic? It comes off more cringe-worthy than anything.

10. Diamond starts crying when Carlton proposes and she says yes. And then he starts crying. Come on people, it's been only six days—this isn't real life. Reality is going to set in when they're together in person. Everyone is "connecting" and "falling in love" based on things they say during conversations that they have in common. Unless we're not actually seeing the real meat of their conversations in the pods play out onscreen, it's all been shallow, first date conversations so far.

11. "I've wanted a best friend for a while now," one of the female singles, Kelly, says. But after only six days and surface conversations, can she really call Kenny her best friend?

12. It's amazing to see the evolution of the singles' wardrobe choices in the pods. After less than a week, everyone is just in athleisure or pajamas. All their glam, formal looks from the first day were completely unnecessary—you literally can't be seen by your dates! That's the whole point of the show! It takes some of them longer than others to catch on, but pretty soon almost all of the singles are fully casual.

Day 7 of the pods: 31 days until weddings

13. When Diamond sees Carlton for the first time, he goes in for the kiss and she leans back with an, "Oh wow." Not a great start!

14. Barnett pulls back on his relationship with Jessica almost immediately after she torpedoes her relationship with Mark to pick him. Talk about brutal timing. "I'm just telling you, he's a f–boy," she says to another one of the female singles who is seriously interested in Barnett before going right back to Mark. Wow, Jessica! She's going heavy on the "babe" and "baby" too when talking to Mark again to try and make him forget about how she almost ended things with him in their last conversation. How does Mark not see this?

15. How boring must Kelly and Kenny's "love" story be if this is all we've seen of them before their proposal? We hardly know anything about them except that they're engaged after only seven days of conversations because their conversations haven't been shown all that often in the first two episodes unlike the other engaged couples. That's usually pretty telling on reality TV.

Day 8 of the pods: 30 days until weddings

16. Barnett plays a ukulele and brings it to a date with LC. Yikes, dude.

17. Amber reveals to Barnett she had an abortion in her past and it almost destroyed her. And he says nothing back to her after her emotional and powerful confession. Between his love for the ukulele and now this, Barnett is really accumulating a lot of strikes.

Day 9 of the pods: 29 days until weddings

18. Is Rory a therapist for all the guys? We haven't seen him go on any dates with the female singles—all he does is hang out with all the guys giving them admittedly very solid advice for all their pod relationships. Now he's seen coaching Damian who's ready to propose to Giannina. If Love Is Blind actually employed a couples therapist for the contestants, that would be brilliant but he's just another one of the singles.

19. Speaking of Damian, he gets down on one knee to propose to Giannina—after first asking her to say her full name one more time so he knows how to correctly pronounce it. Isn't that something he should know before proposing? And then he gives a speech about how he's her gift and that's why he put a bow on his wrist. The episode ends before she can give her answer.

Episode 3: “First Night Together”

Day 9 of the pods: 29 days until weddings

20. Thankfully episode 3 wastes no time in getting to Giannina's response to Damian's proposal. It's amazing seeing Giannina tell Damian to stand up so she can get down on one knee and propose to him instead. Subvert those gender stereotypes, girl!

21. Another proposal, happens in the pods, this time between Jessica and her No. 2 pick Mark. "Jessica, will you marry me? [Long, awkward, silent pause… ] Hello?" Poor Mark. After not saying anything for the longest time, she eventually says yes. But that pause was definitely not fun for Mark.

22. After stressing out about not knowing who to propose to between Amber and LC, Barnett eventually picks … Amber, aka the woman he was scared of. Poor LC! Watching her break down afterward about why she's so "unlovable" was devastating.

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Day 10, aka the final day, of the pods: 28 days until weddings

23. Damian says that Giannina "has touched me without touching me," which is quite a sentence. He also put a ring in the middle of a rose in preparation for seeing Giannina in person to propose again. But it worked! Giannina is into him, he's blown away by her beauty, and this is oddly becoming one of the couples to root for.

24. When Amber and Barnett meet in person she immediately shoves a ring on his left ring finger so he can't change his mind. A powerful woman who knows what she wants is inspirational. Maybe she is the perfect woman for Barnett because she won't stand for any of his "f–boy" tendencies that Jessica tried to warn her about.

25. Almost 29 minutes into the third episode, we finally get the next appearance of esteemed Love Is Blind hosts Nick and Vanessa! After first seeing them at the start of the series to explain how the experiment works, they reappear next in Cancun to reveal that the couples we've seen get engaged so far—Cameron and Lauren, Diamond and Carlton, Kelly and Kenny, Damian and Giannina, Barnett and Amber, and Mark and Jessica—are now relocating to Mexico to see if their relationship works when they're actually together and can see each other. It's still not exactly reality since they'll be at a beautiful resort on vacation, still separated from the real world and their devices, but at least they can get to know each other better. Time to say goodbye to all the other contestants!

26. Out of the blue, Giannina tells Damian it's been "435 days," and after a pause, he puts two and two together that she's talking about the last time she had sex. "On day 325, I went to the beach so I could remember what it felt like to have my ass slapped." Uh… what?! Damian attempts to turn the conversation back around to something romantic since that's his wheelhouse, and that's not at all where Giannina's head is at. She tells him she is dessert, and the camera backs away. Looks like her dry spell is ending.

27. Carlton and Diamond's first night together just goes from bad to worse as they keep saying the wrong things to each other and don't have the same chemistry they had while "dating" in the pods. And when he finally reveals that he's had relationships in the past with men—something he purposely hid while dating in the pods because of his fear of Diamond rejecting him—everything takes a turn. Before she can even react or process the information, he freaks out and throws his hat and screams "f–!" when she doesn't immediately accept his confession and move on.

Episode 4: “Couples Retreat”

27 days until weddings

28. Maybe this doesn't count as a shocking moment but it still is worth noting that Amber and Barnett are alllll about sex after their first night together. Are you shocked? Because you shouldn't be shocked with how these two have been acting. We learn that Giannina got Damian into bed too on the first night. Meanwhile, Jessica and Mark didn't even cuddle on their first night—Mark is ready to be physical, but Jessica is not. And Diamond spent the first night in a different room from Carlton in light of his confession and blow up.

29. Apparently, Kenny is a good kisser? Kelly ranks him as "10 plus … 15" on a scale of 10. Who would have thought?

30. Like we predicted earlier, Carlton is most definitely a problem. It's clear he's got issues with his own sexuality that he should have worked through before coming on a reality dating series—especially one where you have to be as open and honest and vulnerable on an accelerated timetable in order to get engaged in 10 days and married less than a month later. But after spending the first night alone, his next interaction with Diamond is shocking and downright appalling when he tries to emotionally manipulate and gaslight her. She tells him she can't marry him in light of him keeping something so big from her and only telling her after they got engaged, and he responds by blowing up again. "You're taking off your ring because I'm being honest with you?" No man, she's taking off her ring because you're acting immature. "F– a ring!" he shouts as he throws it into the pool. "This is why I don't f– with b–es like you." Wow. Absolutely not. Get this guy off the show, now. He starts insulting her and saying some really mean things about her hair as she storms off. "I have clearly realized this is not the woman for me," he says in a confessional interview, which is quite the rewriting of history that we just saw play out on camera. Carlton and Diamond are officially done, bringing the count down to five engaged couples. Will all of them make it to the altar? (Read our interview with Diamond for the full story on their explosive fight.)

31. Check the clock—it's 35 minutes into episode 4 and one half of our hosting duo has finally reappeared onscreen! Vanessa returns during the group dinner date where all the couples realize they're staying at the same resort to recap their journey so far. Where is Nick? Why are the hosts gone from the show so much? Were hosts even needed for a series like this?

32. During the group dinner, the men and women separate to gossip about how physical they've gotten after one night together. As Damian is talking about how forward Giannina was on their first night, the quick cut to Mark downing his drink is pure art. And Kenny lies to all the guys about having sex on the first night when he and Kelly very much did not! Kelly is actually very honest about not having sex the first night when talking with the other women. It's very telling about gender dynamics and hilarious to see play out onscreen.

33. Jessica and Barnett's first conversation in person since their "breakup" in the pods after he rejected her is the most awkward. She's flirting with him, he's not really reciprocating, and Mark feels the need to interrupt it. Will he realize he wasn't her No. 1 pick now that he can see how she acts around Barnett?

Episode 5: “Last Night in Paradise”

26 days until weddings

34. Surprisingly episode 5 picks up on the same night as the group dinner date, as Jessica and Mark return to their room. She's clearly extremely drunk and talking at Mark instead of with him about how she thinks Barnett and Amber's relationship is all just physical, showing her jealousy. She also doubles down on not wanting to sleep with Mark yet—he says he agrees and is on the same page but he's clearly not. He's all in and she's holding back—this is not a couple that is going to last.

25 days until weddings

35. Giannina is totally the kind of person who asks their partner "What are you thinking?" out of nowhere. She pulls that with Damian while on a romantic boat date and then gets into an argument with him when she doesn't like his answer about loving being on vacation because it's a break from reality. She assumes that means he has something he's trying to escape in his life back home. And it turns out she was right—Damian finally tells her that he is taking off more days than he's allowed to from his job in order to be on this show, and he might get fired as a result. Hopefully his relationship with Giannina works out because that's quite a huge risk to take with your career.

36. As soon as Jessica and Mark join a weird three-way group date at the hotel bar, Amber and Barnett proceed to get really gross with PDA. It feels very high school, as if Amber is "marking her territory" to prove to Jessica that Barnett is her guy. And Jessica is still in denial about wanting Barnett instead of Mark. "The way I feel about Mark is not the way I want to feel about my fiancé," she says to the camera. Yikes. Why is she still stringing him along and not being honest about the way she feels, especially if she's still lusting after Barnett?

22 days until weddings

37. "These past few days have honestly been amazing," Mark says to start off the episode. But it turns out he also knows how Jessica really feels about their engagement because she was finally honest with him last night about her apprehension. Jessica takes off her ring that morning, and later proceeds to continue flirting with Barnett and criticizing his relationship with Amber. She needs to let that go and either go all in with Mark or break things off with him because watching her continue to be in love with Barnett (and be in denial about it) is painful.

Episode 6: “Moving in Together”

21 days until weddings

38. Finally, our hosts have returned! Three minutes into the sixth episode, both Vanessa and Nick appear to reveal that after the Mexican engagement-moon ends, each of the couples will move into a new home, a neutral space, to deepen their relationships. And they're all going to be moving into the same complex in Atlanta and be neighbors—that won't be awkward at all! Then Nick and Vanessa leave again and we're left to wonder what purpose, if any, they're serving as hosts of this show.

39. As soon as they touch down in Atlanta, Kelly is called away to San Diego for two days for work. So much for finally getting to know each other as roommates in the real world.

40. Cameron says it wouldn't bother him if he used Lauren's toothbrush or if she used his. Gross, dude. And he also reveals that he's done it before. No! Lauren, run!

41. Jessica has officially put her ring back on, but it's clear that she's in denial and just playing with Mark's emotions when she really wants to be with Barnett. There's no way these two are getting married.

42. Lauren makes a comment about how "if" they get married, how they'll have a wonderful life together. Hm. Suspicious. Is someone having doubts?

20 days until weddings

43. The couples go back to their own places with their partners to pack up things they'll need for the next three weeks in their new shared "home," and Jessica can't stop making derogatory jokes about Mark's place being young—from his bean bag chair to his gaming system to the "text book" on his side table. No matter what this guy does, she can't get over the age difference. What makes either of them think that's going to change in 20 days? We also learn that she never does her own laundry, so who exactly is the one in this relationship who's too "young" for marriage?! It's also telling that she can't say anything specific about why she fell in love with Mark when talking with his roommates. Later when talking about how she wants to start trying for kids, she says she doesn't think Mark is ready for that and keeps on putting words in his mouth despite his promise that he wants that too. At one point she even tries to talk him out of wanting kids at his age. Why can't she just accept that he's being honest about what he wants?

44. For the first time ever, Amber and Barnett have a real conversation and it doesn't go well. She confesses that she has major student loan debt that she's never even tried to work to pay off, she has an incredibly bad credit score, a makeup obsession and even more debt because of buying makeup, and lack of solid work history/motivation to get a job. Barnett is seriously starting to second-guess his choice.

45. JESSICA FEEDS WINE TO HER DOG OUT OF HER OWN GLASS.

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19 days until weddings

46. Now that everyone has moved into the same apartment complex, Amber surprises Barnett with a birthday celebration with all the other couples. Surprise surprise: Jessica immediately gets trashed and starts flirting with Barnett. It's awkward and obvious … and he's not reciprocating at all, which makes it even worse. She tells him the truth about her feelings about him and Mark and how it's not working and Barnett just jokes that "it sounds like it's meant to be." And then Jessica tries to put words in Barnett's mouth about how he's not emotionally there with Amber and their relationship is only physical, and he just laughs. Jessica "wants to revisit" how he was confused just two weeks ago and tries to convince him Amber isn't right for him and nothing will ever break the bond Jessica and Barnett made. He immediately says yes… because "it's friendship." It's so uncomfortable! After that incredibly uncomfortable encounter, Jessica immediately goes back to Mark and is all over him, and he's confused by it. She's so hot and cold towards him, and she only ever shows the interest he's looking for when she realizes she can't be with Barnett. Poor Mark. This guy deserves better.

47. During Barnett's birthday, Damian says something to Lauren and there's an awkward pause, and so Giannina storms off because she doesn't like … feeling awkward? Damian and Giannina then get into a screaming match in the middle of the party over … again, feeling awkward? Damian walks out of the party.

48. Back in their apartment later that night, Mark tries to give a compliment to Jessica but she's so drunk that she thinks he's saying an insult. It's such a weird misunderstanding and Mark looks completely lost in trying to diffuse his belligerent fiancée. And then all of a sudden, out of absolutely nowhere Jessica says she thinks Barnett is "sexy and hot." She says this to Mark! He leaves the bedroom and goes to sleep on the couch while she drunkenly yells "babe come here"—but he just ignores her. This is like early-20s drunk, not mid-30s drinking, and it's just getting concerning at this point that she's always this drunk while Mark is pretty much sober.

Episode 7: “Meet the Parents”

19 days until weddings

49. The next morning, Jessica tries to play everything off by saying she drank too much and said things she didn't mean. But we all know she meant every word she said. And so does Mark.

50. Giannina and Damian finally break down their issues, but they do it while in separate rooms and not looking at each other since that's where they feel most comfortable talking about deep, real issues—just like being back in the pods. Giannina brutally tells Damian that while he says their sex is the best of his life, it's not for her. And then she gets angry and yells about how he never initiates sex; it's always her. Yikes.

51. Wait, Barnett's name is Matt? His last name is Barnett! WTF?! Amber introduces Barnett as "Matt" to her mom and while we thought she was joking at first, it becomes clear that it's the truth. Wow. We feel betrayed!

52. Damian's parents cancel on meeting Giannina. Ouch. They obviously do not approve of this experiment.

53. Of course Jessica thinks that Mark's mom is not going to be okay with their age gap—but to her absolute shock, his mom is totally fine with it. And yet Jessica still isn't okay with it! "I think a lot of it's in my head?" Jessica wonders after no one has given her the shocked reaction she expected about their age difference. Duh! But she's still confident someone will call them on their age difference. She's never going to get over this. She's just waiting for someone, anyone, to validate her feelings and give her a reason to end their relationship. But she's going to have to do that on her own.

18 days until weddings

54. CAMERON. RAPS. IN. FRONT. OF. LAUREN'S. MOM. And her mom is … impressed? What is happening?!

Episode 8: “Countdown to I Do’s”

14 days until weddings

55. Four minutes into episode 8, our hosts finally return as Nick addresses the guys and Vanessa talks to the women, once again recapping how the show's experiment works before immediately disappearing while the women try on wedding dresses and men pick out their suits. Again … why are they here? Why haven't they actually interacted with all the couples?

56. Jessica has a breakdown because none of the dresses feel right even though they look pretty, and it's obviously because her relationship doesn't feel right. Read the signs, honey!

57. Jessica then sets up an actual meeting with Barnett (and alcohol) where she pretends to be supportive of him and Amber. He then brings up their conversation at his birthday party and lays it on the table that it was clear she had regrets about their relationship ending and she puts on a big show of being surprised that he "took it" that way. Girl. Seriously? She continues to just keep on hammering home that she never thought that—and the lady doth protest too much. But at least she's finally done flirting with Barnett. That was getting so incredibly hard (and annoying) to watch.

10 days until weddings

58. Damian and Giannina get into yet another fight about how she prioritizes social media over him after she yells at him for being on his phone—he says it was to pause his music to talk to her. These are such petty fights. Are they ever going to be on the same page?

8 days until weddings

59. Amber hasn't been working at all during filming whereas Barnett works every day and he doesn't know what she's been doing to pass her time. She's also over budget for her wedding dress and it's clear that they both have such different priorities when it comes to working and budgeting and finances.

60. Mark sets up a romantic date for Jessica that essentially recreates their pods—aka they're not even in the same room together. And Jessica is super happy about it. That's pretty telling.

61. Damian tries to have a serious conversation with Gia about how she's acting different now than in the pods and she picks up her phone and starts scrolling—just two days after she got mad at him for the same thing. He tells her she will lose him if this continues.

62. Kelly and Kenny (hey, remember them?) still haven't had sex. She opens up about her struggles with orgasming in her past relationships and Kenny has never had that conversation with a woman before. That doesn't inspire confidence that he'll be able to get the job done with Kelly.

Episode 9: “Bachelor & Bachelorette Parties”

7 days until weddings

63. Twist: Jessica's best friends don't care about her age difference with Mark either! In fact, they actually bring up the fact that Jessica was super into Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra's marriage. So maybe her issues with Mark don't actually stem from the age gap and more from the fact that she's just not into him?

64: Another twist: Jessica reveals that she and Mark have been having really good sex. Her earlier reservations about not wanting to get physical have apparently disappeared—we just haven't seen it on the show. So now Kelly and Kenny are the only engaged couple not doing it.

1 day until weddings

65. Once again subverting gender stereotypes, the women's bachelorette party is actually way wilder than the guy's bachelor party! The girls hire a stripper on a party bus before going to a drag show while the guys keep it classy and play casino games at an art gallery. Meanwhile, Jessica is "a messica," according to Lauren, as she gets called out by a drag queen for slurring her words and being too drunk. And of course, she later drunkenly approaches Amber and says, "I won't go after your dude," before she kisses Amber smack dab on the mouth. Someone get this girl a water.

Wedding Day!

66. In a shocking twist, we actually get to our first wedding before the finale, as Giannina and Damian prepare to say "I do."

67. We have been lied to about another guy's name! During the wedding ceremony, it's revealed that Damian's first name is Mark too! Damian is his middle name. Do you feel as betrayed as we do?

68. Giannina says "I do" to Damian, but the episode cuts off before Damian can answer. Giannina was the wildcard in their relationship, but is Damian going to say yes too? Or will the first wedding end in disaster?

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