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Spoilers below.
The fifth season of Love Is Blind has finally arrived, and new episodes are juicier than ever. As usual, some couples find love in the pods, but a prior relationship also threatens to wreck one of the new romances.
ICU travel nurse Aaliyah seemingly finds love with lawyer Uche in the pods. However, an emotional revelation from Uche completely throws Aaliyah off, making her question the burgeoning romance. Here’s what you need to know about the surprising love triangle between Aaliyah, Uche, and Lydia on Love Is Blind season 5.
Uche revealed he’d previously dated another contestant.
At the end of season 5, episode 3, Uche emotionally opened up to Aaliyah with a secret he hadn’t revealed before. “There’s something I have to tell you,” he explained. “I haven’t been completely honest with you. One of my dates on the first day, I walked into the pod, and it is a girl that I have dated in the past. And, um, it’s Lydia.” The episode ended on this mic drop, with Aaliyah clearly shocked that Lydia, with whom she’d developed a close friendship, had previously dated Uche.
Episode 4 delved deeper into the love triangle, showing us Lydia and Uche’s first pod dates, in which they quickly realized that they knew one another. Lydia excitedly asked Uche, “Do you want to start at zero?” However, Uche responded, “I don’t think we can do that, because I kind of, it ruins the experiment.” He also admitted, “This really caught me off guard.” While Lydia seemed keen to continue talking to Uche, he essentially shut down any possibility of a second chance.
Uche on Love Is Blind season 5.
Cutting back to Aaliyah and Uche’s date, Uche said of his relationship with Lydia, “We dated for a few months. I just didn’t think that we were that compatible so I ended things. It hurt me so much because she deserves an amazing person who is completely sure about her, and I really hope she finds that.” Aaliyah started crying, clearly shell-shocked that her close friend Lydia had previously dated the man she was now falling in love with.
As for whether or not he was still considering Lydia as an option, Uche reassured Aaliyah, saying, “That’s over with … I went back and forth about it for a long time, because I do see a lot of qualities that would make her a good wife. She seemed 100 percent into me, and I thought if I can’t give her 100 percent back, then I don’t want to hurt her.”
Lydia got a little too candid with Aaliyah.
After stepping outside the pod for a moment, Aaliyah returned and revealed to Uche, “[Lydia]’s been making comments. She’s been saying things and I’m like, ‘How do you know this?’” Aaliyah continued, “She’s been telling me multiple times, like, ‘I just see myself in you. We are almost the same woman, you know? It’s just weird.”
Back in the women’s quarters, Aaliyah revealed to Lydia that she’d found out about her prior relationship with Uche. The pair embraced and cried, telling one another how much they loved each other. However, the conversation became uncomfortable when Lydia started revealing personal details about Uche, telling Aaliyah, “I know everything about him because I know him.” Even though Aaliyah firmly said that she didn’t want to know anything about Uche because she wanted to discover it for herself, Lydia couldn’t help but spill the details.
Lydia started talking about Uche’s dog, Kobe, telling Aaliyah that Kobe “pees every time he sees me.” Lydia also revealed that she’d met Uche’s friends, saying, “I’m sure you’re going to get along.” She also called Uche a “workaholic,” said that he was “OCD,” that he drove a Tesla, and revealed that his three-level “house was dope.” She even revealed Uche’s favorite color. With each new revelation, Aaliyah looked more and more uncomfortable.
Lydia and Aaliyah on Love Is Blind season 5.
Finally, Lydia dropped the bombshell that she’d last slept with Uche in January of that year, only months before they’d entered the pods. In a confessional, Aaliyah said, “You had sex three months ago, and I’m supposed to feel like that’s no big deal?” She also revealed, “I’m struggling with the fact he left out a lot of details. I get Lydia’s story and it includes a lot more detail than I would have liked.”
Aaliyah expressed her doubts to Uche.
After hearing Lydia’s side of the story, Aaliyah joined Uche in the pods, and she was clearly distressed about what she’d learned. “On the outside world, I would never date a friend’s ex. I would never befriend your ex,” she told him. Uche’s response did nothing to calm Aaliyah fears, with him asking, “You don’t think this is hard for me? I mean it’s happening to me just as much, or even more, than it’s happening to you.” Aaliyah responded, “No it’s not, because I’m over here sitting with your ex that you fucked three months ago. She’s telling me things that I didn’t want to know from her.”
Uche tried to persuade Aaliyah that they could make it work, in spite of the Lydia curve ball. They ended the date choosing each other, with Uche revealing that he had every intention of proposing. However, when he returned to the pod to propose, Aaliyah wasn’t there. Production intervened, telling Uche, “Unfortunately, Aaliyah’s decided not to continue with the experiment.”
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Aaliyah opened up about her decision to leave the pods before Uche proposed, saying, “I had this gut feeling after really analyzing my interactions with Uche, Lydia, getting all the facts and things, or at least hearing both sides of that situation.” She continued, “Being engaged, it’s a sacred thing to experience and you’re sharing that with family, friends, people I love dearly and that love me dearly. It was something I felt was best for me moving forward.”
The trailer for the next drop of Love Is Blind episodes hinted that Uche and Aaliyah do have a conversation about their relationship in the real world. But as for what happens between them, we’ll just have to wait for new episodes to arrive on September 29.
Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper’s BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness, and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.