“I should go home,” Jax says after laying eyes on her fiancé, Stew, for the first time in Love Is Blind Season 11. 

And, so she does, cutting short — at least for now — a connection built on a shared Phantom of the Opera obsession, dreams of becoming one of the “most stylish couples in the Hamptons,” and speculation about whether Stew looks more like a Kennedy or a Romney. 

When Jax found herself all in on Stew, she was more surprised than anyone. “I’m very closed off with dating,” she tells Tudum. “But I stopped ranking people by day two or three, and only put down his name. I was like, ‘I’m going all in on this guy, and if it’s not him, I’m out, because there’s nothing else for me here.’”

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Stew was simply looking for “someone who was easy to talk to” — and if that led to a happily ever after, all the better. “I found that in Jax,” he tells Tudum. “We weren’t forcing things. Every time I walked into the pods I could relax. It felt effortless and fun.’”

So why, then, did Jax walk away as quickly as she’d built that bond with Stew? And how did he feel about her ghosting him? Keep reading to hear from both Boston daters about their Love Is Blind journey — from their early pod dates to Jax’s abrupt disappearance.

From the beginning, Jax and Stew’s pod relationship was built on something few would consider romantic: logistics. “We’re very, very practical people,” says Jax. “So it was less lovey-dovey and more like, ‘How do you want to spend your holidays? Where do you want to vacation? Where do you want to live?’”

That mindset naturally extended to money, a topic Jax knew she wanted to broach in the pods. “I like to know that our lifestyles are going to match. I live a very full life. I like to spend money, so I need a partner that can be OK with that but also rein it in,” she says. “He could relate to that, and I felt comfortable talking to him about that stuff.”

Stew noticed their alignment in those areas, too. “There were people [with whom] the conversations I had very clearly pointed toward no overlapping lifestyle,” he says. “Obviously, there were similarities [with Jax] — like about apartments and restaurants and design. And she’s this entrepreneur and has all this stuff going for her.”

Their relationship hit its first real snag, however, when Stew revealed he’d never told anyone he loved them before — and had never been in love, period. For Jax, his admission was a warning sign. “I was like, ‘This is his red flag,’” she says. “I love very deeply, and I’ve been in love many times ... so for someone to not have that feeling is alarming.” 

Looking back, Stew understands why the revelation caused concern. “It’s not like I’m a robot who’s never had feelings for anybody before,” he clarifies. “But for me, that question was more about if there’s ever been someone that you’ve truly been in love with and believed, ‘This is my one, and I am super confident in that,’ and it didn’t work.” For Jax, Stew’s response was “a crack in our perfect little smooth journey,” but not enough to call it quits. “I didn’t think it was a complete deal-breaker, but that’s when I started to question things a little bit.”

Despite the wobble, the two pushed forward — on their own terms. Jax says they made a pact heading into the engagement: no premature “I love yous,” no making out at the reveal (a rule they broke immediately), and no discussing intimacy once they got to their couples’ trip. “That just made me feel comfortable again to be like, ‘OK, this guy gets it,’” she says. “I just feel like I’m talking to a friend.”

But the proposal didn’t happen the way she’d imagined. “It was weird,” she explains. “I would’ve hoped that he was up all night writing, but it felt like he was just winging it.” She says Stew’s words felt disconnected from her specifically — like some “superficial checklist” rather than something from the heart. “It wasn’t about me at all,” she says. “I was bummed, and I couldn’t comprehend it at the time, because you want to be happy.”

Stew viewed the proposal as “a leap of faith.” “I wasn't like, ‘This is it. This is the one,’” he says. “It was more about, ‘This has been such a trip, and everything about you is a green light so far. I’d be crazy not to follow this through and take that next step and see where it leads.’” 

Trusting in the process, the two went forward with the reveal, which ultimately pushed Jax past the point of no return. When the doors opened, Jax says she met a version of Stew she didn’t recognize. “He just seemed really cocky in a way, and I was like, ‘OK, this is not what I was expecting,’” she says. “He was like, ‘So what do you think about me?’ It felt douchey.” Whatever chemistry existed in the pods didn’t survive face-to-face contact. “The walls did not come down for me. I was like, ‘This is not romantic at all.’” 

Stew describes that first post-pod interaction as an uncomfortable blur because so much was running through his head. “You are just talking on autopilot. 90% of my mental energy was thinking, like, ‘Holy shit, is this the person that I’m going to be marrying?’” he says. “It was both of us mentally feeling each other out and being like, ‘Is this real? Do I feel anything? What should I be feeling? Have I been struck by Cupid’s arrows? Is there nothing here at all? Are we just good friends?’” 

Before he could figure out the answer to all those questions, the reveal was over. “It was incredibly awkward. I’m not faulting her,” Stew says. “I’m not faulting myself. I think the scenario is so impossible to prepare for, and you have such a short window of time.”

By her own admission, Jax didn’t take time to process before making her decision. After speaking with the production team, she chose to exit the experiment. “I went completely [into] flight mode, and I was like, “I gotta get out of here. This is not right.’” Looking back, Jax clarifies that her ghosting Stew wasn’t about his physical appearance or his personality. “What I felt was real at that time. The good and unfortunately the bad was real too, and it had nothing to do with him or his looks,” she says. “It was the moment, and it was way too much for me.”

She does have one regret: not giving Stew an explanation before walking away. “I wish I had handled it better,” she says. “He deserved a conversation, and it deserved to end differently, because he’s a gentleman and I should have handled it like a lady, but I didn’t.” 

Stew was understandably shocked when he was informed that Jax had left without saying goodbye, but he wasn’t heartbroken. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, I’m crushed. My true love has escaped me,’” he says. But, again, that’s not because he’s a robot. “I probably would’ve felt worse if I wasn’t so confident and satisfied with who I was in the pods,” he explains. “It was an honest representation. … I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”

So what’s next for Stew and Jax? Watch new episodes of Love Is Blind Season 11 on Wednesday to see how their journey unfolds. 

Aww, Watch All 11 Seasons of these  Love Is Blind Couples Meet Face-to-Face for the First TimeWe’re not crying, you’re crying!