Love may be blind, but it’s also extremely busy. Cupid’s arrow strikes more than a few singles during Love Is Blind Season 4, but cameras follow only five couples on their journey from the pods to the altar. So what about everyone else? You might not have seen them featured heavily on-screen, but rest assured the experiment worked its magic.  

While they didn’t jet off to Mexico, walk down the aisle at their dream wedding or score a seat on the live reunion couch, these two couples believed that they’d found their happily ever after. And, of course, they’re not the first people to have their pod-posals left on the cutting room floor, as past seasons have also seen a handful of couples fall for each other off-screen. 

For the first time, the Season 4 singles you didn’t see get engaged are sharing their stories. And, while both couples are no longer together, each consider themselves forever changed by the experience that challenged everything they thought they knew about love and dating. 

Jimmy and Wendi

Days into the experiment, Jimmy and Wendi made an immediate connection and quickly became each other’s top pick in the pods. Jimmy tells Tudum: “One of the first things she said to me was that she packed half a suitcase coming here and it was so jarring and different than anything else I’ve heard from any of the other women. Immediately, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s who I need to be with.”

Wendi, meanwhile, was drawn to Jimmy’s “adventurous” spirit from the jump and felt that his “explorative nature” and lively personality mirrored her own. “He was also very emotionally comforting,” she recalls. “I revealed things that probably would’ve taken months and months and months of consistently dating one person in the real world to reveal.”

After hours upon hours of conversation, Jimmy popped the question. “It gave me a chance to really be real and verbalize to somebody what I’ve always been looking for and tell them, ‘You’re the person that fits this mold for me,’” he says. As for the reveal, he says it ranks as “probably one of the happiest moments” in his life. “It was very exciting,” Wendi says of the engagement. “But also a mix of relief. Like, ‘Oh, OK, I can do things at my own pace now.’”

When they weren’t selected as one of the five couples heading to Mexico, the two returned to Seattle to embark on the next phase of their relationship. In Jimmy’s eyes, “that’s where it started going back down to earth and everything started to unravel a bit.” After dating for roughly three months after the pods officially closed, the two decided to go their separate ways. For Wendi, spending time in the real world “revealed to me aspects I didn’t need to know I needed in a partner.” Ultimately, the two had different visions on “how we view relationships in general,” according to Jimmy, as the stressors of the real world overwhelmed the strong connection they felt in the pods. 

The two, however, have remained friendly since the split. Jimmy shares that he has “no regrets about actually going through with it and being engaged to her.” Wendi, meanwhile, says the experiment showed her “how much I value connection” and helped her develop “active listening skills” for the future. “It was definitely recalibrating for me. [The show] pushed me and stretched me in ways that I wouldn’t have normally been stretched.” And while they didn’t find everlasting love, both walked away with friendships with their fellow pod squad members. Jimmy, in fact, is now neighbors with Kwame, while Wendi “got really close” to Paul once they both returned to Seattle. 

Looking back, Jimmy says he feels “very positive” about the experience. “Even though I wasn’t followed or really featured much, I did get some good shots of me playing pool, so I might just become a pool shark.”

Ava and JP

Entering the pods as a divorcée, Ava felt “double the pressure and double the excitement” about finding her next partner. After seeing the experiment work wonders in the past, she decided to lead with an “open heart and open mind.” Ava tells Tudum: “This time around, I couldn’t pick someone that felt safe and just checked all the boxes because that’s what I did with my previous marriage and that didn’t work out.”

JP was also looking for a fresh start after his nearly six-year-long relationship ended during the pandemic. “Why not let me fall in love? I’m ready to be swept off my feet,” he says about starting his Love Is Blind journey. “If this is going to work, I’m all for it.” 

Both “naturally gravitated” toward each other early on in the pods. For Ava, JP stood out because of his “fun, emotionally in tune and communicative” nature. He, meanwhile, was immediately drawn to her “resiliency and how she’s overcome so much in life and is still very successful.” Their romance blossomed from there, once JP cut off “deep” connections with both Chelsea and Micah and it became clear that Ava was his match. 

All signs were pointing to a happily ever after once JP got down on one knee. “Everything I felt in [the pods] felt real,” he says. “I was so excited when she said yes.” As for the long-awaited reveal, Ava remembers how the two “kissed and were being fun, playful” and he “tried to pick me up and take me out offstage.” Although JP says the reveal is “something I’ll never in my life forget,” he was “taken aback” by how  “emotional and heavy” the moment felt.

That’s when things between the couple began to shift, as JP says he had “a lot to think about” regarding their future once they left the pods. “I saw him at the airport and he was a completely different person,” Ava recalls. “As we were boarding the plane, I felt my phone vibrate and it pinged a bit and I looked down and he sent me a text basically ending the engagement.” As JP puts it, he wanted to reset expectations because he felt “continuing to get married on this timeline” wasn’t realistic outside of the experiment. She, however, was left “shocked and humiliated” by the exchange. Ultimately, the two couldn’t get relationship back on track by the time they returned home, setting the stage for their split. 

Now, JP says that he approaches love and life differently and has learned “what he’s worth” through the experiment’s highs and lows. While Ava admits to initially regretting her choices, she’s come out a stronger person on the other side of the experience. “There’s just so been much growth and self-development,” she says. “I learned what I want, what I don’t want, and what I deserve. I didn’t deserve any of that. I know I’ll find love again, but it’s just going to take time.”