Love Is Blind Season 9 was full of firsts — from multiple ghostings to the first-ever finale with no “I do’s.” So it’s no wonder that the Denver pod squad would also make some history on the reunion couches. 

In the year and a half since filming wrapped, the drama among the group has only gotten juicier. After singer Myles Smith serenaded the Mile High City singles, they made their way onstage. Once co-hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey greeted the live audience with some quick hellos, the former couples jumped right into the drama. Grievances were aired, rings were (re)exchanged, the mother of all reunion bombshells was dropped, and fans finally got the answer to this season’s most crucial question: Does Jordan cook the chicken before blending? 

Keep reading to relive the nine most shocking moments from the Season 9 reunion. 

1. Sparkle Megan reveals a major secret. 

In the emotional aftermath of her break up with Jordan, Megan feared she wasn’t cut out to be a mother. “It was a very emotional day, and I was questioning a lot of things,” she says. “Now I know more than ever that I was put on earth to be a mom.” That’s right, Sparkle Meg showed up to the reunion with some shiny, glittery news: “I had a baby boy two-and-a-half months ago.” 

Judging by everyone’s reactions, it was even news to her fellow pod girlies. (“That’s why you got so thic,” KB teased.) She even had a secret baby shower. (No phones allowed!) “Being cast in the limelight now, I wanted to have my pregnancy and the start of Brooks’s life — for us to have privacy.” 

Megan’s new partner, Paul, was in the audience wearing a dapper suit to support his leading lady. Shortly after Season 9 wrapped filming, the two were introduced via a mutual friend and got pregnant three months into dating.  

2. #RingGate is decided over a game of hoops.

While no one claimed to look like Megan Fox, there were certainly some misunderstandings this season during the reveals. Kacie’s on-camera admission about Patrick was a gut punch for everyone to watch. 

“It was slightly hurtful to see it just because I never really got clarity when we got back to Denver,” Patrick says. “I had already had an idea of why it was being cut off. But I never really got the full words.” 

When they left the experiment, Kacie reached out to Patrick via text to check in, but wasn’t ready to meet or even talk on the phone. After a few days of waiting for clarity, Patrick decided to move things to the “just friends” category. However, he “respectfully” wanted the ring back, which Kacie brought with her to the reunion. “I feel like Sméagol with the ring,” Kacie says, before passing “my precious” to Nick and Vanessa.  

To break the tension, Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers joined Kacie and Patrick onstage to play for the ring. After a heated back-and-forth of free throws, Kacie pulled through with a nothing-but-net shot. All’s fair in love and basketball, so Patrick gave the ring back.  

3. Romeo or AI? 

“Let’s talk about the love bombing,” Nick says to his ex-pod fling Kait, whom he dated before proposing to Annie. “It was really wrong to say [‘I love you’] when I had another connection.” Kait clarified that her issue with Nick went deeper. “It was the ‘I’ll love you until we’re 10 feet underground,’ ‘I’ll love you through time,’ ‘I’ll always fight for you, Kait.’ It felt like you went into ChatGPT and looked up pickup lines for how to get a girl to fall for you. You were saying the same things to Annie.” 

Annie swooped in to defend Nick’s character but admitted that, watching it back, she could see how much she was trying to force their relationship, too. “I think I just wanted to try a bit more,” she says. And for those who were team #Annden, Annie had some final words on the matter: “To be transparent, I don’t wish I chose Brenden.” 

4. “You get an apology, you get an apology!” 

 After Joe fled his suit fitting — to the sounds of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” — the reunion was an opportunity to defend himself. He came armed with apologies to Madison and Nick for his comments in the confessionals. 

“It was very uncomfortable to watch Joe speak about my body,” Madison says, referring to his comments about the “petite” women he typically dated. “It was really hurtful because, being in this experience, the door is already open for people to scrutinize our appearances. But for him to blow that door wide open — I’ve gotten so many comments on my body now.” 

Joe clarified that he didn’t intend his words to be “a put-down,” but regardless, he says,“I deeply apologize.” He went further by affirming their physical chemistry, saying all they did was fight and have sex.

As far as Joe’s comments about his podmate’s behavior (and “great hat”), Nick was actually the first to reach out to clear the air. “Dude, we’re good. You have enough stuff to worry about,” Nick says. The two confirmed there was “no bad blood.” 

5. The dating didn’t stop after the pods. 

There’s certain to be rebounds when 32 people all date each other at once. So who circled back to their pod romances? Kait went on a date with Brenden with no success. And Sparkle Meg tried to rekindle things with Mike. “I thought in the pods we were certain we would have that spark, but in person that wasn’t there for me with him,” she says. 

Kacie and Joe (both third on each other’s pod list) started talking at the end of May and dated for about a month and a half. Fresh off of two broken engagements, Kacie says she didn’t think either of them was ready to see each other seriously: “It got too intense too quick.” 

Sitting opposite on the couch, Joe’s ex-fiancée, Madison, wasn’t exactly pleased with the update. “I actually think that whatever their connection was affected my engagement,” she says. Allegedly, on the night of the wedding dress and tux fittings, the Denver crew had gone out, and Madison saw Kacie had “two paws on Joe’s chest.” Madison swore Joe told her that Kacie had been giving him “googly eyes” all night. Both Kacie and Joe deny that it had anything to do with the ending of the engagement, but in Madison’s words, “You have your perspective, and I have my truth.” 

6. What didn’t happen at Mike’s pool party?   

While Mike didn’t leave the pods with Megan, he did throw a major rager with the Denver crew the summer after filming ended. “We all showed up at the party and got hammered,” says Patrick. It was BYOB, but thankfully Jordan left his Crystal Light chicken smoothies at home. However, the drama certainly wasn’t left behind. According to Madison, Kacie told her they were “Eskimo sisters” before shedding tears over the end of her short relationship with Joe. The love triangle only expanded from there with Joe arriving at the pool party with his current girlfriend, Averee. Joe insisted that there was no overlap of the relationships. Unfortunately, the cameras were no longer rolling, so we’ll have to piece together what really went down based on he said, she said. 

7. PSA: Wear flip-flops at your own risk.

Anton and Ali were the first to get engaged in the pods, but the honeymoon period didn’t last long. Anton says their busy work schedules contributed to the communication breakdown behind their ultimate split. “You get home from work, you’re tired after a 14-hour shift, you want to eat some breakfast, watch some TV, maybe drink a beer, and go to sleep,” he tells her. “It’s not always going to be in-depth philosophical conversations.” 

But the lack of heart-to-hearts wasn’t the only reason that Ali decided to leave Anton at the altar. The conversation about Anton’s partying past loomed large for Ali up until the wedding day. At the reunion, Ali couldn’t remember whether she and Anton ever discussed his friend’s girlfriend, Melissa, airing his dirty laundry. (The two actually addressed the strip club accusations in a deleted scene with Ali’s friends.) Ali felt uneasy about Anton’s “lifestyle” — from his strip club attendance to his nutritional habits — and at the reunion, she shares the moment she knew he wasn’t the right guy for her: “When he wore flip-flops in Baja for our first encounter. The piggies were out.” 

But not to worry, Anton has been in a happy relationship for the past year, and his friend is no longer dating Melissa. 

8. Edmond had his tissues ready. 

Despite how it may have appeared in the pods, Kalybriah set the record straight on her relationship with Edmond. “He actually became my best friend in the pods. We really had a strong bond, we were singing together, we had a bunch of great memories.” Admittedly, he’s an emotional guy, but she says the crying in the pods didn’t bother her. “We’re talking about things we’ve never spoken about with anyone else. But when we got into the real world, it was the moments that he would cry.” She tells her ex-fiancé that, instead of being accountable, she felt he used his tears to manipulate the situation — whether it was being upset about waiting til marriage for sex or arguing during move-in day. Edmond disagrees that he was using his emotions to control the situation, but after some back-and-forth, the two end up hugging it out. “KB, you’re amazing,” he says to Kalybriah. “I would never have gotten a woman like you if it weren’t for this experience.” 

9. Blake didn’t ghost the reunion. 

In the spookiest season of Love Is Blind, Blake ghosted Megan after Anna ghosted him. Blake redeemed himself by reaching out to Megan after filming wrapped. “A few weeks had gone by after Jordan and I ended things, and [Blake] and I went to grab a margarita,” Megan says. “I think he wanted to formally apologize, which I thought was admirable.” Blake’s buddy Jordan jumped in to say, “I don’t think he had any ill intentions.” Despite leaving Megan behind a wall, Blake did make a surprise appearance for Jordan’s birthday with some frozen desserts for everyone to enjoy. What a sweet guy. 

The Juiciest Moments You Didn’t See from Love Is Blind Season 9