S03.E12: Reunion

[ExMathMajor]

I wish we could have the unedited footage of this show. I assume they've all watched the episodes? If so, why didn't any of the women call Matt out? Why, if the producers et al. feared Matt's wrath, did they not try to protect Colleen? Is anybody trying to protect Colleen? I don't follow any of these people on social media so I don't know if anybody's called him out there. At least they're not living under the same roof yet...is he in therapy? (ETA after rereading the comments: I'm guessing they hadn't watched the episodes prior to the reunion?)

Reading these comments, I remembered that I used to know someone like Zanab: She liked to tell these long, boring, convoluted stories about people who'd did her wrong, and she made it sound like she was ALWAYS being victimized by one person or another. Lucky for her, hers was the only side of the story we usually heard.

God only knows what Zanab told her friends about Cole prior to the wedding. They had to have had SOME kind of story that motivated them to clap the way they did. (Or maybe they were producer plants; who knows.) Again, I would have liked to have seen more video evidence of Cole's being anything other than an overgrown boy who needs to mature a little more. And actually I thought he was being quite mature at the reunion.

I still don't see Raven and SK together for the long haul but I'm glad to hear they're still dating (long distance, I assume).

Nancy sure did wear that stank face pretty well. Too bad the rest of her styling wasn't as good. In fact none of the girls on the couch looked good IMO.

I kept expecting Alexa to be more of a bitch than she was. Brennan seems to know he's got himself a prize.

Like Cole, Bartise needs to grow up. And get a better hairstylist. Other than that? I got nothing.

Edited November 12, 2022 by ExMathMajor
Reading is fundamental :|

[Jack Sampson]

15 minutes ago, ExMathMajor said:

I wish we could have the unedited footage of this show. I assume they've all watched the episodes? If so, why didn't any of the women call Matt out? Why, if the producers et al. feared Matt's wrath, did they not try to protect Colleen? Is anybody trying to protect Colleen? I don't follow any of these people on social media so I don't know if anybody's called him out there. At least they're not living under the same roof yet...is he in therapy?

Maybe it's because it's not nearly as bad as it looked.  Colleen's IG is just pics and videos of them having fun over the last year and a half.  It's only women who watched the show leaving the "blink SOS" comments.  None of the contestants or anyone else connected to the show have a problem - and reality TV production people have seen it all. 

It's been 18 months, maybe she's happy with Matt.

[snarts]

7 hours ago, Jack Sampson said:

Maybe it's because it's not nearly as bad as it looked.  Colleen's IG is just pics and videos of them having fun over the last year and a half.  It's only women who watched the show leaving the "blink SOS" comments.  None of the contestants or anyone else connected to the show have a problem - and reality TV production people have seen it all. 

It's been 18 months, maybe she's happy with Matt.

Yes, because social media is the ultimate barometer of happiness!

Women are more often on the wrong side of abuse and can easily see the signs in others. Matt's outbursts on camera were scary enough, but the noted change in Colleen's personality adds additional concern, IMHO.  

We also have no idea whether anyone else in the cast or production company had an issue, only that it wasn't brought up during the reunion (like others have rightly pointed out, possibly in an effort to protect Colleen).

Edited November 12, 2022 by snarts

[Ms Blue Jay]

Holy crap, the comments on Colleen's IG!  They're all telling her to run away.  She doesn't even limit the comments!

[Jax7917]

On 11/10/2022 at 10:04 PM, LuvMyShows said:

So I have a different take on Cuties-gate.  I replayed the portion of the reunion where Zanab retells the Cuties episode.  She narrated that she got two Cuties, he asked if she's going to eat both of those, she said yeah it's a serving, and he said well we're going out to eat later so maybe you should save your appetite.  And Cole lost his mind, denying adamantly that it ever happened.  However, factually, every single thing that Zanab said was 100% accurate!  Cole's denial was not about the intention behind it, which Zanab may or may not be correct about.  His denial was purely about the conversation itself and he was very very very wrong.  I wonder if he was unable to separate Zanab's subjective interpretation of the conversation, which he obviously disagreed with, from the objective occurrence of the conversation, which definitely did occur as she said it did, and it made him unable to remember accurately the factual portion.

ETA: Also, Cole said words to the effect that he had never commented on her eating.  But I remembered a scene where he did, so I went back to look at it.  Near the beginning of episode 5, Cole and Zanab are having a picnic on the beach.  He says "You gotta stop fattening me up".  She replies "You're okay with fattening me up though?" And he says "You're fattening yourself up."  So clearly he has said things that he has no recollection of, so it's hard to know whether he meant anything by them or not.  I tend to think he did. 

However....all Zanab did was make her insecurity situation much worse.  During Cuties-gate, when she said she only had a banana and a scoop of peanut butter and he asked why, she said "I could definitely tell you but probably shouldn't".  And to me, that says it all.  She harbors these very significant insecurities, that his words seem to be making worse, and yet apparently she never shared it with Cole.  

But even in the pod episodes , zenab wreaked of insecurities . She even said at one point that she’s a flight attendant and no one ever hits on her and she said several things that made it clear that she has deep insecurities . Cole did not break her self esteem . He just didn’t help her self esteem . She has a lot of work to do on herself before trying to commit to someone . 

[deSchenke]

One only has to rewatch the bodycam footage from the officers who talked to Gabby Petito in Moab. There obviously had been an altercation between them. She took the blame - willingly.

(And as someone who has been in a similar situation, I downplayed his role when asked - saying we were "roughhousing" and "I bruise easily")

I'm reminded of this when watching the "explanations" from both Matt and Colleen about the 2 incidents we saw.

[SummerDreams]

Why would Colleen stay with Matt all this time if they are not even living together? Is it maybe because she wants to make some money from interviews etc? Maybe they have an open relationship so it's a win win for both of them. I don't see why Colleen has to be a victim here. She could have left him many times and she didn't, and not after years together, having the same house or kids; after knowing him for 10 days.

I think Colleen is desperate to prove she is not the shallow girl who was portrayed in the show and that's why she was overly serious in the reunion.

When you have to make a whole point of you not being shallow and superficial, you probably are.

[Lindz]

The IRONY of Bartise grilling Zanab on when she decided no & blindsided Cole when he blindsided Nancy! Like. Bruh. When did you decide to blindside?!!! He got off scot-free! They didn't show his inappropriate pool chat. How his misled, not gaslit, Nancy. Cole & Bartise just prove guys under 27 should be excluded. They talk a good game, but they wanna keep playing around. Yes Cole was married before, but what happened? What's his motivation? Poor baby. His brokenness reminded me of Shane's. Everyone that said no should've been asked why. 

[Lindz]

All that buildup around the abortion discussion for a few remarks from others??? I thought they were gunna play the clip, at least. They didn't even question Bartise about his "young freebie" stance. They didn't ask any other couples if they had that talk. Why not ask Nancy why she decided to discuss it then? It was another con for Bartise. He really held onto things he took issue with & never let them go, like he wanted excuses besides her not being his physical type.

[Lindz]

Did I hear Colleen say, "anmosity"???? 🤣🤣

[Lindz]

The defensiveness & paranoia of Bartise was NOT a good look. The point was him being all up on another girl the next day or so, nobody asked if & when they hooked up. Then he tells the story anyway & says they eventually hooked up, but said he didn't want to get into his sex life. Uhhhh. Nobody asked & he already said, so it's moot. He was so distracting, they didn't even ask why so soon & get into that. Effin weirdo!

[LuvMyShows]

On 11/12/2022 at 5:45 PM, snarts said:

Women are more often on the wrong side of abuse and can easily see the signs in others. Matt's outbursts on camera were scary enough, but the noted change in Colleen's personality adds additional concern, IMHO.  

We also have no idea whether anyone else in the cast or production company had an issue, only that it wasn't brought up during the reunion (like others have rightly pointed out, possibly in an effort to protect Colleen).

Interesting article addressing that...https://www.etonline.com/love-is-blind-star-colleen-defends-husband-matt-and-admits-she-was-not-ok-at-reunion-194620.  Colleen says she definitely was not OK during the reunion, but it was because of all the SM comments and also fear about the pool scene being shown.  She also said she wished they would have asked about the anger stuff, because they have worked through it.  The webpage also features an interview with all 5 of the women.  Raven was oddly coy about whether she and SK are still in a relationship, although there have been pics from vacations that the 3 "successful" couples took together.  And Nancy has added light streaks to her hair that I think look awful...she looks more generic to me now, whereas before I thought her hair was beautiful and enhanced her looks.

[Lindz]

Nancy acting like she hasn't heard "smoke show" before...trying too hard. Makes it more obvious she has a problem with it. Either she's really never heard that or no one's ever called her that & that's why she's jealous. 🤔

[Blakeston]

I'm no fan of Zanab, but I don't think she was deliberately lying about anything.

I think she has borderline personality disorder, and constructs her own reality. Everything that she said about the cuties was factually true. What was dishonest, though, was the way she presented it as Cole controlling her food and body-shaming her. Any reasonable person would see that he did not do that. But I have no doubt it felt that way to Zanab, because of her own issues.

I suspect that Cole said something to Zanab related to kissing and his bachelor party. Maybe he teased her that he kissed someone, or maybe he said, "If there were women there I might have kissed one of them to get in one last kiss with another woman." What Zanab heard, though, was "I made out with another woman because I find you unattractive."

Do we know how old Zanab was when her parents passed away? If she lost them early, that's exactly the kind of trauma that could result in her current psychological state

Some things that I wish had been addressed:

- Matt's anger problem

- The way Colleen seemed to think that the conversation with Cole was an unforgivable sin against her man

- Bartise telling production to spread bills around Raven's pod

- What exactly Raven's bottle service entailed

- How does Nancy's family feel about Bartise now?

- Are SK and Raven doing a long-distance thing? How often do they get to see one another?

- Is Brennon converting?

- Does Bartise really think that women should only be allowed one abortion?

[Lindz]

What made the Cole/Colleen pool chat worse was when she repeated that he's the guy she'd go for in the "real world." They should've asked her why she repeated that.

[jabRI]

On 11/9/2022 at 7:21 PM, Zuleikha said:

Probably not. I don't know if the show said when Zanab's family moved from the UK, but I think it was around middle school. Since Zanab's mom is English, there would be no reason for Zanab to ever switch from "mum" to "mom".

Now I'm totally confused.  I thought her mom died (wedding dress angst) so this is just her mom's side of the family?

Wow, she really cut Cole down saying he was always 'talking Cole' when he was talking about an extended trip to meet her whole family.  He just looks so defeated when she said that.  Not sure why HE stayed.

[Zuleikha]

7 hours ago, jabRI said:

  I thought her mom died (wedding dress angst) so this is just her mom's side of the family?

Her mom died when she was 18, IIRC, so yeah, it's the mom's side of the family. We also saw that Zanab's sister is in the UK in the wedding dress episode.

[nlkm9]

On 11/9/2022 at 2:25 AM, Door County Cherry said:

TBD

Bartise looks like a moron with his manbun . 

[jabRI]

I don't know why all the women dressed up like they were going to a 3rd class club, and the men like they were going on a job interview.

[nlkm9]

On 11/22/2022 at 6:23 PM, jabRI said:

Now I'm totally confused.  I thought her mom died (wedding dress angst) so this is just her mom's side of the family?

Wow, she really cut Cole down saying he was always 'talking Cole' when he was talking about an extended trip to meet her whole family.  He just looks so defeated when she said that.  Not sure why HE stayed.

So she went through the trouble of having those chairs saved for her parents and then her dramatic look, knowing she was going to humiliate cole. Dont like her. Still not convinced no matter how happy cole seemed at the altar that he was going to say yes.

[SummerDreams]

Was there anyone this season who genuinely was ready to get married? I always take as example the first season's married couple (Lauren and Cameron) who were really ready to get married and he proposed first very soon after the first dates in the pods. They are still going strong.

[Irlandesa]

7 hours ago, SummerDreams said:

Was there anyone this season who genuinely was ready to get married? I always take as example the first season's married couple (Lauren and Cameron) who were really ready to get married and he proposed first very soon after the first dates in the pods. They are still going strong.

I'd argue that Brennon and Alexa seemed ready.  Even Lauren expressed reservations about getting married before their wedding.  Alexa and Brennon didn't even really have that.  The most doubt they could ruffle up for them were some vague statements by Alexa when she gave some percentages regarding the probability she'd say yes.  But even that didn't feel like there was much doubt.

[SummerDreams]

6 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I'd argue that Brennon and Alexa seemed ready.  Even Lauren expressed reservations about getting married before their wedding.  Alexa and Brennon didn't even really have that.  The most doubt they could ruffle up for them were some vague statements by Alexa when she gave some percentages regarding the probability she'd say yes.  But even that didn't feel like there was much doubt.

I doubt they will last. When all the love bubbles go away, brennon will see that she is arrogant and she spends too much money. They are very different people with totally opposite backgrounds and this will show sooner rather than later.

[DearEvette]

My take on them after seeing the reunion is that Brennan and Alexa will last as long as he toes her line.  I really liked them at first.  I really did.  But my opinion of them nosedived as the season went on.  She gave off such smug condescension and he just sat there and smiled with a 'Yes, Dear' face. 

During the reunion when he jumped on Cole for saying 'that's crazy' and 'that's insane' things that people hyperbolically say all the time (and I'll bet he's even said it himself) it just felt so performative. He just annoyed me so much.

So yeah, they'll last as long as he continues to indulge her the way she is accustomed to.

[jabRI]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

My take on them after seeing the reunion is that Brennan and Alexa will last as long as he toes her line.  I really liked them at first.  I really did.  But my opinion of them nosedived as the season went on.  She gave off such smug condescension and he just sat there and smiled with a 'Yes, Dear' face. 

During the reunion when he jumped on Cole for saying 'that's crazy' and 'that's insane' things that people hyperbolically say all the time (and I'll bet he's even said it himself) it just felt so performative. He just annoyed me so much.

I'm not sure, I think she needs someone to stand up to her, she's had too many people indulging her.  Just my opinion, but we shall see.

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

My take on them after seeing the reunion is that Brennan and Alexa will last as long as he toes her line.  I really liked them at first.  I really did.  But my opinion of them nosedived as the season went on.  She gave off such smug condescension and he just sat there and smiled with a 'Yes, Dear' face. 

During the reunion when he jumped on Cole for saying 'that's crazy' and 'that's insane' things that people hyperbolically say all the time (and I'll bet he's even said it himself) it just felt so performative. He just annoyed me so much.

I just saw some of what we saw of Alexa to be edits/more reserved which she kind of mentioned at the reunion.  And when it comes to Cole, he also saw a lot more of Cole than we did. 

Yes, he jumped over Cole for calling Zanab crazy when it's a common expression but also Cole straight out accused Zanab of being bipolar.  So, given that context, I personally think that expression coming out of his mouth loses quite a bit of innocence.

[Blakeston]

On 11/25/2022 at 5:48 PM, nlkm9 said:

So she went through the trouble of having those chairs saved for her parents and then her dramatic look, knowing she was going to humiliate cole. Dont like her. Still not convinced no matter how happy cole seemed at the altar that he was going to say yes.

Did Cole ever claim that he was going to say yes? (I mean, aside from the "I can't wait to spend my life with Zanab" comments that pretty much all of the contestants make.)

Edited November 26, 2022 by Blakeston

[nlkm9]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

Did Cole ever claim that he was going to say yes? (I mean, aside from the "I can't wait to spend my life with Zanab" comments that pretty much all of the contestants make.)

No although he did whisper to her at the altar “ i want to kiss you” but im still not sure if he was intending to say yes, so i guess he can play the victim, however i think she was over the top, melodramatic and totally insecure. But the coldness to place chairs there for her parents knowing she was not going through with it tells me she is crazy.

Edited November 27, 2022 by nlkm9
Erroe

[CMaur]

I just finished season 3 reunion. I jave to say that everything Zanab said in the wedding about Cole was exactly the things she did to Cole!!! He seemed very gracious every time she critiqued him., and continues to takes her criticism.