Uche Okoroha and Lydia Velez Gonzalez from ‘Love Is Blind’.Photo:Monty Brinton/Netflix
Monty Brinton/Netflix
Warning: This post contains spoilers fromLove Is Blindseason 5.
Love Is Blind’sLydia Velez GonzalezandUche Okorohahad one of the biggest storylines in season 5 — and now they’re opening up about their perspectives on the situation.
Throughout the season, Lydia and Uche were adamant that they did not know about the other’s casting. They also insisted they did not conspire together — though Aaliyah expressed skepticism about thaton Sunday’s reunion.
“There were things that were said to make me feel as though Lydia did come here for Uche,” Aaliyah said. “You told multiple women you were hoping to run into somebody from your past. We had a conversation, one on one, outside of filming, where you told me that you and Uche discussed coming on this show.”
As a result, Lydia admitted that she knew Uche applied for season 5 after they had a brief chat about it in November 2021, but insisted she had “no confirmation that Uche was gonna be there.”
Asked why she didn’t raise concerns to producers about him, Lydia tells PEOPLE: “It was a two-second conversation and it’s comical because he’s like, ‘I have never [said that].’ Come on dude. You said it. You said it. And I said it too. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I did too.’ But I was trying to change the conversation.”
Milton Johnson and Lydia Velez Gonzalez at the ‘Love Is Blind’ reunion.Greg Gayne/Netflix
Greg Gayne/Netflix
“He was not the only one that actually I knew of the casting because there was two other guys that I dated, but they were stupid and they posted it on their [Instagram] story and I flagged it right there and then,” Lydia explains. “And then I made a comment around the day. I was like, ‘What happens when I actually know somebody?’ They’re like, ‘No, we’ll take care of it if a situation arises.’ But at the same time I didn’t want that comment to actually hurt my chances in the show.”
“And I didn’t have any really evidence [about if] he’s definitely going to be there,” she adds. “I’m not going to ruin my own chances of finding my husband because a two-second conversation, it does not make sense. It was a really bad and unfortunate coincidence.”
However, Uche — who was invited but did not show up to the reunion — had a different perspective on how everything unfolded.Appearing on the latest episodeof theMiss Understoodpodcast earlier this week, Uche insisted Lydia “absolutely knew I was going to be on the show, or at least had some idea that I was going to be on the show.”
“These casting producers reach out to you and they follow you on Instagram and send you a message,” he said. “Lydia had a conversation with a few of the girls from the cast… because she was checking who I followed on Instagram every week, she saw that I was following someone new. She knew that that was a casting producer. And she clicked over to their Instagram profile and she saw casting forLove Is Blind.”
He continued: “She applied to be onLove Is Blind. She blocked my Instagram profile so nobody would know that we know each other, and that’s how we ended up on the show together… The exact mechanics, whether the producers knew or not, I don’t know the specifics.”
Uche Okoroha in the pods on ‘Love Is Blind’.courtesy netflix
courtesy netflix
Though Uche and Lydia never pursued each other on the show, both found connections with other people.
For Uche, he reconnected with Aaliyah after she left the show, and though the show depicted Uche rejecting her over lunch, he has since revealed that they walked out of that lunch agreeing to give their love another shot.
“To clarify, I did continue a relationship with her,” he said on theMiss Understoodpodcast. “I know they edited the scene and they put in a sound bite to make it sound like I dumped her, but that’s not what happened.”
“We met up and she apologized for leaving, I apologized for any miscommunication I have,” he continued. “We held hands. We shared our first kiss, and we decided to date off cameras.”
The two broke up not long after.
Meanwhile, Lydia continued on the show, making it all the way to the altar with her pod connection and fiancé,Milton Johnson. In the season 5 finale, the twotied the knot, and are still married well over a year later.
Milton Johnson and Lydia Velez Gonzalez at their wedding on ‘Love Is Blind’.Netflix
Netflix
“We had our ups, we had our downs and the communication maturity that you showed, I knew you were the one. I never had a doubt about you and I hope it continues to be like that forever,” Milton said in his vows.
Speaking to PEOPLE about her husband, Lydia says: “He’s amazing. He is the perfect guy, but most of all, he loves me for who I am, genuinely me. And he has shown throughout time that he will defend me with everything that he’s got and he will have my back, no questions asked.”
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Love Is Blindseason 5 is streaming in full on Netflix.
source: people.com
