Warning: Spoilers from Season Five of “Love Is Blind” below...
In the second group of episodes from “Love Is Blind” Season Five, one engaged couple called it quits, and one pair from the pods rekindled their connection in the real world.
Contestants Johnie Maraist and Chris Fox developed a deep connection in the pods as they revealed intimate details about their pasts. Chris said he was falling in love with Johnie, but she also had feelings for contestant Izzy Zapata.
So, Johnie ended her relationship with Chris to focus on Izzy.
When Izzy later realized he had a stronger relationship with Stacy Snyder, he broke up with with Johnie, leaving her heartbroken — and turning her sights back on Chris.
Before the season premiered, TODAY.com spoke to Chris about his relationship with Johnie. At the time of the interview, he had not watched any episodes from Season Five.
Looking back at their time on the show, Chris says he knows Johnie did what she felt was right. But, he was shocked when she initially rejected him.
He says none of the men discussed their relationships with each other in the pods, so he was not aware that Izzy and Johnie were building a connection.
“We didn’t want to intervene on anybody else’s relationships because that would kind of muddy the waters for everybody. We wanted to have the most real experiences we could possibly have with this once in a lifetime chance to meet our wife,” he says.
He says he only knew details about his relationship with Johnie.
After Izzy broke up with her, Johnie returned to the pods and met with Chris again. She told him she pursued Izzy because she was following the same patterns from her past relationships and asked Chris for a second chance.
He didn’t give her an immediate answer and it seemed like their time on the show ended.
But in Episode Seven, released on Sept. 29, Chris and Johnie attended a party together with some of the Season Five cast. When Chris arrived, Johnie announced they were dating.
“You know we’re official?” she said. “Just boyfriend-girlfriend.”
Chris tells TODAY.com that he chose to reconnect with Johnie because he had "fallen in love" with her.
“When you finally meet somebody that you have that kind of emotional bond with, that you’ve fallen in love with, you don’t just mess that up because of something outside of your control,” he says.
Chris continues, “Everybody’s there trying to find their person and, unfortunately, she thought that another option was better. But you don’t want to miss an opportunity to find our forever.”
Johnie explained in a confessional interview during the episode that she ran into Chris at the airport after they left the pods.
“I felt like the second we met, the connection was still there,” she said. She became emotional as she expressed how grateful she was that he gave her another chance.
But her blissful return to the show was short-lived after Izzy confronted her, calling her “sketchy” for telling him and Chris different stories.
She denied his accusation at first but later said, “Actually, everything you’ve said has been accurate” and confirmed Izzy was her “number one” in the pods.
“Why is why I’m now trying to make s— up to Chris for being my number two,” she said.
Even though Chris and Johnie reconciled, they continued to face obstacles. A preview for the next batch of episodes, out Oct. 6, shows the fallout of the confrontation between Izzy and Johnie.
Fans have applauded Chris (and Aaliyah Cosby) on social media for choosing to leave the show early instead of going into an engagement with reservations.
“I appreciate Chris and Aaliyah for having some sense in choosing themselves.#LoveIsBlind #LoveIsBlindS5,” one viewer tweeted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Chris tells TODAY.com that he was not very familiar with the show and its format before he met with the “Love Is Blind” casting team.
“I was asking a lot of questions during the casting process and the casting agent was just like Chris, ‘Sit down, watch the show and all these basic questions will be answered,’” he recalls. He said he made it through Season Two before he entered the pods.
Chris says he never felt pressure to continue the experiment and propose to Johnie.
“I did fall in love,” he says. “Unfortunately, there were some speed bumps that pulled me away from that ending.”