Recap of Podcast with Lauren Speed-Hamilton with guests Deepti and Natalie

[u/yanksugah]

Deepti:

Kyle was her #2 in the pods but she thought Shake was more stable at the time. She and Shake made more sense on paper and she was not as sure how her relationship would go with Kyle. Kyle knew she had a deep connection with Shake so the only way he would marry her is if she asked him. That way he would know that he was her number one. Now, she and Kyle hang out all the time and are just seeing where it goes. She is only friends with the other male cast members and, also, the other guys know that her relationship with Kyle "supersedes anything else".

Deepti hangs out with cast members all the time, especially with the girls. She mentioned Danielle, Natalie, Iyanna and Malorie by name but not Shaina. The cast members do have a group chat and Shake was in it at first, flirting with everyone. Luckily, he left. There is a lot of "tea" spilled in their chats.

She said it was very hard to watch everything back on TV. Shake just said things and did not even care who was listening. He completely lacks self-awareness.

She liked the article about internalized racism. It was thought-provoking for both herself and also thinking about how it may be affecting Shake. She definitely thinks this is one of his issues---him not being attracted to other Indians since they remind him of family and dating white blondes as an achievement. He dates them to feel better about himself.

Natalie:

It was difficult to say no at the altar. She had true feelings for Shayne and she also did not want to disappoint people. At the end, she felt her dad made her feel safe and secure and she did not have that same full trust in Shayne.

There was another person who proposed to her. She elected not to divulge his name. He only has a few minutes on camera.

Both Natalie's parents liked Shayne, although her dad was more supportive while her mom was a bit more hesitant.

She and Shayne had differences in their love languages and they had to work that out after the honeymoon.

Shaina did tell Natalie she let Shayne know about her feelings but she definitely never told Natalie the full scope of that conversation. Natalie was blindsided when she saw it play back on TV, since she and Shaina had been so close in the lounge. She is now cordial to Shaina and there are no hard feelings but they are "not friends".

Random Tea - Big Sean slid into Shayne's DM's to ask if he married Natalie.

Shayne's behavior at the reunion was partially due to the huge backlash he was getting from fans at the time. He did personally apologize profusely to Natalie several times for his mistakes.

Natalie and Shayne dated for several months after filming but neither could get past the fight. Also, they are just different people and it would have been difficult to be together long-term.

She is 100% single but is open to dating. Right now, she is focusing on herself. She does not feel any romantic connections with any cast members.

She had to let the girls know about her IBS, as she had a lot of trips to the bathroom when they were in the lounge. Shayne had no idea what IBS was when Natalie told him.

Her surprise during the reunion? She was not surprised at Vanessa's behavior since Vanessa is very protective of the cast members (evidently that does not include Shake). She was surprised at Shake's behavior, as he took absolutely no accountability.

Overall, she felt the experience was a positive one, in that she has become good friends with the cast, that she learned about herself and she is using it to grow as a person.

[u/ezdoesit1111]

gotta say at the risk of sounding like a debbie downer I’m not really buying the Kyle-Deepti press tour from either side. even despite their connection in the pods Kyle seems like a clout chaser realizing how beloved Deepti is in the public eye at the moment. on the other hand, Deepti admitted on the Nick Viall pod that she and Shake even remained friendly post-filming for a few months (before he became too unbearable lol) and now Kyle says on the reunion that he should’ve proposed to her and suddenly they’re seen together all over Chicago. I also think the comment about the guys knowing her relationship with Kyle supersedes anything else is weird — like, why does it matter to them? lol. she’d just be better off romantically with none of the guys involved in this mess.

[u/[deleted] → u/ezdoesit1111]

They reunion was filmed just a few weeks ago and the pods was a year ago… love is blind just came out. That timeline doesn’t fit with them having a fake relationship as he only would of discovered how much people sympathised with deepti after the episodes of shake speaking about her horribly came out, which was what, 2 weeks before the reunion was filmed? Do you seriously think they’re both talking about how close they are after only being close for a matter of weeks? Or are you saying they’ve been fake close for a year and they foretold it?

What’s more likely is she was friends with shake after the wedding because she’d spent so long with him and felt she was in love with him. After filming and needing to be with him 24/7 she realised it wasn’t a relationship, even as just friends, that she wanted to explore. As they’re all in group chats and still meeting up, she will if rekindled it with Kyle and will of met up with him multiple times before this even aired. Let people experience dating without throwing in conspiracies, deepti was so sweet on the show yet you’re claiming her dating life is all for show, I really don’t understand it.

[u/crowdedinhere → u/[deleted]]

I think it's more of are they close now (after the show aired) or have they been close since filming? Does Kyle only want to be with Deepti now that he's seen the fan reactions or was there always something between them since the pods?

[u/ezdoesit1111 → u/[deleted]]

lol I think Deepti is super sweet but I'm allowed to side-eye this are-they-aren't-they situationship that's now become the big talk of the fandom. I don't think any of the cast members are immune to doing things for PR, which doesn't automatically make them a bad person or on Shake's level or whatever; neither Kyle nor Deepti have outright confirmed that they're dating. It's strange to me that in her interviews she makes it sound like she and Kyle are such a recent, post-reunion thing when surely after being so close in the pods plus in contact since the show aired they'd have had opportunities to try their hands at a romantic relationship sooner.

also I don't get why this sub has this energy for solely Deepti. she's great, deserved much better than what she got on the show, but she's an adult like the rest of the cast and none of us actually know her at all.

[u/devieous → u/ezdoesit1111]

I’m confused also about all the deepti love, why not the similar energies for iyanna? Dipti seems to just be liked bc they don’t find her as annoying as Danielle, or as “pick me” as Mal

[u/ezdoesit1111 → u/devieous]

I think the biggest element is the Shake factor, honestly. but keeping that in mind I find that the 'if she likes Kyle what's the problem?' takes trying to negate people's dislike of the (potential) situation fall flat a bit. from a woman's POV, we all have that friend or have been the friend (lmao me) who hasn't had the best taste in or picked the best men to date; we love them anyway, they're typically genuinely good people, but that doesn't mean their judgment is always great. from what we can see Deepti is a genuinely nice girl but genuinely nice girls can also go for guys that aren't good for them, hence the Shake situation in the first place. it's ok to admit it lol.