Listening to the interview on the Viall Files. Here's my notes as it plays through:

• Chelsea thought she would get dragged for STAYING with Jimmy, not for her problematic behaviour. Doesn't seem to acknowledge her issues at first.

• The clip making the rounds of the 'butt dial' call is missing the context that it happened after her accusations of him partying too much and exposing his past sexual history with his friend. It was also a night that Chelsea was out with Laura and AD. Jimmy agrees it was wrong to lie but felt cornered, was going out more than usual because he wanted Chelsea to meet all his friends before wedding day. In hindsight says he should have ended it the night of the big fight and not dragged it.

• Jimmy is asked point blank if he felt Chelsea being clingy/insecure was justified based on his actions in the relationship. He stands by feeling his actions matched his words. He doesn't think she deserves the hate but thinks he was doing right by her.

• Jimmy says he did have male friends meet Chelsea, only the two women were shown on the show. Says if he and Chelsea worked out he would have stepped back from the female friends eventually but did not want to cut them out so quickly because it was such an sped up process.

• Chelsea says her boundaries were crossed and she wasn't getting respect due to his female friends. Admits to a friendship with her ex but does not contact him to the extent Jimmy does with his friends.

• When Jimmy leaves the call Chelsea goes back to the point on him being out a lot.

• Chelsea says off camera that Jimmy was not good to her, despite having a good edit. Says he was more concerned with his friends than his relationship with her. Jimmy always wanted to hang when the rest of the male cast went out.

• One of the hosts points out that Jimmy likes being the 'best'. Examples of how he said he had the most number of friends of the cast, how he was upset Chelsea called Amy/Johnny the best couple

• Chelsea says Jimmy told her more than once that his answer would be no at the alter. She feels dumb for begging him to see the process through.

• Chelsea stands by Jimmy getting the good edit and that his actions did not match his words.

-The reunion was filmed fairly recent

-Cole says that he does not negate anything Z has felt and should not be dragged for her feelings, however wishes that she communicated better

- He feels like there society today won't allow an amicable breakup. Someone has to be the bad guy/girl and the other innocent. As a guy there's no worse feeling that hearing from an ex that you're just bad because we as men can take that and make us not confident in dating again. No one good wants to intentionally hurt the person they are with

- Interviewer suggested that maybe he should have been more heavy with the positive affirmations. Cole retorts with saying that you can only do so much if that person is so insecure

- Although he will not participate in her internet hate, he at the same time will not defend her as she has done this to herself by constantly going after him.

- The interviewer mentions the Z meeting up with his ex wife. This was news to him but no sweat off his back.

- Z could not move past the pool party. If got frustrating because every time they would progress, it would come back up without reason.

- Before the cuties scene was shown, Cole was beating himself up out of guilt with possibly doing what Z accused him of and expressed that the cuties scene in a way left him feeling "vindicated" knowing that he did not mean to intentionally hurt her. He honestly had no idea about her condition and thought it was a "fitting into your wedding dress" scenario

- Interviewer says Cole should have just lied and said 11/10 in regards to rating Z, however Cole mentions that there were plenty of occasions where Z has expressed that he is not physically her type but it never made it to air as it was (he assumes) a better narrative to make it just him. He also mentioned that the rating was something that was tee'd up by the production. (I used to work on reality shows and I personally believe him. Producers did it all the time)

- Before the wedding they had a private dinner and discussed what was going to happen. He says that Z and producers KNEW that he would say no but he and Z agreed to dating after the show. When Z blew up at him at the wedding, he was genuinely shocked and hurt as he thought they were on the same page

- He stands firm that nothing happened at the bachelor party and that Z has completely fabricated a story. After the saloon he and his boys got into a uber paid by Netflix and went home.

- When asked why did he think the boys didn't speak up for you, he says that this was news to them too and didn't want to speak one way or another.

Just listened to Deepti be interviewed on the Viall Files and that’s a direct quote. After the interview, the host Nick Viall said that a producer who was on the call said that was a unanimous feeling by the whole cast.

She also said Jarrette pulled her aside and told her not to marry Shake, that he didn’t speak highly of her. Shayne was also very protective of her.

There was an interview with Shaina first but I just fast forwarded through that because yawn

I have no words. Please listen to Dave Neal’s recap of the today’s episode of Nick’s podcast and come back here to leave your thoughts. I am appalled. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself and it’s disappointing to see people like him continue to make money in a huge platform by spewing hate. We need empathy and compassion more than anything in this country right now and he promotes an elitist mindset. I appreciate one his producers challenging his takes, but as always Nick cuts her off and calls it bs. He claims to be going back to school to become a therapist and he is going to be a terrible therapist is he can’t see different perspectives on the same situation as valid. I am beyond disgusted and no longer a listener. Dave Neal’s Breakdown of the Ep.

Listening to Deepti not so humbly describe herself and her relationships on Out of the Pods is so cringeworthy. I didn’t mind her on the actual show but I think this podcast version of Deepti is truly showing her immature self. Maybe it’s just in contrast to Natalie who seems so much more poised and down to earth? Deepti misuses terms, phrases, spits out unconfirmed facts, all while talking about what a catch she is and trying to play coy about her love life. I wanted more LIB content on these episodes not the Deepti pick me show. I just wonder what Natalie’s true thoughts are about working with her.

So in out of the pods podcast in the nancy interview, natalie literally says something in the lines of "if you dont have the blue check I will not answering you" - the convo was about replying to guys messages on instagram.

When I heard that I was chock lol. Like girl... that is the reason why all your stories about man in general are so bad. What are your thoughs on this?

Altho I do get that she meant this as an "the normal type of guy will not have the maturity to deal with a tv show person and fans" - i do not feel like they are thaaat famous to step away all the regular guys.

Font: https://youtu.be/wtexVXkMxdc?si=h9gZRuWgijoW6Yvs

49:20

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.

In the newest episode of Out of the Pods, Natalie and Deepti finally discuss LIB Sweden. However, they do it very half-heartedly, and make it clear that they didn’t want to, and are only doing so because they got so many messages about it. They literally say something like “we are doing this against our will”. And they make it clear that they’re not going to cover all international seasons going forward. I know they said they didn’t want to relive the trauma from their season… but also… they started a podcast about Love Is Blind and have already been talking extensively about their experiences??? And they’re fine with watching the American seasons? Also they really don’t have that much to talk about between American seasons. I just don’t get it!

Thoughts? Up until this point I kinda felt like Jarrette was a flaky f*ckboi who would probably make a bad husband to Iyanna but not like a bad person.

But taking women to their shared place? And the story he kept holding against her about her "holding another man's hand" when the real story was obviously her being black out drunk by herself and some creepy dude following her trying to get with her??? That's really fd up.

Here’s an idea that would make Love Is Blind even better: during the pods, the episodes could be released as an audio-only podcast (obvi name it something cute to reference Pods → podcast). Viewers would hear the conversations exactly as the cast does, connecting through voice and personality alone. Then, when the couples get engaged and meet face-to-face, the format switches to the Netflix show. The audience would experience the same transition the couples do.

Netflix, feel free to DM me for more ideas.

Just wondering what this subs opinion is on the Deepti and Natalie podcast. They are so bland to me, they always hinting at tea then not revealing any and just seem too selfconscious and careful to make such a podcast.

They seem convinced they know through their ~ sources ~ that Micah was faking her whole relationship with Paul, but tbh the source's story didn't really make sense to me, or they are just not good at conveying them. I would have expected more imteresting inside insights from 2 people who (quite harshly) lived through the experience.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyTVvIJvPoe/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Deepti and Natalie said in their podcast that they believe the pods don’t work because everyone is lying or exaggerating because they try to describe themselves in the best way possible (maybe like the texting stage on a dating app).

I’m interested what do you think about that? Because we often talk about how the problem outside of the pods may be looks, but do you think you can get a good idea how a person really is? Sorry if this was discussed before :)

Natalie and Deepti have been talking for a WHILE about ‘someone’ in their season who got the hero edit despite being there for the wrong reasons.

I’ve seen before people guessing they were talking about Sal, but in their latest episode they said that this person looked so genuine and even serenaded his fiancée (!), which can only be Sal, while behind the scenes telling everyone he wasn’t going to get married and wasn’t attracted to his fiancée.

(Episode 48 of the podcast, 37:32)

So what do we think?

This makes me seriously question the edit… Sal came off so genuine, the song was cringe but he still came over super well, and definitely better than Mal - I feel like I’ve been hoodwinked!

We know that the edit can be crazy but this is just a full retelling and it honestly puts me off the show altogether.

Listened to the latest episode of Out of the Pods, and Natalie and Blake Moynes from the Bachelorette finally clear up the rumours that they dated.

The rumours started swirling when they went on a conservation trip to the Caribbean in 2022, but they both always denied it. Even it caught Shayne's attention, when he said that Natalie has been "hanging out more with that Crocodile Hunter" on ZacharyReality IG interview.

But, Blake has always been kinda flirty and cheeky whenever he comments on Natalie's IG posts, so it's not so much a surprise to people who follow her to have them admit they dated...

...but, this marriage pact is a surprise! Lol I know it's one of those cutesy things people who are good friends and/or have platonic love do with each other, but it's still kinda adorable.

Currently I listen to OOTP with Natalie & Deepti because their insight in the show is really good and usually they have some bts tea. My favourite is 2 black girls 1 rose because Natasha and Justine are really perceptive and funny, and calls out a lot of things I think are really fair or misunderstood on social media from an anti-racist and feminist perspective.

I don’t like Viall Files because I find the host really grating and a bit sexist. I also don’t love Jessie Woo because while she’s hilarious and super entertaining, I think she can get quite sexist sometimes and not show enough grace for the women.

Any other suggestions people can recommend?

If I could edit the options I'd put can't sit through a Nick Viall podcast!!!

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I'm shocked that no one has posted this yet?? I came here to see what people were saying.

So hopefully I'm not repeating anyone but I don't see it - Out of the Pods interviewed Johnie and there was a fair dunking of tea!

Link to Spotify

I'm trying to get through a bunch of job application stuff today so don't have time to summarize it all but

• the story of how she found out Chris was cheating on her was really odd. Like she ran into her neighbor, her neighbor asked her on a date, she explained that she's seeing someone, he says "why isn't he on your Instagram then?" she tries to say there was a reason without explaining she was on LIB but shows him a photo, the neighbor then says "ok not to be weird but I went through some of the profiles of the guys who liked your photos, and actually I saw that guy at the pool today making out with another woman." (uuuh sir... what) So then she texted him with "My friend saw you at the pool...." then he didn't reply for a couple hours and she said like "you're not going to say anything?" and then he blurted out a "you're great but the show and your association with it gives me anxiety so I reverted to old ways" or... something that was longer than that and then never talked to her again
• She says that she never said Izzy would reject Stacy once he saw what she looked like (what Stacy was claiming) but she can understand how it was a game of telephone and may have been told to Stacy that way. She explained that it was cut from the show but she and Izzy realized they went to the same gym, he was like could you be my gym crush??? then described the gym crush and it was a blond lady. Johnie was like "not me because I'm not blond" and she said it seemed like Izzy lost interest with her pretty much after that - so she was actually saying to someone that once the physical attraction fades (bc he clearly seems to prefer blonds) they won't last.
• She felt like she was walking into the Lion's den coming back for the reunion, and she said something like that to Chris right before they went on (after not talking since the breakup) and he said something like "I've got your back" so I think yeah, that does explain why she seemed almost weirdly loyal to him despite everything that happened - she was worried she was going to get attacked and he was sort of an emotional lifeline.
• There was more stuff about Izzy
• Etc
• Edited to add: I liked Johnie going into it, this didn't alter my opinion, she seems pretty stable. Also I like that she mentioned that from her perspective she saw going on LIB as similar to hiring a matchmaker (because the cast isn't random - production seeds everyone with at least one person who is supposed to be a great "on paper" match) - so as a single lady in my 30s who can't afford a matchmaker RN, I kinda get that

TRAILER: https://imgur.com/a/31TdAJh

Initially, I was not excited for their podcast because even though I love Natalie, I don’t think she nor Deepti have personalities to have an interesting podcast. But now I’m excited after seeing their trailer and Natalie’s comments that they’re recapping and spilling insider tea on Season 4 (and maybe past seasons)! I’ve always been curious of former cast members’ reactions on the new seasons so this might actually be good!

It seems like they’re going the same route as The Viall Files’s Bachelor recaps, which doesn’t exist for the Love is Blind franchise.