Love Is Blind 's Jess Slams Jimmy for “Disheartening” Comments
Originally appeared on E! Online
Love may be blind, but in this case, everyone is seeing their connection clearly.
After Love Is Blind star Jimmy Presnell shared off-camera details about his final date with Jessica Vestal during an interview with E! News, classifying the unaired one-on-one between them as "terrible," the 29-year-old is firing back at his comments.
"This is easier for him to say than the whatever the real reason was that he didn't want to be with me," Jess wrote underneath E!'s Instagram post Feb. 27. "Notice in all the interviews I've done, I speak highly of him and our experience. In his interviews, he takes every opportunity to speak poorly of me and flat out lie."
The reality star went on to express her disappointment, adding, "It truly speaks volumes and is so disheartening."
ICYMI, Jimmy, who ended up getting engaged to Chelsea Blackwell during this season, recently reflected on his time in the pods with Jess, noting that he had no regrets about the turn their connection took.
"Our last date," Jimmy exclusively told E! News' Francesca Amiker, "that wasn't a date—it was a meeting. She was not nice, and I'll never go for the mean girl."
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He continued, "They only showed her getting to lay into me in a light that wasn't really fair for me. She walked out on me 10 minutes in and was mad that I wasn't prepared to say 'I love you' to her."
But as Jimmy explained, everything happens for a reason.
"I'm glad it worked the way it did," Jimmy reflected, "because I got to see a glimpse of what I might've had in my future [with Jess] and how she talks to me when things don't go her way. It wasn't fun."
See how all the connections from this season continue to play out when new episodes of Love Is Blind debut Feb. 28.
Until then, keep reading for a look at the relationships that did, in fact, happen off-camera.
<p>Paige Tillman and Josh Simmons</p>
Paige Tillman and Josh Simmons got engaged during season five but the cameras stopped rolling after the proposal, and they didn't get much air time.
"After the show we stayed engaged and even planned our wedding," they said in a joint Instagram post in October 2023. "During the time we shared together we fell deeply in love and also found out we just wanted different things out of life. We made the hardest decision to end our engagement, we have nothing but love and respect for each other and always will."
<p>Renee Poche and Carter Wall</p>
The pair got engaged on season five, went to Mexico with the cast and were filmed up until their wedding day, Renee Poche told Pop Sugar in October 2023. However, their love story was cut from the show.
"Once we got back to Houston and back to the real world, I started noticing things that I kind of ignored or blew off that were red flags I should have picked up on," the vet said. "And eventually I did say 'no' at the altar."
Renee explained that there was "so much" that went down off-camera. "It was an emotional roller coaster. There were ups and downs," she continued. "There were tons of funny, even better moments than the few little clips they showed. It would've been amazing to watch even through the really rough parts."
<p>Marshall Glaze and Kacia Clark</p>
After his engagement to Jackie Bonds ended early in season four—and his ex-fiancée immediately moved on by dating her other pod connection, Josh Demas—Marshall exclusively revealed to E! News that he tried rebounding with another cast mate he connected with in the pods.
"I actually reached out to Kacia," Marshall told E! News' Erin Lim Rhodes. "We tried." Kacia didn't receive much screen time on the show, but made a lasting impression on Marshall. Alas, he explained that he was still too hung up on his failed relationship with Jackie to make anything work.
"I wanted to just distance myself from all of that, from that experience," Marshall admitted. "It was going to be difficult to try to make a relationship with Kacia." He added that ending things with Kacia was "rough" and he stills feels "apologetic about starting something and getting her hopes up with me going back in my shell like, 'This isn't really the time or the place.'"
Jackie Bonds and Josh Demas
Technically, viewers did get to see the start of Jackie and Josh's controversial relationship happen, though Jackie fired back at claims that they began dating before she broke up with Marshall. Taking to Instagram April 10 to "speak the truth," Jackie clarified the timeline and denied cheating on her former fiancée.
"Marshall and I were broken up before I saw Josh at the coffee shop. I am wearing different clothes, my hair is styled different and at the end of the video I say 'I DON'T KNOW IF I AM GOING TO BE WITH JOSH,'" she wrote. "I am not sure what the reason is for playing the coffee shop date before the break up."
During the live reunion, Jackie revealed she and Josh have been dating since the show ended and recently moved in together. After the special aired, Jackie posted a tribute to her boyfriend on social media. "A year of standing side by side with my other half. Our journey to find each other was not easy but it was worth it," she captioned a series of photos of her with Josh. "Thank you for loving me, standing by me and protecting me. I love you forever and through every realm."
Paul Peden and Wendi Kong
Torn between Micah Lussier and Amber Wilder in the pods, Paul ultimately chose to propose to Micah, only to be the one to say no at the altar. And after filming ended for season four, Paul decided to rekindle a connection he had early on in the experiment, just not with Amber.
"There was another girl Wendi, the aerospace engineer," Paul exclusively revealed to E! News. "I talked to her a lot. I had an insane connection with her." While Wendi was another woman who didn't get much airtime, Paul shared that he bonded with her in the real world. However, he clarified that they were "never exclusive, but went on dates."
The pair were only together for a brief amount of time because, Paul explained, they were almost too compatible.
"It's almost too much," Paul told Lim Rhodes. "I like myself, but I don't know if I like myself that much that I want to marry myself. We were really similar."
Kyle Abrams and Deepti Vempati
After months of speculation that their friendship had blossomed into a romance after their respective engagements ended, the season two duo revealed they were dating during the spinoff series Love Is Blind's After the Altar. Too bad Kyle and Deepti had already split by the time the episodes had dropped in September of last year.
"I understand many of you are curious as to where Deepti and I stand today," Kyle wrote in a Sept. 19 Instagram post. "Since After the Alter was filmed, we had decided to go our separate ways in early summer."
Kyle has since moved on, exclusively confirming to E! News that he is engaged to Tania Leanos after proposing in Chicago April 11.
"After our first date, I told my mom and best friend that I found my wife and I'm going to marry her as soon as possible," Kyle told E! News. "Tania is the perfect combination of heart, humor and brains. Her nurturing way and compassion are incomparable, and I am constantly in awe of the love she radiates."
Shayne Jansen and Shaina Hurley
Did they or didn't they? After Shayne chose to propose to Natalie Lee in season two, Shaina still made her feelings for him known. And after Shayne and Natalie didn't get married in the finale, they tried to give their relationship another shot off-camera. But Natalie revealed during Love Is Blind After the Altar that she discovered "flirtatious messages" between her boyfriend and Shaina about "what would have happened if they ended up together." The direct messages lead to the (second) demise of their romance, with Natalie explaining, "That's why we're not together anymore."
On After the Altar, Shaina insisted that it was "slander," telling Shayne, "We've always been appropriate. We've never hung out alone." (They, at the time, they were indeed hanging out alone.)
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Natalie suggested "a lot more" of Shayne and Shaina's correspondences were left "on the cutting room floor."
"I understand, in terms of how much you can really show in these three 45-minute-long episodes," she said, "but what I do have is, again, text messages and emails with Shayne, talking about him unsending Instagram messages, deleting messages, and those DMs with Shaina, so that's something that I talked about that didn't make the cut, that I think kind of would have helped with the story."
Mark Cuevas and Lauren "LC" Chamblin
While he initially proposed to Jessica Batten in season one, Mark also had a connection with "LC" in the pods. So, after his relationship with Jessica ended, Mark and "LC" rekindled things IRL. But their romance was shortlived, LC ended things when she learned that Mark was dating someone else.
"Mark and I were casually dating, but talked about remaining exclusive, especially because of COVID-19, but that's over now," LC shared in a statement to E! News in June 2020. "The main thing I learned from the show and past relationships is that I deserve to be treated like a priority, and not an option."
In his own statement, Mark said, "I enjoyed spending time with LC for a few weeks, but at no point were we in an exclusive relationship, as LC confirmed herself. I wish her the absolute best."
Since then, Mark found love with Aubrey Rainey, whom he married in September of last year. The couple have two sons, Ace, 2, and Axton, 13 months.
