Taylor and Daniel are leaving behind their Love Is Blind journey as husband and wife — and best friends. Both say they were “grateful” for the opportunity to address the obstacle they faced early in the season, which saw Taylor questioning whether Daniel had followed her on Instagram before entering the pods.
“When you’re trying to find the person you’re going to marry in such a short window of time, if you don’t have something that really tests you as a couple, you’re not sure how it’s going to translate into marriage,” Daniel tells Tudum. “After that day, we moved on, and we’ve grown from it.” For Taylor, the post-reveal conversation demonstrated just how committed Daniel was to their future. “I think you’re always going to have insecurities,” she said on a recent episode of the We Have the Receipts podcast. “Those don’t just go away because you meet a good person, but the right good person is going to help you work through them.”
Perhaps the “right good” pet can help, as well? “The next step is to get a dog,” Daniel shares, noting that Taylor has been begging for a furry friend since their wedding day. “Then we do want to start a family.”
One of Taylor’s personal highlights was Daniel telling her, “I can’t wait to have kids with you,” during a casual moment at home together. “Again, [it was] nothing that any man has ever said to me,” she says. “He just treats my soul so well.” While they’ve only built upon the connection they formed in the pods, Taylor had a feeling from the very beginning that they were meant to be. “I knew it was Daniel before I even went on our first date,” Taylor says, recalling that before they first met, she told Meg, “I have a weird feeling about this next date.” Daniel naturally feels the same, describing their time in the pods as “an answer to my prayers.”
Ben Mezzenga and Sara Carton on their wedding day.
Sara
After Sara relocated to Nashville for her travel nurse contract, she said Ben subsequently “dropped” her, so she decided to stay in the South longer than anticipated. “I honestly think distance was the best thing for me,” she tells Tudum. Admittedly, Sara has experienced a fair amount of FOMO whenever the Season 8 pod squad spends time together back home. Setting a boundary, however, was important in her healing journey because she knew that seeing Ben would have “messed with [her] head.”
According to Sara, she was confused throughout their relationship — she was baffled she never received explicit answers about his values and didn’t understand his heartbroken reaction at the altar. Confusion turned to anger after Ben ghosted her, she says. “I felt so duped,” Sara says of her time with Ben. “It took me months — longer than I even knew him — to process everything, accept everything that happened, and move forward.”
Now, Sara is living in Minneapolis once again, which feels “right”, especially since the experiment has reassured her that there are plenty of unknown singles to date — that is, when she’s ready.
Once she does wade back into the Minneapolis dating pond, Sara will try not to lead with her people-pleasing tendencies and trust her intuition. “I give the benefit of the doubt a lot. I protect a lot, and I don’t think those are bad qualities,” she says. “But in the future, I’ll be more reflective and trust my gut.” In the past, she’s dated guys who she knows aren’t quite right for her in hopes that they will evolve. “That’s just wrong thinking,” she now recognizes. “I have to love the person for who they are today.”
She also hopes that a future partner wants to learn and grow with her — not just because she’s pushing him to. “I like to learn. I have so much to learn. I only know what I know, so I want a partner who challenges me.” An ability to empathize with others is also huge. “Working with my oncology patients, I do that constantly. I’m an Enneagram 2 — very caregiving, nurturing at heart. So it’s just a very common theme in my life, and of course, I would like to see that in a partner.”
Ben at the ‘Love Is Blind’ Season 8 Reunion
Ben
“Heartbreaking” is the word that comes to mind for Ben when thinking about the reunion. Unlike some of his fellow pod squad members, he didn’t come armed with receipts. He believed that he and Sara were on relatively good terms only to learn on the reunion couches that she was holding onto resentment. “I just did not expect her to come at me like she did,” he tells Tudum. “She’s had multiple chances to be graceful with me … but instead she chose to just bury me even more.” The discussion about the TikTok drama swirling around their former relationship was particularly hurtful. “That just broke my heart,” he adds. “I never showed [Sara] any part of me that would’ve ever made that seem like it could be possibly true.”
While the former couple may never see eye to eye, Ben maintains that he was under the impression that the two were splitting up before Sara left for Nashville — and he has the receipts to prove it. “I went back [after the reunion] and looked at our texts and she [wrote me], ‘I thought we agreedDaniel and Taylor
Taylor and Daniel are leaving behind their Love Is Blind journey as husband and wife — and best friends. Both say they were “grateful” for the opportunity to address the obstacle they faced early in the season, which saw Taylor questioning whether Daniel had followed her on Instagram before entering the pods.
“When you’re trying to find the person you’re going to marry in such a short window of time, if you don’t have something that really tests you as a couple, you’re not sure how it’s going to translate into marriage,” Daniel tells Tudum. “After that day, we moved on, and we’ve grown from it.” For Taylor, the post-reveal conversation demonstrated just how committed Daniel was to their future. “I think you’re always going to have insecurities,” she said on a recent episode of the We Have the Receipts podcast. “Those don’t just go away because you meet a good person, but the right good person is going to help you work through them.”
Perhaps the “right good” pet can help, as well? “The next step is to get a dog,” Daniel shares, noting that Taylor has been begging for a furry friend since their wedding day. “Then we do want to start a family.”
One of Taylor’s personal highlights was Daniel telling her, “I can’t wait to have kids with you,” during a casual moment at home together. “Again, [it was] nothing that any man has ever said to me,” she says. “He just treats my soul so well.” While they’ve only built upon the connection they formed in the pods, Taylor had a feeling from the very beginning that they were meant to be. “I knew it was Daniel before I even went on our first date,” Taylor says, recalling that before they first met, she told Meg, “I have a weird feeling about this next date.” Daniel naturally feels the same, describing their time in the pods as “an answer to my prayers.”
Ben Mezzenga and Sara Carton on their wedding day.
Sara
After Sara relocated to Nashville for her travel nurse contract, she said Ben subsequently “dropped” her, so she decided to stay in the South longer than anticipated. “I honestly think distance was the best thing for me,” she tells Tudum. Admittedly, Sara has experienced a fair amount of FOMO whenever the Season 8 pod squad spends time together back home. Setting a boundary, however, was important in her healing journey because she knew that seeing Ben would have “messed with [her] head.”
According to Sara, she was confused throughout their relationship — she was baffled she never received explicit answers about his values and didn’t understand his heartbroken reaction at the altar. Confusion turned to anger after Ben ghosted her, she says. “I felt so duped,” Sara says of her time with Ben. “It took me months — longer than I even knew him — to process everything, accept everything that happened, and move forward.”
Now, Sara is living in Minneapolis once again, which feels “right”, especially since the experiment has reassured her that there are plenty of unknown singles to date — that is, when she’s ready.
Once she does wade back into the Minneapolis dating pond, Sara will try not to lead with her people-pleasing tendencies and trust her intuition. “I give the benefit of the doubt a lot. I protect a lot, and I don’t think those are bad qualities,” she says. “But in the future, I’ll be more reflective and trust my gut.” In the past, she’s dated guys who she knows aren’t quite right for her in hopes that they will evolve. “That’s just wrong thinking,” she now recognizes. “I have to love the person for who they are today.”
She also hopes that a future partner wants to learn and grow with her — not just because she’s pushing him to. “I like to learn. I have so much to learn. I only know what I know, so I want a partner who challenges me.” An ability to empathize with others is also huge. “Working with my oncology patients, I do that constantly. I’m an Enneagram 2 — very caregiving, nurturing at heart. So it’s just a very common theme in my life, and of course, I would like to see that in a partner.”
Ben at the ‘Love Is Blind’ Season 8 Reunion
Ben
“Heartbreaking” is the word that comes to mind for Ben when thinking about the reunion. Unlike some of his fellow pod squad members, he didn’t come armed with receipts. He believed that he and Sara were on relatively good terms only to learn on the reunion couches that she was holding onto resentment. “I just did not expect her to come at me like she did,” he tells Tudum. “She’s had multiple chances to be graceful with me … but instead Daniel and Taylor
Taylor and Daniel are leaving behind their Love Is Blind journey as husband and wife — and best friends. Both say they were “grateful” for the opportunity to address the obstacle they faced early in the season, which saw Taylor questioning whether Daniel had followed her on Instagram before entering the pods.
To be controversial with my partner,” he says. “I’m just putting it all out on the table and making sure that person wants to be with me no matter what.”
While he has said his piece about the relationship, he’d like to clear up a misconception about his personal journey prior to entering the experiment. “I never said I was addicted to ibuprofen,” he says. “It was more of a dependency. The ibuprofen provided me temporary pain relief and was the only thing that allowed me to be able to get out of bed and play basketball.” Devin clarifies that he chose to open up about this challenging moment in his life to explain the evolution of his faith. “The story is more about me getting back to my relationship with God,” he adds. “The point was that I was going through a really hard time in my life and I felt like there was no one or nothing that would help me.”
Monica trying on her wedding dress.
Monica
Monica says her experience at the reunion came with “a lot of emotions,” but ultimately, she’s happy she had the opportunity to speak her truth — especially after so much disappointment.
“Throughout everything, I would constantly be checking in with Joey, [asking], ‘Where are you at? How are you feeling about this? If you were to be standing at the altar today, what would your answer be?’” Monica says. “The standard answer I would get from him is, ‘I’m just gathering information, and I won’t know until the very end how I feel. I don’t have an answer yet. I’m just gathering information.’ Looking back, I’m like, OK — red flag. This man is not telling you that he even likes you.”
Still, there was something about Joey she couldn’t let go of. “In the back of my mind, I was holding on to some sort of hope … [thinking] he really was waiting till the last moment to gather his information and make a decision,” she says. “I was waiting for some sign to indicate that maybe he would say yes. That would’ve changed my answer. If he went first, and said yes, I probably would’ve said yes.”
Monica says that after the show, they remained on good terms, and assumed they’d try to date. However, Joey then told her he just wanted to be friends. This confusing revelation, along with Joey’s interactions with Madison over Instagram, led Monica to feel disrespected and ultimately decide to distance herself from him. “I tried to have conversations with Joey, and at this point, none of them are fruitful,” she explains. “At this point, Joey is another human on this earth. That’s how I want to leave it, and we can both go on and be prosperous.”
Now that she can focus more fully on herself, Monica says she’s excited for the future. She’s living on her own in Minneapolis after spending time with her ailing grandparents before the show started filming. Ultimately, she’s enjoying the autonomy and attempting to get back into the swing of things. “[I’m] in the city, single, working. I have my dog,” she says. “I attempted to date a little bit. It was really hard, because I felt like I was still tethered to Joey and this experience.”
Joey holding his longboard.
Joey
For Joey, the emotional aftermath of the reunion was overwhelming. He described the experience as “pretty stressful” and was taken aback by the energy Monica brought to the stage. “I was honestly just shocked because Monica and I were on such good terms up until two months ago,” he tells Tudum. During the reunion, Joey says Monica presented a “laundry list” of issues that were never previously discussed, even in the days leading up to their wedding.
Joey wishes “[she] would’ve even said this stuff while we were engaged” instead of airing grievances on the reunion couches. Despite their agreement to be friends and support each other post-filming, the unexpected turn of events left his family bewildered. “Me and my sisters were like, ‘What just happened?’ That was wild,” Joey recalls. While Monica may have doubted his commitment, Joey says he gave her his green bracelet — a tribute to his late sister — as a symbol of his deep feelings. “It is very, very significant to me, because she taught me so much in my life,” he says. “I’ve never given this to anyone else. And so, that is almost more significant to me than giving a ring.”
Still, he wants a cordial relationship with Monica, saying, “I love her. I think she’s an amazing human. I want the absolute best for her despite that situation.” Now he’s taking time to reflect on what the experience revealed about his approach to relationships –– “I wanted to make sure I went through therapy again … I did a lot of self-reflection and growth,” he says –– and is open to dating again. Ultimately, Joey regrets nothing about his time on Love Is Blind, including what he shared with Monica. “This is me,” he says. “I went in there completely Joey.”
Outside of love and romance, Joey has also experienced plenty of life changes since filming. “I’m still in Minneapolis, and I finished remodeling my condo,” he shared. “I had surgery on my shoulder, [I’m] traveling the world. And then just having a good new bond with the people from the show. We have a very tight group, and we’ve been able to rely on and support each other. [One of] my other sisters is pregnant, so I’m going to be a true Uncle Joey.”
Lauren having a drink.
Lauren
For the record, Lauren never met (or even heard from) Dave’s sister. But the experience of dealing with so many outside opinions from Dave’s friends and family left her with a very important takeaway. “I want someone to ride for me,” she tells Tudum. “A partner who is a teammate is one of my non-negotiables for future relationships.” Though Dave did refer to Lauren as “the one that got away” at the Season 8 reunion, she says his own inaction is to blame for nothing else happening between them after filming.
“If there was any part of him that wanted to make this work, it was on him, and he never followed up in a mature way — in a way I would need to feel any kind of emotional connection to him,” she says. Even if the effort was one-sided, Lauren doesn’t regret giving the relationship her all; participating in the experiment showed her that she’s capable of making space in her life for true partnership. “I’ve given up on relationships a little bit more quickly than I would like to admit, and there was definitely a part of me that wondered if I have it in me to be flexible enough to form a life with someone,” she says. “Obviously things took a turn, but there were a lot of moments throughout my relationship with Dave that instilled this idea that when it’s right, it will be easy, and I have the ability to work through things with a romantic partner.”
Looking back on their conflict about her past dating history, Lauren still doesn’t understand Dave’s fixation during filming. “When the cameras would roll, he would bring it up pretty quickly,” she explains. “After a few on-camera dates where he was bringing up the same thing and there was no progression in the conversation, I realized his mind was clearly made up, and I needed him to admit that to himself and to me.”
Once the two called it quits, Lauren was able to heal. “I took so much time to process. I’m not angry with him because it feels very behind me,” she says, adding that she isn’t dating again yet. She is, however, still living in Minneapolis and enjoying her career in educational sales, a piece of her life she’s thrilled she got to share with the world. She may not have ended up married to Dave, but Lauren asserts that her life has only gotten “fuller” thanks to those connections with fellow educators and the pod squad, including Molly, the other corner of her love triangle with Dave. “I have always thought very highly of her. She respected our friendship, which made me ride even harder for her.”
Dave sits with his hands clasped.
Dave
“I’m doing okay. It’s getting a little better each day,” Dave says when reflecting on his bumpy Love Is Blind journey. Ahead of the reunion, he hoped for “clarity and closure” so he could “put an end to this chapter and move on.”
After his broken engagement to Lauren, Dave has since learned the truth about the mystery man who claimed to have been dating Lauren prior to entering the pods. “This guy is actually just a psycho and has been plotting since last year, telling my friends that [he and Lauren] had been dating for months and that she slept at his place the night before the pods” Dave tells Tudum. “I just learned that he fabricated that whole thing.” Of course, the rumors made their way to his sister — and she was already less than thrilled that her brother had joined Love Is Blind in the first place. “She’s just protective,” Dave says about this much-discussed sibling. “We lost our mom, and she’s taken on a lot of that responsibility. We are super close, but if there are things I want to do or someone I want to marry, she would never tell me what I can and can’t do.”
While Dave takes full accountability for not standing by Lauren, he maintains that he was doing the best he could — with the information at hand. “There’s no way I could have gotten married in two weeks knowing what I knew at the time,” he says. “I thought that was the best decision. Yes, I wanted to believe her and trust her, but at the same time, I got my sister and best friends telling me something completely different.” Given the extreme outside interference in their relationship, Dave is walking away from Love Is Blind filled with what-ifs. “Unfortunately for me and Lauren, I guess we’ll never know what could have been,” he says.
In a strange twist of fate, the drama surrounding Lauren’s past hookup has brought the former couple closer. “We text a lot right now, and basically we have this united front against this guy,” he says. “I’m also starting to understand where she was coming from that whole time.” For the foreseeable future, Dave is happy to have less tumult in his personal life. “I’m dead single,” he says. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had an actual girlfriend, other than Lauren, and this helped me understand that about myself.” But when love comes knocking again, Dave knows that he’ll approach his next relationship differently. “I’m ready for that next step, which also makes it harder, knowing what you want,” he adds. “Once you know what you want, it’s a little harder to find.”
IT’S COMPLICATED
Meg in the pods.
Meg
The night after the reunion, Meg slept better than she had in a long, long time because she was finally share her experience about her pod love square. At the top of her to-do list was clearing up any tension with Madison regarding why she gushed about Mason in front of her.
“I did not realize their connection was as serious as it was, since I knew Alex was her number one. To say I wasn’t considering her feelings was really hurtful because I had no idea what the dynamics were,” says Meg. “What’s frustrating is that it can be read as [though] I’m rubbing it in, but I never said Mason’s name, so, for me, it was a very innocent thing.”
After everything that’s gone down, Meg is completely fine not being “best friends” with Madison. “We’ve accepted that, and we have verbalized to each other,” she shares. “Not everyone has to be close, and I think when two people understand that, it makes it easier.” As for Madison’s receipts — and how they pertain to Alex — Meg is choosing to move on. “I was aware of what Madison was bringing to the table,” she says. “I was hearing that Alex was saying things about me that were unkind. [Alex] and I had talked about it [before the reunion].” Ultimately, Meg, Mason, and Alex connected over having a “very similar shared experience” within the experiment. “It was nice to feel like you have people who see your perspective, but at the same time, I didn’t want it to feel like a gang-up.”
As for her future with Mason, Meg is happy to remain in a “gray area” and resist external pressures to define their relationship. “We really are taking it day-by-day and maintaining a very close friendship while still being open to the possibility that this could develop into something down the road.” According to Meg, the two have had private conversations about what they would both need in order to take a step toward rekindling their romance. Regardless of whether her relationship will eventually blossom into something more, Meg calls it a “huge gift.” “Both of us can be every single facet of ourselves with each other, and there’s no judgment,” she says. “I realize how rare that is, and I don’t want to let that go.”
Mason in the pods.
Mason
When asked where things stand with Madison today, Mason says, “I don’t stand with Madison, we do not have a relationship.” Still, Mason was relieved to share his side of the story at the reunion — no matter how tense it got with his former pod flame across the stage.
He still holds on to resentment toward her based on how she left their final date. “My first initial feelings were just like, ‘Holy crap, this girl seems to be enjoying breaking up with me,’” he says. “She just completely changed. It wasn’t the person that I got to know. It felt like she wanted to hurt me. It felt malicious.”
But despite the highs and lows of the experiment, Mason is walking away with a gift he never expected: a one-of-a-kind connection with Meg, saying the two are “best friends and just hang out and talk nearly every day.” To protect whatever the future might hold for the duo, both have agreed not to rush into anything. Plus, they’re used to carving out their own path after the twists and turns of their Love Is Blind journey. “If Meg and I would’ve made it all the way, who knows, maybe we would’ve made it to the altar and said no to each other and not be good friends right now,” he says. “I got the best possible outcome.”
Looking back on his time in the pods has been an eye-opening experience. “It sucked watching myself basically ignore red flags,” he says. But Mason is taking way some powerful lessons about how he can set better boundaries. “I’m the type of person who’s just such a people-pleaser when it comes to relationships,” he reflects. “I will put their priorities over mine no matter what — cancel events with my friends and family and just to make them happy. I need to put myself first more, so I’m not just sacrificing everything for my partner.”
