Natalie reveals the moment she realised Love Is Blind doesn’t actually work as a concept
It really took her this long to realise?!
If you needed proof that Love Is Blind alum Natalie Lee is in her “I’m older, wiser, and not sugar-coating it” era, her latest podcast chat delivers.
On Out of the Pods, she’s not rehashing old tea for clicks, she’s connecting real-life moments to what the pods promise versus what they actually produce.
And the spark for her latest hot take wasn’t a viral meme or a messy reunion… it was a wedding. Specifically, seeing someone she loves find the kind of relationship that just makes sense.
It may be five years post-show, but Natalie’s coming through with some newfound wisdom…
Natalie reflects on Love Is Blind
Ok, so Iyanna McNeely, who we all first met on season two, has lived the full Love Is Blind arc
She went from whirlwind pod romance, marriage, and then a public breakup. Iyanna and Jarrette Jones announced their split in 2022 and later finalised their divorce.
Fast-forward to now, and Iyanna has remarried. She tied the knot with Alexander Lewis in a winter wedding in Chicago on January 17, 2026, and Natalie was a bridesmaid.
That’s the emotional context behind Natalie’s “aha” moment.
Watching Iyanna in a relationship that looks calm, sure, and genuinely aligned made Natalie reflect on what they all thought love looked like back then, when the pods were new, the stakes were high, and everyone was convinced the connection had to be “the one” because it felt intense.
Speaking on Out of the Pods, Natalie told Deepti Vempati that she just attended Iyanna’s wedding and found it crazy that she met both Iyanna and Deepti five years ago on Love Is Blind.
“It was so, so magical,” she said of Iyanna’s wedding.
She realised Love Is Blind doesn’t work
@natalieminalee Five years ago we bonded as we helped each other through heartbreak, and now I get to stand by her as she marries her soulmate 🥹
Giving her opinion about Love Is Blind as a concept, Natalie said: “It does not work.”
She continued: “I know that there are happy couples from the franchise, but I think those are people who just got lucky.”
Natalie continued to explain that Iyanna’s wedding was actually the moment that this all became clear to her.
She said: “Listen, her being married made me realise the show doesn’t work…”
She isn’t claiming love never comes out of the Netflix show experiment; she’s saying it’s not a reliable system.
“I think the reason why it doesn’t work is, you’re choosing one person who best fits you out of 15 men, like that’s it.”
Deepti then added: “The pool is small if you think about it.”
The ladies go a step further, and both Natalie and Deepti agree that the type of people who sign up for reality TV shows might not be the best fit for them.
Deepti explains how now “that pool of men” isn’t necessarily the type she’d want to marry at her current age and standards. And, Natalie agrees.
They even admit the double standard… they’ve done a reality show, but she doesn’t want to date a guy who did one.
Natalie said: “I just don’t want that type of guy.”
Shayne Jansen’s ex then went on to say how she’s had “regular” corporate-job guys reject her because she was on one, which she says is fair.
After seeing Iyanna and Alex together, Natalie said she thought to herself: “I want that.” She added: “I want someone to look at me and my future partner, and think ‘this is great, perfect, this is love’.”
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