“Love Is Blind” fans are reacting to an unusual editing choice made by the show’s production team that has never been done before.
In the first few episodes of Season 7 (out Oct. 2) viewers watched seven couples get engaged in the pods and meet for the first time. But in a surprising twist, fans soon learned that only six of the seven couples would continue with the experiment.
Leo Braudy, a 31-year-old art dealer, was frequently featured at the start of the season as he became involved in a love triangle with 33-year-old Brittany Wisniewski and 27-year-old Hannah Jiles. Leo wrestled with his feelings for both women, even asking his fellow cast members for advice more than once.
Hannah ultimately made the decision for Leo when she realized she had a stronger connection with Nick Dorka, a 29-year-old real estate agent. After his relationship with Hannah ended, Leo quickly shifted his focus to Brittany and later proposed in Episode 5.
“I mean this from every part of me, I’m so in love with you,” he told her. “So now it’s time for me to ask. I am down on one knee. Brittany Nicole Wisniewski, will you marry me?”
She said, “yes,” but seemed to doubt her decision when they met in person.
At the reveal, Leo proposed again and the two sat down to have a conversation. Brittany said it was “weird” to be engaged and said she didn’t know how she felt. When Leo told he loved her, Brittany replied, “I don’t feel ready to say that yet.”
As they kissed and cuddled, she said, “This is definitely one of the most awkward moments of my life.”
She also said she would reciprocate his feelings once she really meant it.
In her confessional interview, Brittany shared, “Something in my brain is not computing. Like, holy s—, this stranger just asked me to marry him.”
The newly engaged couple said goodbye and agreed that even if they didn’t join the other couples in Mexico for the next part of the experiment, they would still see each other in Miami.
That’s when the show revealed viewers would not see what happened next in Leo and Brittany’s relationship.
Are Brittany and Leo still together?
Text appeared on the screen that read, “Brittany and Leo were not one of the six couples chosen by producers to continue their journey in Mexico. They took their own trip to Miami and broke off their engagement weeks later.”
It marked the first time “Love Is Blind” aired a proposal before revealing that the cast members wouldn’t be highlighted in future episodes. Typically, the show completely edits out any couples that aren’t selected to continue the experiment outside of the pods. Last year, creator Chris Coelen confirmed in an interview with Variety that multiple couples don’t make the final edit of the show.
“Each season, there are lots of stories that we don’t tell, regardless of whether couples get engaged or not. Some of them even, we will follow for a little bit and not show their story on the show … It’s a little bit of a judgment call,” he said.
But this time, “Love Is Blind” had viewers invested in Leo and Brittany’s relationship before abruptly announcing their time on the show was over, leaving to some mixed responses from fans.
One viewer reacted to the producers’ decision on X by posting a video of Ramona Singer saying “thank God,” in a clip from “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
“Cannot say I’m surprised by the Leo and Brittany update,” another tweeted and included a skull emoji. “You could literally see it in her face when she walked out.”
Others were displeased that they didn’t get to watch how the rest of Leo and Brittany’s story unfolded.
One viewer posted on X, “I’m sorry???? We just went through FOUR EPISODES of Nick / Hannah / Leo / Brittany drama only for the producers to NOT SEND LEO AND BRITTANY TO MEXICO?!?!?!?!”
“As a producer, why would you NOT choose Leo and Brittany to continue?” one fan asked. “They would have made great television.”
Another X user said, “Ayo, Netflix, what’s the deal here?! We needed to see the Leo and Brittany cringe unravel after you made us watch so much of the buildup in the pods.”
What happened between Leo and Brittany?
Coelen explained the reasoning behind the editing choice regarding Leo and Brittany in a recent interview with Variety.
“We have the budget to follow five couples and sometimes we stretch to six couples, and we figure out how to stack our crews,” he said.
He added, “When we make that decision as to who to follow, if we have more couples that got engaged, we make a decision as to which couples we think are authentic. And when I say authentic, I mean most authentically likely to actually be at the altar and say ‘I do.’ Who is really genuinely on that path? We felt, at the time, that the six couples we did end up following were the ones that felt more, on a gut level, had a real shot to say ‘I do’ — that they were really invested in saying ‘I do.’ The couple that I think we felt least likely to do that were Leo and Brittany.”
Coelen said that it felt necessary to include parts of Leo and Brittany’s love story because it connected to Hannah and Nick’s journey.
But that doesn’t mean “Love Is Blind” fans won’t see Leo and Brittany on the show in the near future.