A couple who appeared on Netflix’s Love is Blind almost walked away from their ‘bonkers’ onscreen wedding – but are now happily married more than a year later.
Nicole Grunewald-Bridi, 31, and her husband, Benaiah, 34, met as strangers on the reality TV dating show in August 2023 – tying the knot in an episode at the end of the series.
Love is Blind sees singletons enter ‘pods’ – where they then date others without ever being able to see their potential companion and even get engaged before they’ve seen each other.
The couple both admit their road to love wasn’t the smoothest as Nicole was briefly engaged to another contestant called Sam – before realising she’d chosen the wrong man.
A few weeks later, Nicole and Benaiah reunited and confirmed their feelings for each other and he popped the question.
The pair tied the knot in September 2023 – a month after meeting in the pods – despite being “torn” on whether or not they’d actually go through with a wedding.
But, more than a year on, Ben and Nicole say they’re “very grateful for their journey so far”.
Benaiah, a freelance drone operator, originally from Longridge, now based in Leatherhead, Surrey, where Nicole is from, said: “We agreed a no the night before.
“A friend of mine posed a question, asking that if production stopped and the weddings were called off, would you still get married this week?
“And we both said ‘well no, of course not’ – it is absolutely bonkers.
“We thought under that mentality, how can we say yes?
“We left each other on a no, but, independently that night we changed our minds to a yes without communicating that to each other.”
Contestants on the show date people in soundproof pods and after 10 days the couples who want to pursue a relationship get engaged and go on to date.
They then move in together and on the day of the wedding decide if they want to go ahead and tie the knot.
Nicole, a marketing strategist, added: “We both said that if we both can’t decide it is a no.
“The confused face you see on the wedding day is me wanting to tell him that I have changed my mind from a no to a yes.
“But I didn’t want to blindside him so I was ready to explain everything that went on to him.”
Nicole was a fan of Love is Blind before she applied to take part and Benaiah says he was contacted to be part of the show after being single for several years.
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Nicole said: “I didn’t actually date until a late age, I then did things in a very traditional way.
“I got married and that didn’t work out – after that, I lost hope.
“I got to a place where I did spiritual growth and was interested in exploring different ways of doing things.
“A friend of mine got me interested in the show and I thought it was really cool and it works.
“I applied and, low and behold, I did it.”
The pair met for the first time in August 2023 in soundproofed pods and weren’t able to see or properly meet each other until they were engaged.
They enjoyed the pods as it allowed them to build a “deeper connection” and they imagined “silhouettes” of each other.
Nicole said: “The people who I felt more romantically inclined to were the ones that I pictured.
“I pictured Benaiah to be looking like Bob Marley, I pictured a black guy with dreadlocks, a bit of a hipster – that is what I pictured.”
Benaiah added: “You weren’t allowed to talk about looks or features but we were having a pod date and I remember her saying ‘I am picturing long hair’.
“I thought ‘yes she has got it’ and then she said dreadlocks and I thought ‘oh, right’.”
Nicole and Benaiah say they had a “spiritual connection” and, after a bumpy path, Benaiah asked Nicole to marry him.
Nicole admitted the relationship was a “slow burn”.
Benaiah said: “There was initial energy in the way the conversation was flowing, Nicole was very positive, upbeat, very chatty.
“I reflect energy, and if someone is downbeat and negative that reflects on me but if someone is cheerful that also has an impact on me.
“We were also aligned on core values very quickly.”
Nicole added: “For me, it was a slow burn, the first date was really strong but then it was a dripping slow burn that when he would answer a question I could hear myself talk.
“All his answers were what I was looking for, it was only my reservations about his lifestyle that were getting in the way.”
The pair tied the knot in a filmed ceremony and revealed they were both “torn” in the run-up to the wedding day.
Benaiah and Nicole said they were leaning toward saying no but changed their mind separately the night before.
Nicole said: “We were torn in the run-up to that wedding day.
“For me, I had a clarity really late in the night, in that wedding scene I was so sure about Benaiah but it shows me being a bit more uncertain.”
Benaiah and Nicole say they are often stopped in the streets to ask if they are still together and people are shocked when they say yes.
They are both committed to their relationship and marriage and are in it for the long run.
Benaiah said: “A lot of time when people stop us on the street, they will go ‘it is so nice to see that you’re still together’.
“In my head, I am like ‘why wouldn’t we be? We are married,’ but people are shocked.
“Maybe there is an element of they see that world differently from real life but for us, this is real life.