Exclusive Interview
‘Love Is Blind’: Ali Lima Reveals Anton Yarosh’s Shocking Post-Split Confession
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Love Is Blind Season 9.]
From their engagement during the very first episode of Season 9 to their final date in the snow, Love Is Blind stars Ali Lima and Anton Yarosh’s relationship has been a rollercoaster, to say the least. In the pods, it was clear that Ali and Anton shared a deep bond, connecting over their similar cultural backgrounds, job history, and future plans. Yet, reentering the real world proved to complicate their connection by introducing friends and family into the equation, illuminating a stark difference between their ways of life.
During the Season 9 finale of Love Is Blind, Ali officially broke things off with Anton, saying “I don’t” at the altar on their wedding day. Now, she’s peeling back the curtain, revealing the real reason why she couldn’t marry her fiancé, and breaking down the shocking conversation she had with Anton months after the cameras stopped rolling.
Netflix
Turns out, no matter how hard you fall in love in the pods, not everyone is prepared to spend their life with someone they’ve known for less than a month. For Ali, the closer it got to her wedding day, the more it became clear that she didn’t know Anton as well as she would have hoped. She revealed to Swooon, “I think my biggest hesitation was not truly knowing who I was getting into a marriage with.”
Like many of the women featured on this season, Ali saw a clear distinction between the man she fell for in the pods, the man she met in real life, and the man who came to life once the cameras were rolling. “I felt that Anton in the pods really kind of sold himself as one person. Anton, in real life, with cameras on, was a different person. And Anton, with cameras off in real life, was another person.”
While it’s not something we saw on camera — most of their screentime was devoted to Ali’s concerns about Anton’s drinking habits — Ali revealed that they had discussed this personality switch-up long before their wedding day. She admitted, “I had a very open conversation with him, saying, ‘If this is how things kind of continue to go, I don’t see myself saying yes to you.'” For that reason, her rejection “wasn’t anything that he didn’t see coming.”
Netflix
After what would have been their wedding day, Ali confirmed that she and Anton did not have any kind of relationship. Even so, they have crossed paths during Pod Squad reunions. According to Ali, their most significant post-show conversation took place at a pool party last summer. Ali revealed, “We kind of both just said, no hard feelings. We’re happy for the experience. It worked out how it’s meant to.”
However, during our conversation, she remembered something Anton told her that didn’t sit quite right with her. She recalled, “Actually, at that party, I thought it was so strange… He had told me that he said yes, but he didn’t know what he would do if I would have also said yes because he wasn’t sure that that was actually what he wanted.” To say our jaws were on the floor would be an understatement.
Ali assured us that they ended their conversation “super civilly” but admitted, “I don’t know if [his confession] makes too much sense for me.” Even so, she shared, “I think it was a great learning experience for both of us. I would do it all over again if I could, and I would still pick him.”
Do you think Ali will bring up this conversation during the reunion? Comment below!
Love Is Blind, Season 9, Episode 1-12, Streaming Now, Netflix
Love Is Blind, Season 9, Reunion, October 29 at 9/8c, Netflix
