Dating in the pods can get messy, and there’s always that trio that ends up at each other’s throats when two of them fall for the same person. Season 1 of Love is Blind UK had quite a few of these, but the biggest one by far was between Nicole, Sam, and Benaiah. From a broken engagement to blatant disrespect, this trio brought a lot of drama to the show.
A love triangle in the pods
When people first start dating in the pods, it’s usually hard to get a read on them. However, Sam was one character who didn’t want to be forgotten. In his first interview, he spoke about how he hit the gym the second he found out that he’d been cast on Love is Blind, and how he’d gotten a nose job in the past. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with men getting cosmetic surgery, something about Sam read as disingenuous and slightly insecure, at least to the fans who aired their opinions online.
Despite this, he had strong connections with two women: Nicole and Jasmine. Both of these women were also getting serious with other men though. Nicole and Benaiah were making sparks, and Jasmine and Bobby were building a connection. Nonetheless, Sam wasn’t going to give up. At different points, both of these ladies expressed their doubts to Sam, telling him that it felt like he was always giving the “right” answer at the right times and telling them what they wanted to hear.
Jasmine eventually broke up with Sam first and chose to pursue her relationship with Bobby. This visibly devastated Sam, and we saw him return to the men’s quarters fully upset. While lamenting about the situation with his friends, he decided to fully pivot his attention to Nicole, using the phrase, “beggars can’t be choosers.” However, Benaiah, who was bonding with Nicole, heard this.
The pair were very aligned on their spiritual and world views and just seemed to understand each other. While Nicole was swayed by Sam’s perfect answers, Benaiah was a more grounded and real connection. The only downside was that he didn’t seem ready to propose just yet. Nicole, who had been married before, didn’t see this as a good sign.
As Nicole grappled with her decision between the two men, Benaiah hit her with the bombshell that he didn’t believe Sam was on Love is Blind for the right reasons. He accused Sam of only being on the show for fame. These accusations were backed up by Jasmine when she revealed that Sam had been telling both her and Nicole the same things since day one. Despite all these warnings, in a dramatic moment with both men sitting in empty pods waiting for her, Nicole walked into Sam’s pod and accepted his proposal.
Did Nicole and Benaiah end up together on Love Is Blind UK?
For those of us who followed Love is Blind UK religiously, we always knew that something was a bit odd about Sam. This was made even more obvious in their disaster of a reveal where Sam told Nicole to “trust him” a baffling seven times, and let her put on her ring herself, which she accidentally put on the wrong finger. The cherry on the cake was Sam saying, “I think I love you,” to Nicole, who was now his fiancé, and her awkwardly not returning the sentiment.
It also didn’t come as a surprise to anyone when, a few scenes later, as the rest of the couples were in Greece, we saw Nicole and Sam in London announcing that their engagement was over after only two days. Nicole immediately realized her mistake and set up a meeting with Benaiah, which was much more satisfying to watch and ended in another proposal, this time with more chemistry and happiness.
But that wasn’t the last we saw of Sam. As is the norm for Love is Blind, we had a party where all the cast members met each other once they were back from the vacation, including those who didn’t end up engaged. Sam showed up for this event, and things got slightly heated. When Nicole tried to cordially return his bracelet and ring to him, he insisted she keep them and asked if she left him because he refused to sleep with her.
He then proceeded to repeat and weaponize this story in a conversation with Benaiah, where the other men laughed incredulously in Sam’s face as he told the story. Benaiah expressed to Nicole that he didn’t like how she refused to see Sam’s true colors, but she insisted that she just wanted to forget about him. True love prevailed in the end as both Nicole and Benaiah said yes at the altar, walking away with matching grins.