Aaliyah Cosby ditched Uche Okoroha in Love Is Blind season 5, and he just claimed producers “forced” that storyline. Love Is Blind’s Uche Okoroha, an attorney and entrepreneur, found an immediate spark with Aaliyah, an ICU nurse, and they were arguably the strongest couple in Love Is Blind episodes 1-4 until Uche dropped the bomb that he once dated Lydia Velez Gonzalez. Lydia inconveniently happened to be Aaliyah’s closest friend on the show, whom she confided in several times about Uche. Aaliyah understandably struggled with the idea that her soon-to-be fiancé and her newfound best friend hid their history from her, which led her to ghost Uche and exit Love Is Blind early.
In his introductory Instagram post, Uche posted a damning allegation in the comments section about Love Is Blind season 5 producers. When a fan commented on their suspicion that production had something to do with what went down between him and Aaliyah, Uche confirmed, saying, “Production [forced] me to keep my past a secret.”
He also claimed to have told Aaliyah on camera that production was behind it. “Editing out the part where I reveal that I wasn’t allowed by production to tell the truth was an interesting decision,” he wrote. In other conversations in the comments section, Uche implied he will “soon” reveal more regarding production manipulation of his storyline. In response to the drama of Love Is Blind season 5, Uche remarked, “producer-manufactured drama,” with a laughing emoji.
Why Uche’s Claim About Love Is Blind Production Makes Sense
Love Is Blind cast members and other reality TV stars often accuse their producers of altering their storylines for entertainment. That’s because it probably does happen often. Reality TV is more amusing with a production team puppeteering behind the scenes. While it’s sometimes argued that producers steer far from the truth, for Uche’s situation, it doesn’t seem that way, and their reasoning makes perfect sense. If Uche and Lydia told their respective living quarters that they dated before the show, it could and likely would have affected other contestants’ thoughts and intentions. Once Aaliyah found out, that is precisely what happened.
Therefore, the idea to hide the situation until it was absolutely necessary to share, which it seems they felt was after they formed solid connections, makes sense. It is also possible that production knew of Uche and Lydia’s history before casting them. Considering the show drafts singles from the same city, one would think they would do their due diligence to ensure no conflicts like this. In that case, Love Is Blind producers may have had too much of a hand in the storyline. But if they were also blindsided by Uche and Lydia’s past, then they may have handled it appropriately to preserve the integrity of the experiment.
Uche claims Love Is Blind producers “manufactured” his storyline by “forcing” him to hide his past with Lydia from Aaliyah. It seems probable that is true, considering it could’ve thrown off the experiment for everyone had the information been known from the beginning. Ultimately, Aaliyah finding out so late in the experiment caused her to leave abruptly, but her reaction couldn’t have been predicted. Unfortunately, this secret between Uche (supposedly production) and Lydia negatively affected his time on Love Is Blind. Considering he claimed there’s more to reveal, it may even be worse than it seems.
Love Is Blind season 5 streams Fridays on Netflix.
