What happened between Izzy Zapata and Johnie Maraist after Love is Blind season 5? Details explored

Love Is Blind, the popular reality dating show, sees singles take part in an experiment to find the love of their life and get engaged without ever seeing each other.

Love Is Blind season 5 saw some dramatic moments between the participants. One of these was the surprising relationship between Izzy Zapata and Johnie Maraist. When they connected initially, they tried to explore the option of being together but Izzy eventually chose Stacy Snyder and got engaged to her by the end of the experiment.

Although Johnie went back to Chris Fox in the show, by the time of the wedding day, both couples decided to call off the engagement. In an October 16, 2023 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Izzy rekindled with Johnie as he tried to clear the air about their time on the show and the misunderstandings during the barbecue.

After the conversation, they both tried to know each other better romantically and went on dates.

"We clear that and we're on good terms, and then we're like, 'Well, there's chemistry here. You're attracted to me, I'm attracted to you.'"

Izzy explained that they did hang out together and had drinks multiple times but failed to go on "real dates" as they hung out with friends or her apartment, and never made a physical connection. Izzy and Johnie failed to connect further as they both recently went through their heartbreaks in the show.

"Obviously, I shouldn't have been even dating, I'm still devastated from Stacy, she wasn't over the fact that I turned her down in the pod, and she was still sad over the Chris scenario too," stated Izzy.

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What happened between Izzy, Stacy, and Johnie in Love Is Blind season 5?

During season 5 of Love Is Blind, Izzy Zapata and Johnie Maraist's connection seemed promising at first. They both entered the pods hoping to find their perfect match and for a while, it seemed like they were headed towards the altar in hopes of a happy ending. However, things between them took a turn for the worse when Izzy decided to pursue a relationship with another contestant, Stacy Snyder.

Left heartbroken by the events, Johnie continued her journey on the show and tried to form a connection with Chris during a barbecue reunion of the cast. This led to tensions flaring and a confrontation that led to Johnie breaking down in tears.

The incident became a focal point during the reunion special, where Johnie accused Izzy and Stacy of ganging up on her during the party.

Izzy called her behavior "sketchy", and in an October 5, 2023 appearance on The Viall Files, Izzy apologized for his behavior but revealed there was more to the incident as he didn't want Chris to get hurt.

"I was protecting Chris. I was not salty. I obviously cut her off. The whole point was to date everybody, I just don't want to see my friend get screwed over," stated Izzy.

Izzy explained that Stacy and he were told by various cast members that Johnie was bad-mouthing the couple when they were in their honeymoon phase in Mexico.

"There's multiple cast mates that we had that are telling Stacy and I all this info and stuff that she's saying about us. It was a couple of days before that barbecue, so I was upset, one, for how you were talking about me and the things you were saying about me and then that Chris scenario."

Izzy also revealed he had apologized to Johnie for his behavior when they met outside the sets of Love Is Blind. He further stated that his reactions were aggravated due to alcohol and he felt the "cringe" when he saw the episodes on TV.

Meanwhile, Johnie appeared on the reunion special of Love Is Blind season 5 and revealed she had broken up with Chris. She expressed that she harbored no ill will towards Izzy and also briefly dated aerospace engineer Alex Yovanovic, which she revealed in now-deleted Instagram posts.

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Love Is Blind season 5 can be streamed in its entirety on Netflix.