Well, Love Is Blind Season 3 is officially over, and we finally got to see which couples tied the knot (and the marriages on the show are *actually* real and legally binding, FYI). Prior to the release of Episode 11, I had been internet sleuthing like crazy to figure out who ended up together, and one of the couples I couldn’t stop thinking about was Cole and Zanab. Their relationship was truly a whirlwind (I mean, I can’t even imagine being Zanab and having to clean up after Cole — that toilet was just nasty) full of lots of highs and lots of lows. Spoiler alert: Spoilers for Love Is Blind Season 3 follow.
Cole and Zanab’s wedding day was a mystery from the start, with Zanab even admitting that she didn’t know if she was going to say yes to Cole. “I am ready to get married. Whether it’s the guy at the end of the aisle today, I do not know,” Zanab said. Yikes.
Given Zanab’s apparent uncertainty about Cole, it wasn’t a major surprise when she rejected him at the altar — but what was a surprise was what she had to say. “I think I have a really good idea about the type of woman that’s gonna love you the way Cole needs to be loved every day for the rest of your life. And I think you and I both know that that is not me,” Zanab said at the altar. “As much as I have wanted it to be me and have tried to manipulate myself to be that person for you, the last two months have not been picture-perfect. You have disrespected me. You have insulted me. You have critiqued me. And for what it is worth, you have single-handedly shattered my self-confidence. And I hate that you have had that kind of effect on me.” And with that, Zanab walked out.
Cole was “blindsided” by the rejection, saying, “This whole time, I’ve been talking about how mature and how respectful and how loyal Zay is. She had me fooled, big time.”
But Cole and Zanab’s relationship had never been picture-perfect. For starters, Cole had a thing for Colleen when he saw her IRL, which posed a real problem for his and Zanab’s relationship. In Episode 5 in Malibu, California, Cole flirted with Colleen, even going as far to tell her that she was “his type.” Cole apparently also rated Zanab a nine out of 10 and Colleen a 10 out of 10 — yeah, yikes.
And in Episode 7, the problem continued to reach a head when Cole and Zanab talked about it at a get-together with the whole cast. “You and I have talked about this extensively. Colleen and I told each other how we feel about each other physically, but in the pods, it was very clear that emotionally, we had zero connection whatsoever,” Cole told Zanab. “I thought we were past that.”
Zanab didn’t seem very convinced by the end of their conversation, though, telling Cole that she’ll “never look like Colleen” and that Cole should just “go marry [her]” instead. Major uh oh.
Another serious issue that the couple grappled with was the fact that Cole’s family didn’t want to meet Zanab until after they got married — meaning, they didn’t attend the wedding ceremony.
In Episode 9, though, the two seemed better than ever, offering a glimmer of hope for their wedding day. “I’m, like, really loving this moment with you right now,” Cole said to Zanab as they boated on the water and shared a romantic moment a couple of days before their wedding day. Zanab even told Cole that he was “potential husband material” and that “each day, she loves him a little bit more.”
But that moment ended pretty quickly when the couple got into a fight over making chicken (yes, over making chicken). The pair got irritated with each other, and Cole asked her, point-blank, if she knew if she was going to say yes on wedding day. “I don’t think I’ll know until I’m walking down the aisle to you,” Zanab admitted. They continued fighting, and Cole said, “I just want someone sweet. I want sweet Zay. Be sweet. Be unassuming.” Things reached a boiling point when he told her she had a “bad attitude” and blatantly asked her if she was “bipolar,” which is just not OK.
Honestly? I think it’s for the best that these two didn’t end up together. But for a while, I was totally fooled, because Cole and Zanab’s social media posts sent me mixed messages prior to their wedding day. On Oct. 26, Cole took to Instagram to share a few sweet moments with Zanab, saying, “It’s very difficult to watch us struggle in Malibu, and if I could change the mistakes and those moments I would. We had high highs and low lows, here’s some of the moments I’ll never forget.” Zanab also posted a photo of Cole meeting her family on Oct. 25, writing, “I’m VERY protective of my people, so it’s a big deal to be brought home.”
In the reunion episode, Zanab went into more detail about the impact Cole had on her self-esteem, body image, and self-confidence, and she also claimed that there were a lot of moments that Netflix didn’t air. “The pushing food away from me, asking if I’m gonna eat that, trying to get me to order a salad, the daily comments about my face and my body, were not used,” Zanab said. While Zanab said that she forgave Cole for everything that went down in their relationship, the two don’t seem to be on speaking terms anymore, and Cole revealed that they “didn’t text” after the wedding.
Neither Cole nor Zanab have posted about each other on Instagram since their wedding day and reunion episode aired on Nov. 9.