Why I’m Team Natalie, “After the Alter”

Season two of Love is Blind took us on a journey to once again see singles fall in love in the pods. Some people didn’t make connections; meanwhile, others like Shayne Jansen and Natalie Lee, seemed to have formed a strong bond. 

“After the Alter” seemed to bring up some of Natalie and Shaina Hurley’s past problems after Natalie mentions the source of her and Shayne’s official break up. She comments on how Shayne and Shaina had allegedly been sending each other flirtatious messages during their relationship. This also overlaps with Shaina’s relationship with her husband (then boyfriend). 

Here’s why I’m on team Natalie, even though some might feel like she’s opening old wounds.

Shaina should’ve never attended the party

In “After the Altar,” we see Danielle Ruhl and Nick Thompson throwing a birthday party. Almost everyone who’d gotten engaged (whether they had broken up or not) was invited to Natalie’s birthday party.

Shayne chose not to attend because he was still upset about the breakup, however, Shaina chose to attend the party with her husband, who was still her fiancé at the time of filming. Shaina claims to be over the drama, but Natalie pulls Danielle aside and tells her about the inappropriate messages she had allegedly seen between her and her previous partner. Danielle brings this up to Shaina, which causes her to leave shortly after.

Personally, I feel like Shaina should’ve never attended the party because she was fully aware that Natalie wasn’t pleased with her past actions. Natalie is also not Shaina’s biggest fan. Since she had moved past it and was in a relationship, she thought they could move on. It may not have been the right time, considering it was a celebration.

Shayne and Shaina’s relationship was inappropriate 

Shayne and Shaina had formed a connection in the pods and were also very close, but ultimately, Shayne decided to propose to Natalie. Throughout the season, we saw Shaina make remarks about their relationship, and how she didn’t think they were a good fit for each other. She even had a conversation with Shayne expressing her feelings while blatantly disrespecting his relationship.

After all these negative interactions and constant disrespect, I would not be happy to have my partner in that friendship. Shaina was making constant remarks while acting like she was Natalie’s friend. She even went to the extent of offering to hook Natalie up with one of her friends if their relationship didn’t work out. Having a presence like this must not have been easy while they were trying to work through their issues.

Natalie doesn’t need to get over it

Some people might think that the drama has passed and Natalie should move on. Personally, I feel she shouldn’t have a timeline for her processing separation—but I do understand her words will have an impact. 

Natalie and Shayne did not decide to get married and were seen to be separated at the time of the reunion. According to an article in Glamour magazine, they dated for several months after the show ended. 

To understand Natalie’s frustration at the time of filming, we need a clearer idea of the timeline.

An article in Bustle magazine claims season two of Love is Blind was filmed from April to June 2021. If they had dated for a few months, we can assume they dated for at least three months, but no more than seven, since the filming of the reunion took place sometime in February according to Popsugar. Taking all that into account, and the fact that a Distractify article mentioned it was filmed in March, they couldn’t have been broken up for more than four months before the episode took place.

Having a clearer picture of when things went down, Natalie’s frustration is more understandable. Do I think that Shaina still behaves as she did on the show? Not necessarily, but I wouldn’t necessarily have moved on from it within that time period—especially after not giving much information about the breakup. 

At the end of the day, we only have the information that is given to us and can really only guess what truly happened. Natalie and Shaina are both adults who are capable of dealing with their problems and may have even moved past the situation entirely.

• After The Alter
• Love Is Blind
• season two