Love Is Blind UK contestant from Co Down on life after the series and relationship post-show
*Warning - this article contains spoilers for Love Is Blind UK season 2*
Love Is Blind UK contestant Billy Jervis from Co Down has told all about his time on the Netflix series and his relationship status post-show.
Matt and Emma Willis returned as co-hosts for Season 2 to help more hopeful couples navigate the highs and lows of the unique dating experiment.
30-year-old Cabin Crew Manager Ashleigh from Surrey immediately hit it off with Bangor man Billy, an Army Physical Trainer.
Billy, 35, had been single since his divorce five years ago, and found the modern-day dating world ‘a complete minefield'. As the series unfolds, we see Ashleigh and Billy get engaged sight unseen, meet each other's families, and head down the aisle.
Billy was unsure what he was going to say when he faced Ashleigh at the altar, but did end up saying "I do", and at their reception, the pair cheered to their union with some Guinness.
But in The Reunion episode which is now available to stream on Netflix, it revealed that post-show the couple are no longer together, and ended their marriage within three months.
Billy admitted that the pair slowly drifted apart, while Ashleigh said she felt abandoned and sought clarity and accountability from him. She said: "Did he really think I was going to let him get away with what he did? He walked away and I wanted answers, accountability, and clarity."
Although Billy claimed to still respect and care for her, Ashleigh revealed he blocked her after the reunion.
Firstly, opening up to Be on why he decided to do the show and his first TV experience, Billy said: “For me, it was an opportunity of a lifetime. I never actually thought I'd have this opportunity, especially with being in the army.
"So whenever I got approached, I thought, 'You know what, I want to find the person for me'. I just loved the concept of the show because obviously what I'm doing on the outside wasn't working.
"It's a nice way of doing it because you are in the pods, you don't notice the cameras… And then as you progress, there's more and more cameras, then you go onto the reveal and there's like 100 cameras beside you, and you're like, 'Oh s***, this is real now'.
"But you slowly get used to it... having Ashleigh, she was actually a natural on camera, so she kind of just brought me along with her."
On his family's thoughts at his decision to do the series, Billy added: "My family obviously want me to find love, [this is just] a bit of a different way of doing it. But my mum said to me, ‘This might be the best thing for you because obviously something isn't working on the outside, so why not get something different a go'..."
Billy says overall, he "absolutely loved the experience". The 35-year-old explained: "There's only 60 of us in the UK that have ever done it now that can relate to it. Going into the first couple of days, it's just fun, light-hearted... but then a couple of days after that it starts to get intense because you're in there to find the love of your life."
On proposing to Ashleigh, he added: "I had all my notes on my notebook, and I remember I was about to read it, and I was like, you know what, I don't need this. I set it on the side and it's probably the most natural thing I've ever said. It just came out and felt right..."
Unfortunately, after getting saying "I do" on the show, Billy and Ashleigh ended up breaking up a few months later.
Bangor man Billy explained: "We just found ourselves falling apart, chemistry was kind of drifting off, and it felt like you were just going back to dating... We stopped saying ‘I love you’. It just got to a point where we had to make a decision, well I had to make a decision, I'll be accountable for that.
"It was probably the hardest breakup I've ever [had], and we both literally sobbed for hours... I was heartbroken as well because I cared for this girl, she was my person going through the experience...
"After the show we went to Miami together, I brought her home, I went to hers for Christmas... we've done everything above and beyond. But when you're living these moments and something doesn't feel right, then you just kind of know. We tried everything, and we got through Christmas, a couple of weeks [into] the New Year…that's when we both felt that we were growing away and then I ended it."
Speaking to The Mirror about their break-up, Ashleigh said: “There was a follow-up conversation two weeks later. But yeah, we left the experiment; he said ‘yes’ to me and I was like, ‘This is all I needed. Billy has reassured me with that yes that this is going to work.
“‘He’s getting married for the second time, this is the real deal. But unfortunately it wasn’t the real deal and he walked away with no fight. It was three months where I felt I was problem solving and looking to the future and he was just walking away from me.
“And I think, when you fall in love with someone, you grow to love them even more when the cameras are away and it’s just us now. But I felt he was more and more cold towards me and icy and my friends and family saw that side of Billy. And he walked away with no fight in January and we haven’t really spoken much since."
The Love Is Blind: UK Season 2 The Reunion is available on Netflix now.
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