Season two of Love Is Blind UK is heating up, with five couples getting engaged and jetting off to Cyprus for their week-long post-pod retreats. Amongst those headed up the aisle are Ashleigh Berry and Billy Jervis Jr, Kieran Holmes-Darby and Megan Jupp, Kal Pasha and Sarover Aujla, Katisha Atkinson and Javen Palmer, and Bardha Krasniqi and Jed Chouman.
From the start, Bardha, 32, and Jed, 31, seemed to be a strong match and they were engaged by the second episode. Will they make it up the aisle to become husband and wife or will they go their separate ways? Ahead of the show’s finale on 27 August, we look back at their story…
Are Bardha and Jed still together?
As the latest episodes aired, Bardha and Jed are still together as of the end of episode eight. But there are hints that there’s trouble in paradise for the couple, with the trailer for the next batch of episodes showing Bardha voicing her doubts about their upcoming wedding and Jed admitting that they may not be as compatible as they’d thought they were.
‘We did actually have an argument yesterday. Right now it does feel really uncomfortable,’ she said to the other girls during their hen do. Jed also revealed, ‘We were on two different pages. If I feel like I’m not heard, it will be a problem.’ On her wedding day, Bardha is seen contemplating, ‘Why do I need to rush into something if I don’t know him enough?’
The biggest hint that Bardha and Jed don’t become husband and wife is in the final scene of the trailer, which shows a crying Bardha being consoled by her girlfriend.
What happened with Bardha and Jed?
From their first pod date, Bardha and Jed had an easy connection. They bonded over the importance of honouring their respective heritages – he’s Lebanese and she’s Albanian – and wanting two children. They got on so well that Bardha joked about being ‘done’ with dating because she just met her husband. She opened up to him about how her family fled to the UK when she was five, because of the war in Kosovo.
The following dates saw their bond deepening and as they spoke about baby names and planned Sunday roast dinners with family, they realised they were falling in love. ‘My heart, my head, and my gut are all saying the same thing,’ Jed told her in their final pod date before he proposed.
During their first meet irl, Jed told Bardha he’s excited to show her family that he will take care of her. As they exchanged ‘I love you’, she said, ‘It was the best moment of my life so far.’
Their love-in continues when they go to Cyprus and they enjoy their first face-to-face date night. He got emotional when they discussed their future children, leaving her feeling confident that her match would be well looked upon by her family.
However, in episode five, viewers see Bardha and Jed’s dominant personalities could lead to a stumbling block, with both used to being the ‘driver’ in their relationships. As they went for an off-road drive, Jed let her drive. ‘Get used to it. That’s how the rest of our relationship is going to go,’ she replied.
She later said, ‘I think Jed is not ready to let go of being the man of the household, but I’m very independent. I like to get things done my way. So, yeah, there’s going to have to be room for two.’
When they had drinks afterwards, they spoke about gender roles, with Bardha saying she takes the lead ‘100 percent’, which didn’t go down well with Jed. ‘It’s just how I am as a person. It’s easy for me to just make decisions quickly, take the lead, and just move on. I don’t really like to leave things lingering,’ she told him. His response? That they would both have to get ‘used to’ that with each other because they’re both ‘very strong’ and independent people.
Looks like we’ll have to wait and see what happens between them.
Shereen Low is a senior news and entertainment writer for Grazia UK, who enjoys watching everything from Love Is Blind and Race Across The World to real-life crime shows and thrillers.