The second season of Love is Blind is officially less successful than the first one. Maybe not by actual viewing metrics, but by the couples. The two couples that got married in season one are still together. The only two couples to get married from season two are no more. Last week, Iyanna McNeely and Jarrette Jones announced they would be divorcing. This week, we found out that Danielle Ruhl has filed for divorce from Nick Thompson.
Danielle Ruhl and Nick Thompson are calling it quits.
After meeting on season 2 of Netflix’s Love Is Blind and tying the knot last June, Ruhl, 29, filed for divorce from Thompson, 36, on Monday at Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
The pair previously attended Lollapalooza with friends earlier this month, after sharing photos of the two of them from a romantic beach-y photo shoot last month. As of Sunday, Danielle still had her last name set to “Thompson” on Instagram.
The news of their divorce makes Ruhl and Thompson the final couple from season 2 of the matchmaking show to end their relationship.
Iyanna McNeely and Jarrette Jones, the only other couple from that season to exchange vows, announced their divorce last week in a joint statement after they also got married last June during the season finale.
Hosted by Nick Lachey and wife Vanessa Lachey, the Love Is Blind pairs Ruhl and Thompson opened up to PEOPLE earlier this year about seeking couples counseling, which they’ve gone to since getting married.
“We’ve put frameworks in place for communication. We’ve had to force ourselves through some conversations [about] what we actually need in that moment and [have] worked on being able to articulate that,” Thompson said in March.
“Sometimes that means walking away for a little bit or sometimes that means, ‘Let’s table it and drop it and forget about it,'” he explained. “There are so many different things that we’re applying to our communication [style] that has really given us a good step to move forward.”
Ruhl added: “A lot of couples, when they’re dating, have the opportunity to naturally learn one another’s language as you would if you’re trying to learn a language outside of English. Learning that in such a short period of time is very difficult and takes a lot of patience, love and understanding from both sides.”
“That’s why we are trying every single day to figure out how to interpret what the other person’s saying because my definition of something could be an entirely different definition of what he thinks something is,” she added. “There’s a lot of unnecessary conflicts that happen just based on misinterpretation.”
When we were talking about Jarrette and Iyanna last week, my friends speculated that this would be coming soon. But it was definitely for different reasons. With Jarrette, it seemed that in his mind he’d settled for Iyanna and he displayed some shady behavior. With Nick and Danielle, the cracks were evident during the season, but not because one of them seemed to have a wandering eye or anything like that. There seemed to be more of a general incompatibility there, both in terms of lifestyle and communication style. That seemed to be something they could and were working through, but I guess it didn’t work out. As the article notes, they were posting lovey photos until recently, so I wonder if there was an inciting incident that broke them for good or if they were just doing a slow roll. Also at play here: the “After the Altar” special for their season is coming out in September. I wonder if this will play out there or on social media.
photos credit: Adam Rose/Netflix
I was surprised that they got married to be honest. They were always having an argument.
Or he was uncomfortable with things that she would say and I could not tell if she was joking or it was a joke covering up an insult. She spoke a different language from me. She seemed aggressive at times, though any factors could have caused her to feel unsettled.
But I was surprised that they married as well.
I was shocked they went through with the marriage. I’m so happy the season one couples are still together.
It wasn’t built to last. Danielle seemed to pick a lot of fights and Nick didn’t know how to diffuse things—he has a bit of a temper. They were Incompatible 101. His mom was totally against the pairing and him as a person, it seemed. Each of them has a lot to work on and figure out about themselves in order to live their best lives and be their authentic selves, and then maybe they could invite someone else in. But not before.
If the show wants to have another “success” story in the future, they need to cast at least a few people with less baggage or damage. The whole crop this year was bizarre.
I don’t think anyone with less damage and baggage would consider being on this show.
@emily exactly! I wonder if reality tv was more compelling in the early 00s because the people signing up were less genre aware, so you had a slightly higher chance of getting more normal people in the mix, or is that my nostalgia talking?
@thatsnotokay yeah i agree this was a doomed relationship even by reality tv standards – danielle’s lack of self esteem would make it very, very difficult to make repair during disagreements because she fundamentally didn’t seem to believe he *could* love her
Huh. Who’d have thunk it? Marrying someone you barely know and it doesn’t work out?
It’s been happening for centuries in many countries/religions and they somehow make it work. Though, it’s quite a taboo for divorce as well.
@BothSides absolutely but like you said, those unions are happening within cultural or religious contexts where arranged marriage is supported, and I bet the average reality tv star may rank higher on some negative traits like narcissism than your average couple getting an arranged marriage
I would be surprised if the type of person who goes on a show like love is blind could navigate any kind of long-term partnership successfully compared to the general population
Um, he’s straight?
This man reminds me so much of my best guy friend who has 4 kids. I almost fell over when he made his own toothpaste, since my friend has attempted his own detergent. Not every man has to be hyper masculine, it is such a stereotype I wish would die.
I know that Danielle kind of gave viewers a lot of ammo to decide that she was the “difficult” one in their relationship, having those meltdowns out of nowhere. But Nick always skeeved me out. He seemed like a sh*t-stirrer on the show and he gave back to Danielle just as good as he got. I am SO looking forward to the After the Alter special- I want to hear evvverrytthinnggg Natalie has to say!
SAME. I cannot wait for that teaaaa
Not surprised in the least. Also, I don’t usually do reality TV, but I’m such a sucker for Love is Blind. It’s so absurd and the drama is amazing. I can’t wait for the After the Altar special!
OF COURSE SHE IS.
They are two anxious people who think the only way to get love and acceptance is through difficulty and hardship. None of them seems to have had secure, stable, loving parents so they think they have to have drama and conflict for there to be any real love. Chaos in the family=subcounsciously seeking chaos from a partner.
That won’t last. No matter the amount of couples counseling and therapy. It’s not a couple-problem, it’s an individual-problem. And they need to heal deep parts of themselves OR find partners with secure and mature attachment-styles.