“I know this isn’t Too Hot to Handle,” Chris tells Tudum about his Love Is Blind journey. “This is about building a connection based on emotions first, and I did that with Jessica. I came into this experience totally 100% open to the idea because I’ve seen it work for other people, but it obviously didn’t work for me.”
What began as one of the strongest connections among the Season 10 pod squad quickly became one of the most strained, with Chris and Jessica ending their engagement once the two returned to Ohio. The differences they seemed able to overcome in the pods surfaced once again in a charged conversation about a lack of physical intimacy, and, yes, whether Jessica is the kind of person who goes to Pilates every day.
“Years ago, I wouldn’t have handled it as well,” says Jessica about Chris’s comments. She credits her past relationships, including her “very long and very painful” divorce, with giving her the tools to navigate the conversation with a relatively level head. “I’ve spent a lot of time working on myself, and I have this sense of self now that I didn’t before,” she adds. “Of course, what he said hurt my feelings, but I know he’s wrong. I know who I am, and I know where my worth lies.”
Why did Chris break up with Jessica?
As Chris sees it, he felt something wasn’t clicking after their romantic getaway in Mexico with the other couples. After some communication clashes — and a peek into their future as a married couple — he began to question everything.
“When we left Mexico, there were just so many thoughts running through my head about our lifestyles and what [life] would really look like when we’re not in vacation mode,” Chris says. “We had this crazy emotional connection, and it’s like, I don’t know how to get past this problem.”
The problem, according to Chris, was a lack of “sexual chemistry.” But he’s quick to explain that the issue goes beyond whether he felt attracted to Jessica. “She’s a beautiful person. I think she’s attractive. When I first saw her, I was like, ‘Wow,’” he says. “But there’s just so many things involved with sexual chemistry, like the way someone touches you or how they smell and their pheromones.”
How does Jessica feel about their split?
Plus, their different attitudes toward working out and maintaining an active lifestyle were, in Chris’s words, “obviously more important” than he’d thought before the two settled back in Ohio. “When you’re not behind a pod, and you’re with someone living in the real world, things can change.” In Chris’s eyes, Jessica wasn’t the person that could ultimately match his thirst for activity — be it at the gym or on a trip. “It comes down to lifestyle as well,” he says. “I was out skiing earlier, and I want someone to do that with me. I didn’t think she [was] going to be that type of person.”
Jessica, however, sees things a bit differently. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand all of it,” she says of Chris’s reasoning behind the breakup. “I don’t know if he really does either.” For the record, Jessica believes it goes way deeper than the physical. “We’re in very different places in our lives — workwise and everything,” she adds. “That became a bit more in his face once we were actually in each other’s spaces. The other women were like, ‘Oh, so he saw your house and then freaked out?’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, maybe that’s part of it.’”
“I have a lot of security in who I am — regardless of money, my house, or anything superficial like that,” she adds. “I do think that that ignited a lot of stuff for him personally that really had nothing to do with me.”
Chris says he tried his best to communicate his concerns sensitively, but understands he missed the mark. “I don’t regret being honest with her. I just regret the way I expressed the words that actually came out of my mouth,” he says. “I was not trying to hurt her or crush her as a human being. I was about to marry this person in a couple of weeks and I didn’t know how to get past this problem, so I just really wanted to just kind of lay it all out there. I wasn’t trying to be malicious, but I understand it may come off that way.”
While Jessica had no interest in staying with Chris after their conversation, he maintains that he was committed to figuring out their issues together. “I wasn’t trying to end [the relationship] right there and then,” he says. Reflecting back on the early days in the pods together, Chris says he was hopeful that their emotional connection could weather whatever new challenges arose. “We shared a lot of common values and had just an overall positivity and optimism about just life in general,” Chris recalls. “I felt like she was really there for the right reasons. She was so open, and that made me feel like I could be open, too. No one else really did that.”
What really happened between Chris and Bri at the mixer?
Of course, Chris also developed a connection with Bri in the pods — something he was keen to explore when the entire pod squad reunited at a mixer. While he never believed Bri was an option as a “romantic long-term partner,” he was intrigued by their banter and physical chemistry. “I was single and we had this connection,” Chris says about Bri. “It was kind of this what-if question for me.”
For an answer to that question, fans will have to tune in to the next batch of episodes. Regardless, however, Chris knows he wasn’t his best self during the mixer. “I probably should’ve never even gone. I was obviously intoxicated, but that’s not an excuse,” he says. “I take full accountability for everything I said, and I apologize sincerely.” And while his journey isn’t over quite yet, Chris is moving forward with the lessons he’s learned from the highs and lows of his experience. “One night doesn’t define my entire character,” he adds. “Life moves on, and you either move on with it or it’s going to move on without you. I obviously fucked up, and I made a mistake, but I try to grow and learn from those.”
As for Jessica, she has zero regrets about how she reacted to Chris on that couch — even as she felt her world crumble around her. “In six months, I wanted to look at myself in the mirror at the end of the night, go to bed and say, ‘Good for you. I’m so glad I handled it that way.’ Could I have gone crazy and said all sorts of shit? Absolutely. Did I want to at times? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, I have to sit with that, and I’m not going to do that to myself.”
New episodes of Love Is Blind Season 10 drop on Feb. 25, as the remaining couples inch closer to the altar ahead of the finale, which airs on Mar. 4.
Aww, Watch All 10 Seasons of these Love Is Blind Couples Meet Face-to-Face for the First TimeWe’re not crying, you’re crying!