Love Is Blind has always been an attention-grabbing show, but previous seasons generated buzz with what was shown onscreen. However, Love Is Blind Season 5 garnered just as much attention — if not more — for what was edited out. The most shocking story to come out of Season 5 was the fact that one couple, Renee Poche and Carter Wall, went through the entire experiment and made it all the way to the altar only to have their entire storyline cut out of the season. When TikTok discovered this, it opened the floodgates and led to lots of speculation. Why were Renee and Carter, two participants who were actually shown quite a bit during the initial pod dating portion, removed from a season that ultimately only followed two couples? After weeks of speculation, Renee finally told her story — and it is easily the wildest tale to come out of Love Is Blind Season 5 (and knowing how this season went, that is saying something).
In an appearance on the Out of the Pods podcast, a reality TV recap pod hosted by Love Is Blind Season 2 participants Deepti Vempati and Natalie Lee, Renee Poche revealed what she endured with Carter on Love Is Blind. Before proceeding with a summary, here’s a trigger warning for abuse, body shaming, and — shockingly — guns among many other things.
Renee begins her story by saying that she did know that her story was going to be edited down about a month prior to the season premiere, although she wasn’t sure how much would be shown. To her surprise, her entire storyline was edited out, even though she continued to appear throughout the season, like at a midseason barbecue and even at the wedding dress fitting. According to her, production gave two reasons why her storyline was cut. She was told that production didn’t want her to relive the experience, since they knew how intense it was; she was also told that the episode order had been cut from 12 to 10 and they just didn’t have time for her story — never mind that Season 1 was 10 episodes long and followed twice as many couples as Season 5. Renee says she’s even heard that the whole show was edited, with her storyline included, but a lawsuit from another cast member (who was ultimately edited out entirely) may have prompted them to re-edit the entire season around June, a few months ahead of the premiere.
As for her engagement to Carter, Renee says she absolutely did fall in love with Carter — albeit a fake version of him. Renee expressed regret at not getting to know the real Carter and avoiding a lot of serious conversations that they should have had in the pods. Apparently, producers give the participants a series of topics, or prompts, to discuss every day on their dates. Renee said she and Carter would start on those prompts, but would drift away from serious questions and just joke around.
It doesn’t help that Carter was allegedly lying in the pods, too. According to Renee, Carter said he was telling women that he was unemployed as a way to screen out those who may just be looking for money. This worked, and all the women dropped him except Renee, who says that they had an agreement that Carter would find a job in the weeks leading up to their marriage. But as Renee alleges, not only was Carter unemployed, he had no credit card, no credit, had an account balance of -$500, and discovered that his cell phone had been shut off during filming. Carter even asked Milton to pay his phone bill (ultimately, Milton did not pay Carter’s cell phone bill).
After their engagement, Renee and Carter went and filmed in Mexico with the other engaged couples. Renee says that she started to notice Carter’s “anger” while in Mexico. Renee said that production asks all the couples to film a shower scene wherein they get naked and, well, get into the shower together. Both Deepti and Natalie confirm that this happens during the post-engagement vacation. While Renee was fine with it, Carter refused and got so angry that he threatened to fight a camera guy.
Cater got into another altercation with a crew member while filming a couples’ party in Mexico. Carter was dipping at the party (or partaking of chewing tobacco) and needed to spit, so he asked a crew member if they were done with a half-full cup of water. When the crew member said they were still drinking from their cup, Carter allegedly lost his temper at them.
Things did not improve when the couple traveled back to Houston where they were expected to move in together and begin wedding planning. Renee says that Carter lost his temper at someone at the airport when he was asked to put a mask on (this was circa May 2022). Upon arriving at their shared living space, Carter allegedly got drunk off of the minibar. And instead of job hunting, which he agreed to do almost as a condition of their engagement, Renee says Carter continued to party, drink, and fish most days. He did have one job interview during their weeks together, but Renee says that she came home that afternoon to find Carter asleep and their apartment covered in trash.
All the while, Carter was still being cagey about his money situation. Renee says that, while they were in the pods, Carter talked a big game and said that even if production didn’t choose to follow their storyline, they should still go on a big vacation and get married. And upon getting her engagement ring, Carter said that he was going to “upgrade” Renee’s ring. But as Renee tells it, she and Carter only went on one actual date during their entire time together — and in retrospect, she is fairly certain they dined and dashed.
Renee explained that she knew she was not going to marry Carter weeks before the wedding and at one point had a tearful breakdown in the hallway, but she alleges that production continually encouraged her to keep filming, saying, “Give him another chance.” This was the case even after Carter got angry at Renee at the mid-season barbecue where he yelled at her to “shut the fuck up.” Renee theorizes that this may have been because only two other couples remained in the season, but Deepti and Natalie acknowledge that this was also the case in their seasons when women expressed a desire to leave. Renee even told production that she didn’t want to be alone with Carter or even around him unless they were filming, but she was still not permitted to leave.
The most egregious example of this, Renee alleges, is that when production found out that she had a gun (“We’re in Texas. I live alone. I’m not big on guns”), they told her to not have a gun around Carter. “They didn’t want [a gun] to be anywhere near where he was,” said Renee. She added, “And then the next day, they told me filming was at like 11 [a.m.] but we weren’t filming until 6 p.m., so I was stuck with him all day.”
On their last night of filming before the wedding, Renee and Carter were prompted to talk about their experiences with each other. Carter allegedly called Renee “trashy” and a “THOT” (“that ho over there”) and said that he wanted to marry someone like his mother. Carter continued, saying that no other men in the pods wanted her, and he allegedly said, “Look at your body. You think you’re hot?”
The next day is when Renee found out that Carter had brought a woman he met while out drinking back to their shared apartment building, and even went so far as to take her to the roof where he walked in on Stacy and Izzy filming a scene together. Renee found out about this on her wedding day and texted Carter to tell him that she knew. His response, apparently, was that Renee wasn’t giving him an ounce of affection and “he’s a man who has needs.” As Renee tells it, she apparently said “no” to him during her vows, not even waiting to be asked.
As for the rumor that Renee was not single and that that had something to do with her story being cut, she says none of that is true. It is true that she did get married a year later, but it was to a man that she’d met and talked to a little on a dating app before Love Is Blind. He wasn’t interested in a relationship at the time. The two started dating after Love Is Blind and are now married.
Deepti and Natalie also asked Renee about the allegations made by a participant who was part of another couple that was edited out, a participant who is now suing Love Is Blind’s production company alleging that she was sexually assaulted by the fiancé she met through the pods. Regarding the lawsuit, Renee said, “Everything that she did say that I read through the article is true. During filming, she expressed things on camera that everyone saw and she said that she was uncomfortable. He was very pushy, he said that his love language was physical touch. I feel like everyone felt the uncomfortable feelings for that, but she was still asked to continue to film.”
As for how Renee’s story will impact Love Is Blind, that remains to be seen. Renee does mention that she believes the show doesn’t want her to tell her side of the story. For now, though, Renee’s story is live and, for the first time, she’s controlling her narrative.
If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.