Warning: This post contains spoilers for Love Is Blind season 4.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
A mistake to begin with? While Zack Goytowski<\/strong> <\/a>and Irina Solomonova<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s\u00a0Love Is Blind\u00a0<\/i><\/a>engagement did not make it past the couple\u2019s post-pod vacation, the writing had been on the wall<\/a> from the start.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say I made a mistake with not picking Bliss [Poureetezadi\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>in the first place], and I think that was the real mistake,\u201d Zack, 31, exclusively told\u00a0Us Weekly\u00a0<\/i>ahead of the\u00a0Love Is Blind\u00a0<\/i>season 4\u00a0<\/i><\/b>premiere on Friday, March 24. \u201cI knew that when I ended it [with Irina] and was kind of dealing with that. I don\u2019t know how much you could see of the turmoil that I was going through<\/a>, but when I did end it, then my very first thing was I wanted to go and tell [producers] to bring [Bliss] back and that I had made the wrong choice, but I knew I had to live with the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n The criminal defense attorney, one of the suitors on\u00a0Love Is Blind\u00a0<\/i>season 4, was initially torn between his feelings<\/a> for Irina, 26, and Bliss, 33, in the pods. After weighing his proposal options, he ultimately dumped the senior program manager for Irina.\u00a0\u201cAt that point, I had fallen in love with two different people and I made a choice and I was gonna go forward with that choice,\u201d Zack told\u00a0Us<\/i>\u00a0earlier this month. \u201cSo yeah, that was how I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n The Solo boutique owner, for her part, happily accepted Zack\u2019s proposal after a slightly off-key serenade in the pods<\/a>. However, their emotional pod connection was slow to transition into the real world as Irina wanted to wait to explore their physical intimacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s a reason that we chose each other, in that sense, and I knew that it was gonna be difficult seeing him in general. We talked about it,\u201d Irina \u2014 who even sported her engagement ring on her pointer and middle fingers, respectively \u2014 confessed to\u00a0Us\u00a0<\/i>in March. \u201cWe talked about that I [didn\u2019t] think I\u2019d want to kiss him or have sex before marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201c[Meeting him] was a lot more challenging than I thought it was gonna be. Like, it was really hard to connect the connection we made in the pods<\/a> versus being together. I will say that when I saw him it wasn\u2019t anything about his looks or anything, but I just had this gut feeling that something just didn\u2019t feel right and I didn\u2019t feel safe or comfortable. \u2026 It was just something that grew and I feel I was kinda trying to force or pressure myself<\/a> to feel these feelings for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Zack, who could sense that his fianc\u00e9e wasn\u2019t feeling a romantic vibe, frequently questioned where Irina was at in the fourth and fifth episodes of\u00a0Love Is Blind\u00a0<\/i>season 4. The Russia native, for her part, kept quiet about her emotions to his face but confided in pal Micah Lussier<\/strong> <\/a>that she got a \u201cmajor ick\u201d whenever the lawyer attempted to touch her.\u00a0Irina eventually told Zack that she did not want to sit beside him on their flight home from the Mexican getaway, leading the Seattle resident to ask if they should \u201ccall it\u201d<\/a> on their relationship.<\/p>\n \u201cIt sucks. I do think, like, you\u2019re a really \u2014 I\u2019m not done talking,\u201d Irina told him during the episode, jumping in after Zack interrupted to ask if they could stay friends. \u201cI still know that you\u2019re one of the best people that I met. I loved our second day talking, like, my heart was just like, \u2018Oh, my gosh.\u2019 \u2026 I just hope you know I don\u2019t have any regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n Irina further revealed that having a five-minute conversation with Micah\u2019s fianc\u00e9, Paul Peden<\/strong>, made her see the light.<\/p>\n \u201cI think maybe after I saw Paul \u2014 because I had an easy energy feeling with Paul \u2014 that I was like, \u2018Wow, I really wanna have what I have with Paul [with my future husband],\u201d Irina explained to\u00a0Us\u00a0<\/i>of trusting her gut to break off her engagement, noting she did have an \u201camazing\u201d pod connection with Zack. \u201cI just felt, like, even [if Paul is just] a friend, I\u2019m trying so hard with Zack and I don\u2019t have that [same feeling], and I wanna have that in my future and with my future spouse<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Once the now-exes returned home to Seattle, Zack was keen to reunite with Bliss. \u201cI made the wrong choice. You know I did, and [You] did too,\u201d he said after coming face-to-face with the yoga enthusiast for the first time. The episode cut to black before Bliss could respond, revealing a \u201cTo Be Continued\u201d graphic on the screen.<\/p>\n The first five episodes of Love Is Blind are currently streaming. New episodes drop on Fridays.<\/i><\/p>\n
\n Zack Goytowski and Irina Solomonova on \u2018Love is Blind.\u2019<\/span> Courtesy of Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Love](\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Love-Is-Blinds-Zack-Goytowski-and-Irina-Solomonova-Get-Real-About-When-They-Knew-Their-Engagement-Was-a-Mistake-Feature.jpg?w=700&quality=86&strip=all\")
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\n Zack Goytowski and Irina Solomonova.<\/span> Courtesy of Zack Goytowski\/Instagram; Courtesy of Irina Solomonova\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Love](\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Love-Is-Blinds-Zack-Goytowski-and-Irina-Solomonova-Get-Real-About-When-They-Knew-Their-Engagement-Was-a-Mistake-01.jpg?w=700&quality=86&strip=all\")
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\n Zack Goytowski and Irina Solomonova on \u2018Love is Blind.\u2019<\/span> Courtesy of Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n