- Love Is Blind season 9 begs the question: Do Love Is Blind contestants pay for the engagement rings?
- LIB creator Chris Coelen says that production provides rings of up to $5,000.
- Patrick Suzuki seemed frustrated that Kacie McIntosh wouldn’t return his ring in episode 9, but does she really owe him a ring he didn't pay for?
The drama is heating up on Love Is Blind season 9 as the remaining engaged couples continue full speed ahead to the aisle, but even the couples who are no longer together have their fair share. In a recent episode, Patrick Suzuki revealed to the other guys that his ex-fiancée Kacie McIntosh was refusing to give back the ring, which begs the question: Do Love Is Blind cast members even pay for the engagement rings?
Thanks to show creator Chris Coelen, we already knew that Love Is Blind engagement rings are provided to contestants upon request. Though some contestants choose to bring their own rings, it seems likely that most contestants will choose from the options made available by production. So, did Patrick pay for Kacie's engagement ring or not?
Who pays for the engagement rings on Love Is Blind?
“We supply them with the rings, and at that point, those rings are theirs,” show creator Chris Coelen told Entertainment Weekly. “They never have to give them back if things don’t work out. They’re their rings. If they want to say that they paid for them then that’s up to them. They can say whatever they want.” In other words, once production gives you the ring, it’s yours to keep—even if you split the next day, like Kacie and Patrick.
That said, this doesn’t mean that season 9’s Anton Yarosh was lying when he said he spent $5,000 on Ali Lima’s engagement ring. According to Chris, cast members are typically given an array of rings from which to choose from costing between $3,500 and $5,000, but they can request to “upgrade their rings,” though the details of the process are murky. “We have nothing to do with that,” Chris said. “We give them the rings, they do what they want.”
It’s possible that production could have paid for Ali’s engagement ring but that Anton added up to $5,000 in upgrades. (Though when he supposedly had the time to do that between the pods and jetting off to Mexico is unclear.)
Did Patrick pay for Kacie’s engagement ring on LIB?
As for Patrick, in episode 9, he told some of his castmates that he had asked Kacie for the ring back, but she had refused. On the surface, this sounds pretty diabolical, especially considering how she broke up with him right after their reveal. However, we don’t know for sure whether or not Patrick paid for the ring—or any upgrades. And if he didn’t, then is it really that rude of her to keep it?
Patrick seems to think so. “I didn’t want the ring back. It wasn’t about the ring,” he explained to EW, claiming that he asked for the ring back as a way to see how she felt about the engagement. “I just wanted to ask her a simple question. And then she basically said a bunch of stuff about how I told her that she could keep the ring, and she told me that I was making it about the ring, and then I was like, ‘I’m not making it about the ring. I just want to be cool.’ And then she never texted me back.”
Meanwhile, Kacie told EW that she still had hope that they could continue their relationship before he asked for the ring back. “Pretty much the second day we were back, he asked for the ring back, and then I started to get a little upset, and then he said he wanted to be friends,” she said, claiming that Patrick wanted the ring “for memorabilia.”
Where the ring is now remains unclear, but Patrick seems certain that Kacie still has it. He even posted a video of himself lip-syncing to Drake’s “Camera” lyrics, “Just mail me my ring back, can’t keep that shit.”
For the record: I would argue that she very much can keep it if Patrick didn't pay for it in the first place.
