Love is Blind's Lauren gives relationship update and talks Sara and Joey rumours as Dave also speaks out

Lauren got engaged to Dave Bettenburg in season 8 of the hit Netflix dating show after forming a connection in the pods, but they never made it to their wedding day.

Once they had met and were given their phones back, their relationship faced a huge test when Dave received messages from his friends informining him that Lauren had a boyfriend while being on the experiment.

The man remained nameless, but Dave realised it was someone he vaguely knew from the gym. She told him that this was not true, and that she had only hooked up with him a few times in the months leading up to the experiment.

Dave didn’t know what to believe, however, and refused to introduce Lauren to his friends and family. The situation drove a wedge between them and they broke up.

At the reunion, which aired on Sunday March 9 and was filmed around a year after filming ended, Dave admitted since filming ended he had found out Lauren had been telling the truth and the man had been lying. He expressed a desire to date her, but she shot him down, telling him she was “lightyears” ahead of him in terms of emotional maturity.

Now, Lauren has given a major update on her current relationship status. The reality star hosted a Q&A on her Instagram last night (Thursday March 20), where she invited her followers to chat to her. Many people sent questions about Love is Blind, of course.

One person asked if there was anything that happened between her and Dave, good or bad, that she wished had made the edit of the show. She replied: “Honduras was actually really fun and easy with Dave. We laughed a lot, played a lot of cars, talked about the future, and were just overall very unplugged without our phones/the outside world. They spent most of the time showing Dave talk about my peeing habits and our physical intimacy, but I promise we had 50 plus hours of other conversations.”

Another curious fan also asked Lauren how she feels about the Sara, Joey and Monica situation. Monica Danús and Joey Leveille also got engaged on the show, as did Sara Carton and Ben Mezzenga. Both couples made it to the altar, but neither of them married. In the days since the reunion aired, rumours began that Sara and Joey are now dating. The pair have not commented publicly on the rumours either way.

Lauren, who spoke up for Sara during the reunion and confirmed they had continued their friendship after the show ended, responded to the fan’s question by writing “ultimately, this is not my story to share”. She added, however, that she had been asked the same question on a podcast earlier in the day. “You will hear a bit more about how I’m seeing things when that drops,” she went on. “I would just like to remind people that things are never as black and white as the internet paints them to be”.

A third fan then asked if she was dating anyone to which she replied: “I am very single”. She added: “I should probably take some time to re-evaluate my dating decisions before getting back out there.” Later, in response to a fan who simply said “I hope you’re happy”, she said: “I am very happy and feeling very loved. . . Overall, I have learned so much in the last year (and really last month watching it all back). I am so grateful for the opportunity to grow through this.”

At the same time, her ex-Dave has been having his say on where things stand between the pair. During an appearance on a recent episode of the After Curfew podcast, Dave claimed he and Lauren “hooked up” after filming for the show finished last year.

“We had a couple random hangouts,” he said. “I think that’s new information. It wasn’t often, it was just a couple times. We would go out with the rest of the group . . . and yeah, we hung up out a couple of times after that. It was such a weird position to be in.”

He also implied that he hoped the pair would rekindle their romance, but claimed Lauren “wasn’t willing” to wait. “I was thinking I was going to give it a little time and if we could hang out without all the pressure, if we could just see where things go [and] take it slow . . . that’s kind of where my head was at,” he said. He went on: “In her defense though, she is looking for her person and she really doesn’t want to wait around, I don’t believe, so I don’t think she was really willing to wait for me to figure that out.”

It does not appear that Lauren has responded to Dave’s claims. But, it doesn’t appear as though the podcast she was a guest on has launched yet, so perhaps that’s when she’ll air her view.

* Watch Love is Blind season 8 on Netflix now. Seasons 1 to 7 are also available to watch, as well as series 1 of Love is Blind UK.