Why did Anna leave Love is Blind season 9? Star explains why she left, and if she regrets leaving Patrick - plus are Anna and Patrick together now?

Anna and Patrick appeared to be building a great connection in the Love is Blind season 9 pods. They bonded over their shared Chinese heritage and the fact they both speak more than one language - but both don’t have a middle name.

Patrick soon declared Anna his top match, and viewers were rooting for them. But, they were left (almost) as heartbroken as Patrick when it was revealed she had left the pods suddenly - and with no explanation.

Patrick had gone into his pod, thinking that he would be meeting Anna for a date, and was then informed that she had decided to leave the experiment. Her other connection, Blake, was also then informed - and he left the pods himself shortly after.

Anna has now spoken to Tudum to explain her choice to exit, even though she seemed to be creating a good relationship with Patrick.

She said that she was actually taken aback by her interest in Patrick as initially she actually thought he was very “bro-y” because the very first thing she heard him say over the pod speakers was “let’s send it, boys.” She revealed she also then clashed with him early on in their journey due to what she thought was his tendency to steer the conversation away from deep topics.

But, as viewers know, they did turn things around and discovered they had more in common than either first expected. Anna explained: “We’re both children of immigrants, and there are very specific things that every child of immigrant parents goes through. Even if we’re not saying exactly, ‘Oh, yeah, growing up with parents who have a language barrier is difficult,’ we can gather things from that.”

These emotional discussions felt special for the reality star, but she admitted they also began to feel overwhelming, particularly thinking about the fact the conversations were being filmed and could be broadcast to millions on Netflix in the show (if they made the final edit). “I started seeing myself being pretty vulnerable, and it scared me a little bit because this is an intimate part of my brain. These are very sensitive topics for me,” she said. “It’s not that I’m just sharing it with whoever I’m dating or the other women — this is going to be broadcast for people.”

This is when Anna began to wonder if being in the experiment was worth it. She also began to think about how her decisions could impact her family back home. She said her parents weighed heavily on her mind during filming, as they hadn’t previously watched Love is Blind, or really any reality TV show.

From the beginning, they didn’t fully understand where she was going or what she was doing in the pods. “With my parents being immigrants and having a language barrier, I’ve always naturally been their helper,” she explained. “When I told them ‘hey mum and dad, I’m going on this show, they’re going to take my phone, they were like ‘are you being kidnapped?’”

Although she tried her best to reassure them and explain why she couldn’t communicate with them during the first phase of the experiment, Anna went on to say that she couldn’t shake the feeling that her parents were still worried about her.

With all of these thoughts consuming her brain, Anna eventually broke down and said she just thought ‘what am I doing here?’. The night she decided to leave the experiment, she said she felt incredibly guilty for taking the spot of another applicant to the show who could have found love in the pods. “I was a wreck. My eyes were almost swollen shut from crying. I was embarrassed,” she said.

Producers did ask her if she wanted to go into the pod date with Patrick to let him know she was leaving, but as she was feeling overwhelmed with emotions and sat in her pyjamas with no make-up she could only think of leaving and couldn’t bear to be on camera anymore. she simply didn’t want to be on camera anymore.

In hindsight, the TV star said she wishes she had gone in to the pods one more time to tell Patrick of her choice to leave, but she also knows she made the best decision for herself at the time. And does Anna think she could have married Patrick? No, it doesn’t seem she does. “I don’t think I regret it because I don’t think the connections were strong enough to have a successful marriage from there,” she said.

Fans are still hoping, however, that Anna and Patrick may have reunited outside of the pods. Many people have commented on their respective Instagram pages to say so, but neither has replied to comments asking about their current relationship status. Given what Anna said about the likelihood of a marriage working out between them, it seems unlikely that the pair are dating, however. They do follow each other on Instagram, however, which is a good sign they are at least on good terms.

On his side of things, when Blake found out that Anna had left, he wasn’t upset. Instead, he was just concerned about her. “At that point in the experiment, Anna and I hadn’t talked about a proposal or an engagement. It certainly felt like we weren’t close to that,” he told Tudum. “We certainly had a good bond and friendship. I don’t want to speak for her, but I think she made the right decision for herself at the moment, and I’m proud of her for doing that.”

Patrick went on to get engaged to Kacie, but their engagement ended after just a few hours in the most awkward scenes in the show’s history. You can also check out which couples did get engaged on the show.

* Watch the first six episodes of Love Is Blind season 9 now on Netflix.