‘Love Is Blind’s’ Uche Reveals He and Aaliyah Actually Dated for a Month After Restaurant Break-Up (Exclusive)

Uche Okoroha is sharing what really happened on Love Is Blind. The attorney, 34, made waves last week when he revealed on his social media that he and ex Aaliyah Cosby, whom he met on Season 5 of the hit Netflix dating show, didn't actually break up during that dramatic restaurant conversation. Referring to a line he appeared to say while cameras were pointed at Cosby, Okoroha wrote on his Instagram Story, "The 'It's over between us' is a post-production sound byte. At lunch we both forgave each other, we held hands and we shared our first kiss. Then we agreed to date outside the show."

Now, the Houston native is sharing what happened to he and Cosby's relationship — and why it appeared like they broke up on-screen. When watching the scene for the first time, Okoroha said his initial reaction was a little more than shocked.

"I had to pause the TV and I was like, 'What the hell was that? Did I just have amnesia over the past year?' Because that's not what happened." he exclusively told The Messenger. "They edited out the part at the beginning when I walk into the restaurant, I give her a big hug, we're holding each other, [I'm] looking at her. It's just me going and sitting down. [They cut] anything that was a warm reaction between us — holding hands, us sharing our first kiss, her apologizing, me accepting that apology, me apologizing to her and us saying, 'Hey, yeah, we think we could really just keep on dating outside of the show there.'"

Okoroha explained that, after the scene, producers invited the couple to participate in the experiment once again as an engaged couple (just as Season 4's Zack and Bliss Goytowski did). Once they turned them down, Okoroha said the show cut their reconciliation altogether.

"We said, 'No, we're done with the cameras. We're done with all of this. We're just going to date outside of the show,'" he said. "I think once we made that decision, they decided, 'That's not acceptable. The ending now has to be that you broke up at the restaurant.' But that isn't what happened. We forgave each other. We continued dating. It lasted about a month or so."

Okoroha went on to say that he and Cosby ultimately split due to communication issues and Cosby's new job in California. (In Love Is Blind cast descriptions, she's listed as working as an I.C.U. travel nurse.) But he doesn't have hard feelings towards the person who was nearly his fiancé.

"Our communication just never really recovered or felt the same way that it was in the pods," he said. "Also, she had just accepted a job over in California. She was going to be moving across the country, and she's like, 'Hey, should I move to California? Should I stay here?' And I'm like, 'We just went through this big hectic thing and we're just trying to rebuild right now. I'm not going to tell you to pass up this amazing job.'"

Plus, Cosby doesn't hold a grudge either, telling The Messenger last month, "I can step outside myself and understand where he was. And he can now do the same for me."

Now, Okoroha is reflecting on his time on the show, too. It's been two years since filming wrapped, and Okoroha said that his communication has since gotten better, plus he's become more self-aware about how he speaks with others. But he wishes viewers could know more about him as a person, since his identity became wrapped up in the on-screen drama.

"In order to try and portray me as the villain or whatever else, they had to almost dehumanize me outside of, 'I like poetry and I have a guitar.' What did you get to learn about me in the show?" he said. "You didn't get to learn anything about me. You didn't get to learn anything about my background, my culture, my family, defining moments in my life, where I see myself in the future."

"I felt like in order to focus on the drama and make me as polarizing as possible, you didn't get to learn literally anything about my life," he continued. "I think the goal was to make people not being able to empathize with me, and that's what I regret. I wish people got to learn literally anything about me, anything about me as a person, and that wasn't the case. It just focused directly on the drama. So I do regret that."

Love Is Blind Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix.