Paul Peden and Micah Lussier gave their relationship a real shot in the real world.
After the Love Is Blind stars saw their potential marriage crumble when Paul turned down Micah at the altar in the season four finale, the pair exclusively explained to E! News how they tried making things work away from the cameras.
As Paul tells it, he hadn't closed the door on marrying Micah even after the altar debacle, saying, "I still retained that hope. Going into it, I was like, 'Maybe we're not there now, but that doesn't mean we can't get there in the future.'"
However, once the opportunity presented itself, things still fell apart—and Paul is still sorting everything out.
"We did date for a little bit afterwards," he told E! News' Erin Lim Rhodes, "but ultimately the distance between us was too challenging. That seems to have been the primary motivator. But there might be more to it, honestly. There might be a reason why I said no, there might be a reason why we're not dating. That's a little unclear at the moment."
In a separate interview, Micah confirmed that she and Paul gave their relationship another go outside of the pods.
"We took some time to process everything that happened and then we did resume dating," she said. "In the end, it felt like the foundation wasn't steady enough to continue."
The 27-year-old marketing manager, who splits her time between Seattle and Arizona, also confirmed that distance likely played a role in their breakup—but insinuated that she didn't leave Seattle until after she and Paul split.
"At that point, I decided to go back to Arizona," Micah continued. "It just didn't feel like we were both all in. We just had a lot of hurt from what had happened in the past."
During the April 16 Love Is Blind reunion, Paul said he "visited [Micah] in Arizona briefly," but that things "ended pretty quickly after that."
But at the time of their interviews, which were filmed before the finale aired, both Paul and Micah said they still had love for one another.
"We've always had this thing where we want to support one another no matter what is happening," Paul said, "whether it's going well or going bad for us, we're still there for each other." Micah expressed a similar sentiment, admitting, "Paul will always have a special place in my heart."
Love Is Blind season four is available to stream on Netflix.
For a status update on all of the season's couples, keep scrolling.