"Perfect Match" fans were surprised by who won the show. The cast are now accusing each other of manipulating the result.
Ana Blumenkron / Netflix
"Perfect Match" season two fans were surprised when the newest couple were named the show's winners. Now, cast members are accusing each other of forming secret pacts to sway the vote.
The dating series, which has been one of Netflix's most popular TV shows in June, sees contestants from the streamer's reality offering trying to find love.
Every few days, new contestants, who are staying at a hotel separate from the main cast, are brought into the house to shake things up. Anyone left without a partner by the end of the night must leave.
At the end of the series, all the contestants from inside and outside the house come together to vote for a winning couple — but this season's finale was messier than the last.
During the cast reunion that aired on June 21, the singles from outside the house criticized the longer-lasting couples, accusing the male contestants of not being genuine. The cast then voted Christine Obanor and Nigel Jones, the newest couple who got together in the finale, as the winners — angering fans who were rooting for the other couples.
Amid the fan backlash over the result, Chris Hahn and Harry Jowsey claimed contestants who couldn't find a match worked together to vote for Christine and Nigel over the longer-lasting couples.
Christine and Nigel spent most of the series in the hotel, and only came in the house in the final episodes.
On Tuesday's episode of his podcast, "Boyfriend Material with Harry Jowsey," Harry said that the hotel group hated the couples for rejecting them and didn't trust that the longer-lasting couples were loyal to each other, so they voted for their friends, Christine and Nigel.
"I remember sitting down at the finale. I'm like, 'Wait, when did they become a couple? How the fuck did this happen?'" Harry said.
In a TikTok video shared on Friday, Chris accused the hotel group of making a pact to vote for one of their own in the final.
@chrisrhahn The tea that you needed @Netflix #perfectmatchseason2 #fyp #realitytv #perfectmatch #perfectmatchnetflix
♬ original sound - Chris Hahn
"Everyone outside during that pact voted for Nigel and Christine to win it," Chris said. "Are they a good couple? Maybe. I think so. Did they deserve to win 'Perfect Match?' Absolutely not."
But Christine, Nigel, and other castmates from the hotel group have denied this and claimed there was another pact between the couples within the house to keep new contestants out at any cost.
Stevan Ditter, who was in the house for the entire series, also supported this theory.
"The girls kind of had a crazy girl code in the house. They just didn't want new girls in," Stevan told the "The Viall Files" podcast in an episode that aired last week. "They were talking about sending the guys on dates with girls that obviously weren't for them."
It has become a common occurrence in later seasons of reality shows for contestants to become more strategic and competitive, leading to fake relationships for the camera. That may have been the case with "Perfect Match" season two.
Dom Gabriel, who starred in both seasons of "Perfect Match," said the house was a lot more "wholesome" in season one because no one had a "competitive spirit."
Regardless of how Christine and Nigel won, they may have actually been the most compatible couple in the series. Nigel and Christine said on social media after the finale aired that they won a compatibility challenge and went on an extra date during filming but they were cut from the show.
Plus, they seem to be the longest-lasting couple.
Christine said in a YouTube video about her "Perfect Match" experience that she dated Nigel for nine months and that they only officially ended things a month ago.
By contrast, the rest of the couples said in Netflix's "Where Are They Now" video that they had ghosted each other or broken up soon after the show.
