Catherine claims producers told her to start 'flirty' chat on Love Is Blind UK

Love Is Blind UK was a huge hit for Netflix this summer. After stints in the US, Mexico and Japan, the British iteration of the dating show saw singletons looking for love in the infamous pods, with six couples getting engaged and three saying 'I do'. While there were unaired love triangles and secret second connections, a lot of the Love Is Blind UK drama has come from the contestants journeys after the experiment.

Since the show wrapped, Sabrina has spoken about Steven inviting his ex to their wedding, Freddie explained why he asked for a prenup and Jasmine has been forced to defend her mum after backlash from viewers. But one of the most divisive characters of the season was dental nurse, Catherine.

The 29 year old found love with funeral director Freddie, but he turned her down at the altar and the pair went their separate ways. However, shortly after their split, Catherine started a relationship with fellow singleton Jake, who was also looking for love in the pods but wasn't featured in the final edit. Since their relationship was made public, Jake's former fiance has claimed that he 'ghosted' her to date Catherine but the pair have not commented on the claims.

During her time on the show, Catherine was slammed by viewers for appearing to 'flirt' with controversial contestant, Sam. He had been briefly engaged to Nicole, but she changed her mind days after they left the pods and re-coupled with Benaiah. However, he still attended the reunion drinks ahead of the couples' weddings, and Catherine told her fiancé Freddie that Sam looked like one of her exes. She then went over to talk to Sam, and it wasn't received well by fans - with some viewers calling out their 'flirty' chat on social media.

At the time, one person wrote on X: "Catherine flirting with Sam saying 100 times he looks like my ex but as soon as Freddie breath shes Nasty !! Freddie Run Run as fast as you can."

Another added: "Catherine is so hypocritical! How’s she going to moan about Freddie making her feel insecure and then doing all that with Sam!! How gross."

Now, Catherine has claimed that producers encouraged her to talk to Sam during the mixer. She told The Sun: "The producers told me to talk to Sam. I didn't just go up there. The producers told me to talk to him because no one was talking to him. And then they told me to ask about his bracelet. I was so shocked that Sam generally looks like my ex, I probably went on about it too long. But I was not attracted to him, I wasn't flirting with him."

In the edit, fans watched as Freddie appeared disheartened by Catherine and Sam's chat, but she insisted: "I said to Sam, 'I have a friend that would be perfect for you. So when I'm in London give me a call.' I was actually hooking him up with my friend. Which Freddie knew about because he was there."

Well, that's that.

Love Is Blind UK is now available to stream on Netflix.