Love Is Blind season 11’s Jax Guelli “100 percent” has regrets about how she abruptly ended her engagement to Scott “Stew” Stewart.
“I think when I first saw him, I was like, ‘OK, there’s nothing wrong with his looks, like, it’s nothing about that,'” Jax, 31, exclusively tells Us. “And then it was, like, the connection. Plus, I was really nervous.”
The skincare brand founder admits “going through the whole reveal process and getting engaged” was a bit overwhelming. “[I was like], ‘My God, this is so intense,'” she says. “And then when we sat down, I think it really kind of, I was like, ‘OK, this doesn’t feel right.'”
The latest season of the Netflix reality dating series, which brought in a cast of singles from Boston, premiered Wednesday, October 14. Jax and Stew, 34, sparked a quick connection in the pods, leading him to eventually propose. Though she accepted, the pair’s flame seemed to fizzle out once they saw each other in person.
In a moment that has since gone viral, Stew joked the other men in the cast had taken to calling him “Kennedy,” but Jax said he looked more like Mitt Romney. Following the awkward reveal, producers told Stew his fiancée was leaving the show — and declined the chance to explain herself in person.
“I wish I handled it differently,” Jax tells Us. “At the time, I physically could not and I was so overwhelmed, [I] almost [had a] panic attack. So I just wanted to get out of there. But in retrospect, that is not how to handle things. It was completely immature. I cleared that up with him after, like, right away. But it was super dramatic, and it didn’t need to be like that. … I’ve worked on that.”
Jax admits the decision was “completely about me,” adding, “It was completely selfish. I just wanted to get out of there, and I thought I needed a minute to think and then create a better response for him. I just couldn’t at the time.”
Fans will see the duo reunite in the next batch of episodes, dropping this week. According to Stew, the meetup was “intense,” but the pair have patched things up.
“I think coming out of it, we both kind of know each other better and, you know, have remained close since,” he tells Us in a separate interview.
When it comes to possibly rekindling their romance, both stars appear to be keeping the door open.
“I would go so far as to say we’ve completely reconciled since then,” Stew says. “You know, she reached out immediately after [and] kind of explained what was going through her head at the time. It didn’t have anything to do with me. It was just the situation, you know, and so … we’re good friends.”
As for what happened to Jax’s engagement ring? “Word on the street is, if you catch her walking around Boston, she still has the ring,” Stew hints, teasing, “You have to stay tuned to the reunion.”
New episodes of Love Is Blind season 11 hit Netflix on Wednesdays.
