A third of the cast walked out: where the couples of The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On season 3 are now
Netflix dropped season 3 on December 4, 2024, filmed the previous summer in Scottsdale, Arizona, with six couples and Nick and Vanessa Lachey hosting. By episode 4, four of the twelve participants had packed up and gone. Here's where all six couples stand as of August 2026.
Two couples quit in episode 4 — Dave Adams and Vanessa Hattaway, and Micah Hardeman and Chanel Watkins. Both are now engaged. Of the four couples who stayed and finished the experiment, two got engaged on Ultimatum Day and both of those engagements are over.
Why four people walked
The exits came days into the trial marriages. A title card told viewers the four had met off camera and that surveillance footage caught them packing that evening. They were never shown again in the season, though Dave and Vanessa turned up at the reunion.
Creator Chris Coelen addressed it in a Variety interview on premiere day, saying the group had been "a little unsettled" during the pairing phase and noting that producers don't restrict what adults do. Dave later told PEOPLE that leaving hadn't been the plan, and that the decision took shape after Vanessa moved in with her trial partner, Nick Tramontin.
Their departure left two people living alone. Mariah Zernik came home from the mall to find Micah's things gone. Nick came back to an empty apartment.
Where all six couples stand
- Chanel Watkins & Micah Hardeman — engaged. Micah proposed near the Brooklyn Bridge on September 15, 2025, roughly a year after their episode aired.
- Vanessa Hattaway & Dave Adams — also engaged, in September 2025. Vanessa has said they left to protect her mental health.
- Mariah Zernik & Caleb Lefterys — engaged in the finale, still engaged at the reunion, split during 2025. In April 2026 Mariah announced she's expecting her first child with boyfriend Jacob Craig.
- Aria De'Westbrooks & Scotty Lewis — engaged in the finale for about 24 hours. Both single. Scotty has talked publicly about starting therapy afterward.
- Zaina Sesay & J.R. Warren — split at the finale, tried again, split again, and gave conflicting accounts at the reunion. J.R. went on to compete in Perfect Match season 3.
- Nick Tramontin & Sandy Gallagher — no proposal. At the reunion Nick said he'd gone to rehab after filming and was seeing someone new; Sandy was single.
The part fans keep pointing at
Aria called off her engagement to Scotty a day after accepting it, and said so plainly at the reunion.
"I realized I made a mistake, pretty fast after," she told the reunion in December 2024.
Which leaves the scoreboard looking like this: the couples who refused to finish the experiment are the ones wearing rings.