The UltimatumCreator Breaks Down That 'Unexpected Twist' in Season 3 and 1 Man's 'Zero to 100' Meltdown (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Chris Coelen (left) and Sandy and Nick from ‘The Ultimatum’ season 3.Photo:Charley Gallay/Getty; netflix

Charley Gallay/Getty; netflix

The Netflix series debuted its third season on Dec. 4, and just four episodes in, fans got to witness a shocking event involving two couples. In the early moments of episode 4, Chanel and Micah and Dave and Vanessa suddenly left the experiment without warning.

In a title card on the screen, producers revealed that the foursome “secretly met off camera” earlier that day but “that evening, surveillance cameras captured them packing.” As camera footage showed the couples exiting the apartments, Nick and Mariah expressed their disappointment about their trial marriage partners' unexpected departures in respective confessionals. (Nick had been paired up with Vanessa, while Mariah was paired with Micah and Dave was paired with Chanel.)

“Dave, Vanessa, Micah and Chanel quickly departed, abruptly ending their experience. The cast was informed that Nick and Mariah are now alone in the experience,” another title card read.

Below,The Ultimatum’s creator Chris Coelen talks to PEOPLE about the two couples' shocking exit, how things actually unfolded in the moment and his thoughts on its impact on season 3.

‘The Ultimatum’ cast for season 3.Netflix

Netflix

PEOPLE: Heading into this season, what was your general feeling about the couples?

Chris Coelen: I think you certainly have your opinions about where you think people will end up, and a lot of times those are subverted. But the key thing is that they have a very real question about whether or not they’re going to get married. I think it’s an incredibly relatable question. And so, you never know what’s going to happen, and that’s certainly proved to be true this season.

Did you get a sense that those two couples were not fully committed to the process or would leave early?

The night that Chanel and Micah and Dave and Vanessa left, what happened from your perspective?

Personally, I was on the ground through The Choice. And then I got on a plane to come back to L.A. And so I was not there [for their exits]. I got a phone call that informed me as to what seemed to be happening and then tried to just figure out where everything was going.

Adam Rose / Netflix

What was going through your mind upon receiving that phone call?

What were internal conversations like after their exit? Did you consider scrapping the season altogether?

No. For me, as a witness to the participants who go through this experience, I think it’s fascinating, no matter what happens, whether people make it all the way through, they don’t make it all the way through. Whatever they do… Things happen, things change. And I think from a storytelling point of view, we just really commit to trying to follow the stories, wherever those stories go.

Part of the fallout of that is much more about what that does to the other participants than what it does with us. Seeing it through the lens of the other participants, I can certainly see why it would make the other participants upset, or frustrated, or betrayed, even. But we are always supportive of people’s choices. For me, it’s just documenting what happens inside of the experience [which is] the most interesting thing for me as a storyteller. And then as a person and as a producer, it’s supporting whatever choices people decide to make.

The season 3 cast of ‘The Ultimatum’.Neal Mei/Netflix

Neal Mei/Netflix

Did you reach out to the couples to try to convince them to stay or come back?

I don’t ever try to convince anybody to do anything that they don’t want to do. I did reach out to all of them. Micah did not get on the phone with me, but I did speak to Dave, Vanessa and Chanel and just [asked], “What are you thinking? What are you doing?” It was clear that they did not want to participate in the experience, and they wanted to leave. I don’t even know if they completely figured out the why of it all, but that was the choice they wanted to make. And so we were 100% supportive of whatever they wanted to do.

Did you have conversations with Nick and Mariah about their remaining time on the show and potentially pairing up?

The most authentic thing with them was to have an honest conversation, first off. How are you feeling about what’s transpired? Both of them, I think, felt very abandoned and didn’t really have an opportunity to interact with their trial marriage partners. But Nick and Mariah had dated during dating week. They didn’t choose each other, and they weren’t interested in choosing each other. They liked each other and they respected each other, but I don’t think they felt like they would be the kind of people that they could imagine being married to, and that’s the whole point of the trial marriage.

So we put all options on the table. That could be something that if they wanted to do that, they could have pursued. But we certainly would never push for that because we want to be true to what the experience is.

The situation with Sandy and Nick seemed to go from zero to 100 very quickly. Can you shed more light on what was happening and why Sandy got so emotional?

This is an experience that unfolds over many weeks. We’re doing it in nine episodes, with a reunion, it’s 10. But it’s a lot of stuff to cover that you have to try to do the best you can. There’s a lot of nuance to everything. It’s just impossible to show everything, but you try to convey what essentially happened with each of them in their respective journeys.

In terms of Nick, there’s a couple of moments where I think Nick goes from zero to 100. Emotionally, when Vanessa leaves, he’s very upset. I think any person would feel abandoned in that circumstance. Then, when he realizes he’s on his own in this. He could have left and he didn’t, which I admire him for. He chose to spend this time and really introspectively think about things that are important to him.

But then you’re in an environment where you’re very aware that the woman that you came in saying “I want to marry” is now living with another person who she seems to be really connecting with. I think that that started to get to him … and it was very disappointing for him that he didn’t get to have that same kind of experience that Sandy was having, in a way.

So he got to a place where it obviously took hold of him enough that he wanted to go over to J.R. and Sandy’s place, which I think he admitted after the fact was not the right decision to make. But he was obviously very upset, and I understand why he was, but that’s how the experience works.

With Nick showing up at Sandy’s door and begging him to leave, was there ever a point that you, as producers, felt the need to intervene?

We are not filming 24/7. We always have a line to them, but they are living their lives. And in this particular program, we do have mounted cameras but we’re not obviously in their apartment with them or at their door 24/7. And so we are, every single day, very conscious of making sure that we are connected to them or checking in with them. We’re apprised to everything that’s going on with them to the extent that they tell us. I think people are aware enough of that, that if they ever feel like they need something, that they know to reach out to us.

Scotty and Sandy in season 3 of ‘The Ultimatum’.Netflix

Speaking of participants having phones and contacting their exes, do you think allowing them to do that is beneficial?

The trial marriage is supposed to be simulating what a marriage would be like in the real world. These are people who are trying to figure something out in their lives. And so we haven’t wanted to bring them to a resort or take away their phones because that’s just not real.

In your perspective, did the early departure of these couples impact the overall season? Do you think it would have been stronger if they stayed?

I think that it was what it was meant to be, and there’s no telling what would have happened or whether things would have turned out differently if they had stayed. Nobody knows that, and there’s no way to be able to tell that.

So would it have been a different experience? Certainly for all of them, to be honest, for the four people that left as well as for Nick and Mariah. It would have affected Sandy in a way. Yeah, unquestionably, it would have been different. Would that make it stronger or weaker? Nobody knows. That’s life, things happen.

‘The Ultimatum’ season 3 cast.Adam Rose / Netflix

Is there anything you plan to change moving forward to prevent or discourage this from happening again?

Well, we really try. This is the third season that people have left. I mean, it’s something that we’ve dealt with, but there’s no telling how people are going to react in any circumstance. There are some times where maybe they expect a certain thing to happen, but then if they see something else unfolding before their eyes, sometimes they get nervous. And I think that’s probably a big part of it, is people get nervous, and then they don’t want to see it through. I think that’s what happened with Nate in season 1, I think that that’s what happened with Lisa in season 2, and I think there’s a little bit of that that happened in this season. That’s just my speculation, but I think you can see that.

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source: people.com