Current:Home > NewsUltimatum: Queer Love’s Vanessa Admits She Broke This Boundary With Xander -WealthRoots Academy
Ultimatum: Queer Love’s Vanessa Admits She Broke This Boundary With Xander
Robert Brown View
Date:2025-04-07 00:25:28
Warning: This story contains spoilers from The Ultimatum: Queer Love episodes one through four.
#Fingergate just got a little more complicated.
The Ultimatum: Queer Love contestants Vanessa Papa and Rae Cheung-Sutton sparked the season's biggest scandal so far by getting intimate during their trial marriage.
Making matters even more intense, Vanessa promised longtime partner Xander Boger—who issued an ultimatum to get engaged or break up—she wouldn't hook up with any new partners during the Netflix show.
"If you're planning on potentially getting back together and getting married, you don't want to break that physical boundary," Vanessa exclusively told E! News. "So, that was where our boundaries lied, like, 'Don't do anything physical.'"
However, they both deviated from the pact. "Neither of us did a good job of that," she quipped, referring to the implication that Xander and Yoly Rojas may have also crossed that line. "But, you know..."
Vanessa and Rae's hookup sparked backlash from some castmates, with Rae (who came in with partner Lexi Goldberg) taking "a lot of the weight, as she should," Vanessa told E!. "We both interacted in this way together."
Their romantic night "could have been handled differently," she said, admitting she understands why it caused such a stir. "I think for Lexi, it was way easier to blame a stranger than to blame the partner she loves."
Ultimately, she's refuting claims (which came mostly from Lexi) that she was on the show just to get famous.
"I got called out, ‘You're not here for the right reasons,'" Vanessa recalled. "I would say, 'What did I go on the show for? I was in a four-year relationship. My partner wanted to be married. I didn't.'"
The drama played out in the first four episodes, with Rae calling Lexi to come clean about getting physical with Vanessa, which sent Lexi spiraling. Lexi later confronted Vanessa at a group dinner.
As Vanessa tried explaining to the cast at the time, "We're trying to keep things as, I don't know, natural as they can and taking things slow."
To which a baffled Lexi remarked, "Which is, like, not what happened. Seems like the exact opposite. Is there a reason why you f--ked Rae? Oh, I'm sorry, Rae f--ked you? There was penetration."
When Vanessa confessed she wasn't sexually attracted to Rae, Lexi went off. "You end up being inside of the person I came here with and that I love," she snapped at Vanessa. "You have zero feelings for them."
Though Vanessa backtracked, saying she had friend feelings, she called their tryst an accident. "She led my hand into her vagina," she shared with the group. "And I said 'alright.'"
Keep reading to get to know more about The Ultimatum: Queer Love cast before new episodes drop May 31 on Netflix.
Netflix's latest reality dating experiment features five couples made up of women and non-binary people who will decide to marry or move on by the end of the season, which premieres May 24.
"One partner is ready for marriage, the other may have doubts," the streamer teased. "An ultimatum is issued. And in just over eight weeks, each couple will either get married, or get out, after they each choose new potential partners in a life-changing opportunity to get a glimpse of two different futures."
Xander, a 30-year-old who uses she/her/they pronouns and is ready to start a family, asked her partner of four years, Vanessa, 30, to sign up for the show. After meeting in high school because their respective boyfriends were best friend, the couple reconnected after they both came out and now live together in Hawaii.
Having already been through a move to Seattle and a breakup and reconciliation, 34-year-old Yoly is asking her partner of three years Mal, 36 and uses she/her/they pronouns, to either get engaged or end their three-year relationship for good.
A major factor for Yoly is starting a family and having enough money to begin the process. "IVF is a very real possibility," she tells Mal in the trailer. "Are you starting to save for it?"
The youngest members of the cast, Lexi, 25, issues the ultimatum to her girlfriend of over three years Rae, 27. The couple initially connected on Bumble, but began dating when they ran into each other during a night out in West Hollywood. While Lexi is ready to settle down, Rae's unsure if marriage is in her future.
Mildred, a 33-year-old divorced mother to a teenage son, asked her partner Tiff, who is 32 and uses they/them pronouns, to do the experiment.
"It's really hard to see a future with you," Tiff, who initiated their relationship by sliding into Mildred's DMs, tells their girlfriend in the trailer.
While 42-year-old Aussie is unsure if they see marriage in their future, their partner Sam, 31, is ready to get engaged by the end of this experiment after meeting in an online social group for LGBTQ+ people during the pandemic.
The first season of The Ultimatum premiered on the streamer in April 2022 and featured six straight pairs. But the inclusion of queer couples isn't the only major change for the franchise's new installment.
Sweet Magnolias star JoAnna Garcia Swisher will be taking over hosting duties from Nick and Vanessa Lachey, who hosted the inaugural season of the series in addition to Love Is Blind.
veryGood! (56)
Related
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- Jessie J Discusses Finding Her New Self One Year After Welcoming Son
- Walmart offers bonuses to hourly workers in a company first
- Louisiana lawmakers approve bill to allow surgical castration of child sex offenders
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- LA28 organizers choose former US military leader Reynold Hoover as CEO
- Jason Kelce Doubles Down After Sharing TMI Shower Confession
- The 10 Top-Rated, Easy-to-Use Hair Products for Root Touch-Ups and Grey Coverage in Between Salon Visits
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Hunter Biden's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle testifies about his drug use in federal gun trial
Ranking
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- Boeing's Starliner capsule finally launches, carries crew into space for first piloted test flight
- Dollar General digital coupons: Get promo codes from USA TODAY's coupons page to save money
- Boeing Starliner launch livestream: Watch as NASA sends 2 astronauts to ISS
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- School boards group backs out of teacher exchange program amid ex-North Dakota lawmaker’s charges
- Pat Sajak set for final 'Wheel of Fortune' episode after more than four decades: 'An odd road'
- Lululemon Drops a Clear Version of Its Iconic Belt Bag Just in Time for Summer Concerts
Recommendation
House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
Political consultant behind fake Biden robocalls posts bail on first 6 of 26 criminal charges
A look at the key witnesses in Hunter Biden’s federal firearms trial
Amanda Knox’s Slander Conviction Upheld by Italian Court in Meredith Kercher Murder Case
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
Is Mint Green the Next Butter Yellow? Make Way for Summer’s Hottest New Hue We’re Obsessed With
House votes to sanction International Criminal Court over potential warrants for Israeli officials
2 women suspected in a 2022 double-homicide case in Colorado arrested in Arizona by a SWAT team