It turns out that a reality show, including Indian Matchmaking season 3, isn’t a likely place for a lasting marriage. Sima Taparia‘s matchmaking success rate continues to hover at or very near 0% based on the success rate of the couples on the show. The latest proof of this is 33-year-old pharmaceutical researcher/endocrinologist Viral Joshi and 37-year-old optometrist Aashay Shah breaking things off. Viral and Aashay carried on a long distance relationship with her in North Carolina and him in NYC through most of 2022 and right up until recently. We covered the ups and downs of their relationship in a recent article looking at whether they were still together. However even at that time there were cracks in the foundation and fans noticed that things seemed awkward and distant during their show scenes. Let’s look at the signs that led up to Indian Matchmaking‘s Viral and Aashay’s Breakup.
Indian Matchmaking: Viral and Aashay’s Breakup: Aashay’s Bad Behavior?
Viral on Indian Matchmaking season 3 (Netflix).
We noted the comments about Aashay apparently acting like he wasn’t attached. However, it pays to wait for confirmation when you’re talking about Netflix couples. Some threads talked about Aashay not deleting his Hinge dating app account. Others focused on rumors that he was at dating events for the Desi community in NYC and hitting on people. All the reports of him sliding into other women’s DMs never had any proof, just hearsay. Additionally, and more damaging were reports of a lack of chemistry between the two on the show. In addition to not seeming that into one another, Viral seemed very critical of Aashay. Weirdly, she did it right in front of his parents.
The scene were Aashay is planning to drop a ridiculous sum on jewelry for Viral takes on a whole new context. Was this supposed to be an apology instead of a present? Is this why Viral was so critical — did she know something? Recall that Viral and Aashay were supposed to be at Q&A events on the 28 and 29 of April. This makes the breakup even weirder, because it cuts against the “they were just in the relationship for the clout” argument. They were also seen together at a Netflix movie premiere just a couple of months ago in February. Something must have bubbled over because Aashay’s IG shows him at one of the scheduled meet and greets. He’s either dealing with the fallout, got caught, or something else happened with Viral.
Or perhaps Aashay and Viral kept the charade going as another aspect of Indian Matchmaking‘s scripted, fake side of things.
Indian Matchmaking: Viral and Aashay Confirm Breakup: Analyzing Viral’s Instagram Post
Indian Matchmaking‘s Viral posts about her breakup to Aashay (Instagram).
Viral’s breakup post says, “Sometimes love lifts us. Sometimes love teaches us. And sometimes love leaves us.” She speaks about learning lessons and wondering what went wrong, and believing that the best is yet to come. However, things might not be what they seem (to put it mildly). There are still videos of Viral and Aashay walking hand-in-hand on a snowy bridge, and in Viral’s stories you can see Aashay tagged a few times. Fans on Reddit aren’t buying it, asking why it took her three paragraphs to say she and Aashay broke up. @Commercial_Ad9927 wondered, “It’s so hard to know who they both are as authentic people. She thinks she’s too good to be vulnerable and direct.”
And if you were sick of the drama over whether Jackie Bonds gave Marshall Glaze’s ring back on Love Is Blind, prepare yourself for the comments asking if Viral gave back the jewelry Aashay bought for her. Except, this one is even weirder because it’s not even clear from the show if anything was purchased. This post, which works out the pre-haggling price to be around $4,000 USD, admits that this may have been another moment where Netflix bought the jewelry. After all, we don’t see Aashay actually hand over any money. We already know Netflix pays Sima Aunty’s fees for matchmaking on the show.
So far bad boy Aashay Shah hasn’t said a word about the breakup. Apparently he’s too busy enjoying the nightlife and the attention he’s getting from the show.
Let’s hope that Sima Aunty does better with non-reality show contestants because her matchmaking technique is looking pretty flimsy right about now.
