Reality dating shows are always full of drama—they practically design it that way. So when fans started wondering if Perfect Match‘s Harry and Melinda kissed, it turned into a he-said, she-said. Harry, after all, was, at the time, believed to be very much in a relationship with Jessica.
Related: Here are all the Perfect Match couples still together
Perfect Match is Netflix’s reality TV dating series featuring contestants from multiple Netflix reality shows—including Love Is Blind, Too Hot to Handle, The Circle, and The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On—as they date each other and compete in compatibility challenges as couples. New contestants also arrive each week, providing the opportunity for new couples, and test already-established relationships.
Of course, when you combine dating with prize money, drama is bound to happen, and when Harry and Melinda’s kissing scandal emerged, we all paid attention.
Did Harry and Melinda kiss on Perfect Match?
They did! In the last episode, Melinda revealed her feelings when the kiss happened. “He’s carrying me and it’s very awkward. I have no connection with Harry at all. We never really hung out together besides when Too Hot to Handle came out. This was my second interaction with him in person,” she explains. “He just leans in and kisses me. I do kiss him back. Then he kisses me again and continues to walk back to the open area and puts me down. We go our separate ways and I’m like, ‘Holy shit, did that just happen?’”
Harry maintained his innocence throughout the show’s run, “I did not kiss her. That was a deep fake. But Melinda is telling everyone like it’s fact,” during a confessional, arguing that Melinda was “trying to get as much screen time and as much clout off this whole situation as possible.” (Sidenote: Someone needs to tell Harry what a deep fake actually is :/)
In an Instagram story shared on June 14, 2024, Melinda said after watching the show back, “Wow. Wow. Oh, I cannot wait for the truth to come out. Oh, God,” indicating that the kiss very much happened.
Harry finally admitted he did kiss Melinda in an episode of the Boyfriend Material podcast. “I fucked up entirely. I went and ruined this whole situation,” he said. “There’s no hard feelings between me and Melinda. Anytime I’ve seen her, everything’s been good. I have no animosity towards her.”
The star consistently denied that he kissed her because he was “absolutely sauced” heading into the day ahead of filming. “I wasn’t in a very good head space going into it. There’s no excuses for my actions whatsoever,” he said. “I forgot the fact that there’s someone who cares about me and there’s someone that is kind of counting on me to be a good human in this situation.”
For context, this all happened off-camera in episode eight. Harry was seemingly “100%” with Jess at the beginning of the episode, even telling her he’s “falling in love.” During a confessional, Harry says, “I know that out of all the girls here, the only person that my heart truly beats for is Jess.”
Cut to five minutes later, Harry’s doing body shots off Melinda. Then, he’s seen picking her up and carrying her to get another drink. The kiss is never shown, but it’s been edited to appear like a he-said, she-said scandal.
“So, that kiss didn’t—?” Melinda asks Harry later. “What are you talking about?” he says, to which she quickly cuts in, “When you kissed me on my lips, Harry,” she says playfully. “Why are you making shit up? You’re making shit up,” he says. Cut to Harry telling another cast member, “I’m in trouble.”
A fan made an unverified claim on the show’s subreddit, saying: “My friend was a producer on this show and told me exactly what happened. They said Harry is gaslighting so hard that it made them doubt what they saw with their own eyes. What happened was Harry and Melinda both asked to go to the bathroom which was off camera. That’s where he kissed her. That’s why he immediately started saying ‘where’s the footage’ when Melinda then brought the kiss up on camera. [sic]”
Perfect Match is available to stream on Netflix.
