When Was Season 3 of 'The Ultimatum' Filmed? Let's Take a Peek Behind the Production Curtain

It's kind of wild that Netflix made an entire reality show about what many understand is a relationship no-no, and yet The Ultimatum exists. Giving your partner an ultimatum is widely regarded as a very bad idea. Rarely does forcing someone to make a binary decision work in anyone's favor. Patience is a virtue and in a relationship, it's an absolute must. Of course, nothing makes for better television than forcing your partner to make a major life decision in front of millions of viewers.

For the uninitiated, The Ultimatum finds six couples who have reached a crossroads in their relationship. One person wants to get married while the other is not sure, so the show helps facilitate a resolution. The pairs are mixed up and spend the next eight weeks living with someone new. Will this cause the original couples to choose wedded bliss, or split forever? Season 3 dropped in December 2024 and we want to know when it was actually filmed.

If Season 3 follows the schedules of the first two seasons, then it takes 11 months from start to finish to release the show into the world. Using that math, we can venture a guess as to when Season 3 started its dramatic journey. The first five episodes dropped on Dec. 4, 2024, so it stands to reason that the show began filming in January 2024. What a way to start the new year!

One thing that makes Season 3 more scandalous than the previous two is the fact that four people didn't make it through the full eight-week filming experience. According to Variety, on the third day of the trial marriages, "both Nick Tramontin and Mariah Zernick were shown arriving at their apartments only to learn that their respective partners, Vanessa [Hattaway] and Micah [Hardeman], had packed their things and left without a goodbye."

We took a look at Vanessa's Instagram and did find there was a bit of a time jump in two of her posts. Prior to Jan. 1, 2023, she posted pretty consistently and usually didn't go more than a couple of weeks between posts. However, after the New Year's Day post, Vanessa didn't have a thing to say until March 31, 2023. That's a bit more than eight weeks which means it's possible Vanessa was still legally unable to be active on her socials. Vanessa's partner, Dave Adams, had a similar time jump on his Instagram.

Both Chanel and Micah are either not on Instagram or chose to keep their profiles to themselves. After they left the show like thieves in the night, producers reached out to Micah but didn't hear back. Kinetic Content CEO Chris Coelen said he was told the four of them felt "unsettled." They were able to speak with Vanessa, Dave, and Chanel and told them the show would support whatever decision they made. Evidently, Vanessa and Dave will be at the reunion but Micah and Chanel are still MIA.