CMD of the 279 final MS+BH candidates (white stars), overlaid on the initial MS candidate sample (2D histogram). The confirmed BH binary Gaia BH 1 is highlighted, together with known Gaia NS binaries (triangles). The apparent clustering of candidates at M_G < 4.5 mag (shaded grey) likely reflects the less efficient removal of MS+MS binaries on the upper main sequence by the XP-based filtering.