I'm getting a weird issue with this bit of code. It's a visualforce controller, and on the visualforce page I have fields to insert/update 2 contact records. At the end I want one of the contact records, to be populated in a contact lookup on the 2nd contact page.

Here is the code:

public with sharing class ReferralFormController {
    Contact referrer;
    Contact candidate;
    List<SelectOption> referreroptions;
    
    public ReferralFormController() {
    // blank constructor
    }
    
    // the contact record you are adding values to
    public Contact getReferrer() {
        Id id = ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('id');
        referrer = (id == null) ? new Contact() : 
            [SELECT FirstName, LastName, Title, Personal_Email__c, Work_Email__c FROM Contact WHERE Id = :id];
        return referrer;    
    }
    public Contact getCandidate() {
        if(candidate == null) candidate = new Contact();
        return candidate;    
    }

    // save button is clicked
    public PageReference save() {
        try {
            Contact existingref = New Contact();
                for(Contact refchecker : [Select ID, FirstName, LastName, Title, Personal_Email__c, Work_Email__c 
                                          From Contact 
                                          Where Work_Email__c = :referrer.Work_Email__c OR
                                                Personal_Email__c = :referrer.Personal_Email__c OR
                                                (FirstName = :referrer.FirstName AND LastName = :referrer.LastName) 
                                          LIMIT 1]){
                    existingref = refchecker;
                }
                if(existingref.Id != Null){
                    existingref.Title = 'Referrer Found!';
                update existingref;
                }
                if(existingref.Id == Null){
                    referrer.AccountId = '001L000000GFQip'; //change this when deploying to production!
                insert referrer;
                }
            Contact existingcan = New Contact();
            system.debug('CanFirstName =' + candidate.FirstName + 'CanLastName =' +candidate.LastName);
                for(Contact canchecker : [Select ID, FirstName, LastName, Title, Personal_Email__c, Work_Email__c  
                                          From Contact 
                                          Where Work_Email__c = :candidate.Work_Email__c OR
                                                Personal_Email__c = :candidate.Personal_Email__c OR
                                                (FirstName = :candidate.FirstName AND LastName = :candidate.LastName) 
                                          LIMIT 1]){
                    existingcan = canchecker;
                }
                system.debug('existing can =' + existingcan);
                if(existingcan.Id != Null){
                    existingcan.Title = 'It works a last time!';
                    if(existingcan.Referral_1__c == Null && existingref.Id != Null){
                        existingcan.Referral_1__c = existingref.id;
                    }
                    if(existingcan.Referral_1__c == Null && existingref.Id == Null){
                        existingcan.Referral_1__c = referrer.id;
                    }
                    if(existingcan.Referral_1__c != Null && existingref.Id != Null){
                        existingcan.Referral_2__c = existingref.id;
                    }
                    if(existingcan.Referral_1__c != Null && existingref.Id == Null){
                        existingcan.Referral_2__c = referrer.id;
                    }
                update existingcan;
                }
                if(existingcan.Id == Null){
                    candidate.AccountId = '001L000000GFQip'; //change this when deploying to production!
                    if(existingcan.Referral_1__c == Null && existingref.Id != Null){
                        existingcan.Referral_1__c = existingref.id;
                    }
                    if(existingcan.Referral_1__c == Null && existingref.Id == Null){
                        existingcan.Referral_1__c = referrer.id;
                    }
                    if(existingcan.Referral_1__c != Null && existingref.Id != Null){
                        existingcan.Referral_2__c = existingref.id;
                    }
                    if(existingcan.Referral_1__c != Null && existingref.Id == Null){
                        existingcan.Referral_2__c = referrer.id;
                    }
                insert candidate;
                }
    } catch (DMLException e) {
      ApexPages.addMessage(new ApexPages.message(ApexPages.severity.ERROR,'Error creating new contact.'));
      return null;
    }
    // if successfully inserted new contact, then displays the thank you page.
    return Page.referralthankyou;
  }
}

Not sure how the code as it currently stands (though probably very inneffient, so advice on improving would be great) could have the possibility to have a record reference itself?

Any help would be MUCH appreciated!