New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
CT woman competes to find love on dating show
Ciara “CC” Cortez was having a sleepover with her cousin when they both decided to sign up for the Paramount+ dating show “Are You the One?”
The two women had both just ended relationships, Cortez said, and signed up not expecting to hear back.
“I really did not think anything of this,” she said. “We both signed up and, literally, the very next morning, I get the call. And from there it was months of auditioning.”
Now she’s on the show’s ninth season, which premiered last week.
“Are You the One” takes place in the Canary Islands, where 22 recently single men and women from around the world gather to look for love.
Producers use a matchmaking algorithm to pair the contestants before they meet. At the end of each week, the singles must guess who their “perfect match” is.
Lights reveal how many correct guesses were made, but not who the matches are. The group has 10 episodes to guess all 11 pairs correctly and split a “massive cash prize,” according to the show’s description in a press release.
The series aired for eight seasons on MTV and moved to the Paramount+ streaming platform for a ninth season.
During the show, contestants compete for a chance to choose who they will go on a date with to test their compatibility.
Past seasons have included games like guessing who said a quote or filling in missing information from other contestants’ online profiles, then climbing through a net to get the answers.
Filming the show was Cortez’s first time living with roommates and leaving the country, she said. When her grandmother died right before filming began, Cortez arrived feeling alone. But she left with a family, she said.
“I left the villa with so much growth,” she said. “I went in alone and created such an amazing bond with these people. This experience did not only teach me about myself but so much about relationships.”
Going into the show, Cortez thought she knew the type of guy she would end up with, “the bad boy.”
“I was very into looks when I came into the show. I wanted my tall, dark handsome man with tattoos, which I always went for,” Cortez said. But, she said, she also wanted a connection with someone understanding who could balance her out.
Cortez said being on “Are You the One?” was an unforgettable experience. And if she ever was asked to do another reality show, she would.