‘Love Is Blind’ fan favorite ‘blindsided on wedding day’
Finding “happily ever after” on “Love Is Blind,” the Netflix dating show we can’t stop cringe-watching, turned out to be harder than unclogging a toilet without a plunger for Nancy Rodriguez.
Since the third season premiered in October, viewers have watched in frustration as her pod partner, the vain, gymobsessed 25-year-old Bartise Bowden, openly shared his attraction for another fitness-loving contestant, Raven — all while Rodriguez, a 31-yearold speech pathologist and real estate investor, stayed hopeful their love would prevail.
But after Rodriguez shared her “I do” at the altar, Bowden made the decision not to marry her.
This interview with Rodriguez has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: How would you describe what the last few weeks have been like? A:
It’s one thing to live it, it’s a whole other thing to watch my individual story, and then the story of me and my partner, with all my friends and their relationships. It’s as I remembered it. I think the main thing about what’s happening right now is that I do feel really grounded. … A lot of what I have been feeling is a lot of gratefulness. In a positive way, the biggest surprise is like so many in the Latin community are reaching out. It’s just so inspirational, to be honest.
Q: Do you feel like you got to express your feelings at the reunion, as it relates to Bartise? A:
Absolutely. The altar was my final answer. So I took it as his final answer ... On the wedding day, I was so heartbroken. It was just
the biggest heartbreak I’ve ever had. The reunion for me was just like, ‘Look, let’s lay it all out, OK?’ Because at that point, I saw the show in the perspective of both parties. I’m seeing his side of it. So, yeah, I feel like I had my chance to say what I couldn’t say or what I didn’t even know on wedding day. I was blindsided on wedding day.
Q: Do you think the show did a fair job in depicting your relationship with Bartise? A:
Yes, I do think that our relationship was portrayed as it was. However, there are hundreds of hours that you don’t see, and so many sweet moments that you as the viewer don’t get to feel. … The love that I was able to offer, the love that I remember, the embracement that I had for my fiance — that story to me is real. That was me. I love and I love hard.
Q: Any regrets about going through what you went through so publicly? And with it over, what are your thoughts: Can love be blind in today’s world? A:
I don’t have any regrets. The biggest learning lesson that I have from that, and what I went through this last year in my healing process, is setting boundaries and knowing what those boundaries are for
me, and knowing that there’s a way to step back from something or really learn from a situation. Whether it’s friendship, romantic or professional relationships, I have been working on my boundar- ies. I think, overall, for me, love was blind. I was in love in the pods. I stayed in love, and although I was hurt along the way, it was getting to the altar, being convinced that this man was for me — per his actions, per his words leading up to the wedding. And so, yeah, love can be blind, you just have to really be at a point where you know yourself, you love yourself, to be able to receive someone . ... Bartise still has some learning to do.
Q: Also, the plunger story? Help me understand. A:
So, I’m a handy woman — and I’m so proud of that, OK? It was actually really important for me, in the pods, to find out if the guys had tools in their house and what they did with them. … I love anything DIY and stuff. It’s just me being me, quirky … I just thought it was something I wanted to talk about, and it happened to be that I kept like un-plunging the tub we were in, which is just hilarious. That is my weirdest scene, probably my most cringy scene. But girl, that’s me.