Due to its premise of falling in love “sight unseen,” one of several obstacles “Love is Blind” couples face is adjusting to interacting in person rather than from either side of an animated blue wall.
For 29-year-old real estate agent Nick Dorka and 27-year-old medical device salesperson Hannah Jiles, who appear on the newly released Season 7 episodes, the issue seemingly arose from how they described themselves in the pods.
After they have their “reveal” and Nick performs an in-person proposal in Episode 5, despite their kisses and “I love yous,” Hannah doesn’t seem completely at ease as she leans away from him while resting on her hand and crossing her right arm around herself.
Later, she tells the camera, “In the pods, he described himself as a football player — bigger, medium build, like 5-foot-11. And what he said I don’t think is really truthful.” She adds, “It is making me feel a little bit insecure because I feel like I’m bigger than him.”
Meanwhile, Nick calls her “absolutely beautiful” and says, “I’m so in love with you, and I can’t wait to spend every moment with you.”
Speaking with USA TODAY ahead of Wednesday’s premiere, Nick explained he didn’t know why Hannah would cast doubt on his truthfulness and said cast members are often off the mark when they imagine what their pod fiancés might look like.
“You kind of take the information after two weeks with someone and then you finally have a mental image of what they could look like. And then you see them during the reveal,” he said. “I would say nine times out of ten, you’re completely off of what you thought this person would look like.”
He added, “I just wasn’t worried about looks, honestly. Hannah and I had a really strong connection. If she felt that way, that’s unfortunate. But we did have a great connection.”
While some couples withheld personal details like their ethnicities and body types, Nick and Hannah openly hinted at their physical appearances.
In the first episode, after they realized she was a cheerleader and he played high school and college football, Hannah told Nick, “I’ll be your Taylor Swift, and you can be my Travis Kelce.”
“I’m a little bit better looking than Travis,” Nick replied. “But hey, I think he might be a little bit better looking than Taylor, anyway.” He also described himself as “a less buff version” of Henry Cavill, aka Superman, when she mentioned him as a celebrity crush.
“It can be tough if you’re asked, ‘What do you like to do for fun?’ And I answer, ‘I like to work out.’ Obviously, my past in football came up,” Nick told USA TODAY. “People can take those words and kind of formulate a mental image of what that person looks like.”
After Hannah has some time to warm up to Nick during their post-engagement honeymoon, her qualms about her expectations of his appearance appear to have subsided. She reveals her type is usually the “really big, jock guy, 6-foot-5, handsome, best-looking guy in the room.”
But “it was pretty quick” warming up to Nick by matching the voice she heard for 10 days in the pods to his face.
“So far, he has been so kind. He’s been so gentle. He’s been so funny, and he’s made me feel so at ease and comfortable. If it keeps going the way it’s going, then I’ll absolutely marry him tomorrow,” she says at the Cabo San Lucas resort the newly engaged couples are sent to.
For someone who’s declared “I’ve never really loved romantically in my life,” it might come as a surprise that Nick has decided Hannah is his “true love” by the time he proposes for the first time in Episode 4.
Both are effusive with their feelings for each other, with Hannah declaring to the women in Episode 1 that she thinks Nick is “the love of my life.”
In the pods, Nick declares he’s going to compliment her “a lot” when they make it to Cabo: “If you come out of the shower and you dress up and you walk out the room looking like a whole snack, I’m gonna come up behind you and grab your hips, give you a kiss on the neck and tell you you’re the most beautiful girl in the world.”
“I don’t even need to know what you look like, Hannah. You’re beautiful, and you’re so sexy to me,” Nick adds.
But did this ever come across as love-bombing? Hannah doesn’t think so.
“Love bombing is definitely a thing. But I think in this type of situation, your emotions are just so much more heightened and I feel like you’re talking about things so much deeper at a quicker pace where it’s not really love bombing, it’s just like you’re so much more emotional really early,” she told USA TODAY. “I never really felt like I was being love-bombed by Nick.”
Of course, Hannah almost didn’t end up engaged to Nick due to her love triangle with art dealer Leo Braudy, 31, and his other romantic interest, Brittany Wisniewski, a 33-year-old esthetician.
Things fall apart between Hannah and Leo, however, after she decides to end their relationship and pursue Nick. In Episode 4, Leo begs her to give him more time to figure out which woman he’ll choose and doubles down on his question of whether she’d accept if he were to propose.
Later, Hannah tells Brittany about the heated encounter and says he was “yelling” while giving her an ultimatum. The conversation, and knowledge that Leo told both women he loved them, inspires Brittany to confront him about being his “second choice.”
Hannah had no regrets about comparing notes with Brittany.
“I spoke with Brittany because I wanted to make sure I was as transparent as possible so she knew what was going on. At the end of day, she’s going to do whatever she wants to do,” she told USA TODAY. “But I just wanted to make sure that at least I told her and she’s aware and whatever decision she makes, she makes. I’m happy. I hope she’s happy. So, yeah, I’m glad I did it.”
Nevertheless, Brittany responds to Leo’s proposal with a quiet “yes.” However, the two are nowhere to be seen when the six engaged couples travel to Cabo.
On why Leo and Brittany were the only two to get engaged on-screen and not make it to the next stage, 32-year-old marketing director Ashley Adionser told USA TODAY, “It’s not a guaranteed situation on who goes (to Mexico) or who doesn’t. And I think they want to follow specific stories.”
