A lot has changed in the two years since Nancy Rodriguez filmed Love Is Blind season 3. She’s reached almost half a million Instagram. She’s had her engagement (and breakup) play out on national television. She’s started dating again. And she’s cut out the people who no longer serve her life, including her ex-fiancé, Bartise Bowden.
“We’re not friends,” Nancy tells StyleCaster of Bartise, who she met and got engaged to on Love Is Blind season 3. “Putting myself first and knowing I want to make the best decisions with intention, there are people, not just him, in my life I’ve had to weed out.” Nancy—who returned to Netflix for the Love Is Blind season 3 “After the Altar” special out on February 10, 2023—is also taking that lesson to her future relationships. “If you’re not aligning with what I have to offer or you’re not bringing something to the table, what’s something that’s going to better me as a person or in our relationship?” she said. “I’m sorry, you need to step to the side and I’m gonna keep swiping right until I find somebody who can truly value who I am.”
Still, Nancy has learned a lot about her relationship with Bartise, including what she wants and doesn’t want in a future relationship. “It’s been a couple of years since Love Is Blind. I’m in a place where I’m even more secure with who I am as a person, professionally, financially, mentally, emotionally,” she says. “I’m in a place where I truly want to be intentional with who I am dating and who I’m bringing into my world.” One thing Nancy is prioritizing is finding someone who understands her culture and family dynamics, which is why she partnered with Chispa, a dating app for Latino singles, she just started using. “If they meet my family, they’ll understand why my family is so intensely powerful, and how much they love me,” she says. “It’s important for me and my dating journey now to be able to make those genuine connections with people who will get it.”
Ahead, Nancy talked to StyleCaster about where she and Bartise are now after the Love Is Blind season 3 “After the Altar” special finished filming, if she knew he was on Netflix’s new dating show The Perfect Match, and who she would date from the Netflix reality TV universe.
Image: Courtesy of Chispa.
How has Love Is Blind changed the way you date?
When I envisioned what Bartise looked like, it was not at all what I got. Because I truly was connecting with the person that was his personality and his character through a wall. There’s something very nostalgic about that. Where Love Is Blind has helped me is I’m coming in with questions. I’m coming in with like, “This is who I am, and this is what I offer” and seeing who can align with that. It has helped me because it’s so much easier for me to be vulnerable with someone that I’m meeting versus you beat around the bush, you maybe don’t ask the questions you want to ask. Even with girlfriends, I give them advice, “Just tell them you don’t like him!” And then they’re like, “No, what if I tell him that I’m super busy at work, and I’m stuck with the BS?” Say what it is! Love Is Blind has provided me that confidence to just say who you are, what you want, and allow people to step into that role instead of trying to force them into that role. If it’s not coming from them organically, it’s not for you.
Has anyone had preconceived notions of you based on what they saw on Love Is Blind?
I never want to assume they know. I haven’t had a bad reaction or a wow factor reaction. But I’m kind of nervous for when that does happen. Part of me wants to hope that they don’t know me from the show because I want them to get to know me for who I am. Then part of me is like, “Well, if you know who I am, and you saw the show, you should already know what you’re signing yourself up for.” It’s a 50/50, whether I want them to know about the show, and have they seen it or not.
Where are you and Bartise now?
We’re not friends. It’s been a long time. Putting myself first and knowing I want to make the best decisions with intention, there are people, not just him, in my life I’ve had to weed out. A lot of that, too, is helping me in my dating world. Because if you’re not aligning with what I have to offer or you’re not bringing something to the table, what’s something that’s going to better me as a person or in our relationship? I’m sorry, you need to step to the side and I’m gonna keep swiping right until I find somebody who can truly value who I am. But most importantly, they need to know where they’re at. It makes it so much easier to create friendships and relationships with people who are currently healing, currently working on themselves. Because when people are completely unaware, or they don’t know what their actions are doing to other people, and they don’t realize that they’re hurting others, that’s a them problem. I don’t need that in my life. We need you to step aside. The last two years, I have been making room in my life and my heart and my brain space. I’ve been making space for people who have truly loved me for who I am and have cherished that and will help me to be a better Nancy than I already am.
Image: Courtesy of Chispa.
Did you know Bartise was going to be on The Perfect Match?
No, I didn’t
Would you be on The Perfect Match?
I’m totally open to other reality TV shows. Love Is Blind was something so unique that I was like, ‘If I get picked for this, this is the one show I would actually do.’ Because even going into it, I already felt so close with who I was professionally. Personally, before Love Is Blind, I knew this would be like, ‘Oh, if it happens, it’s an experience, sure.’ But it really did teach me a lot about myself. I’m just so glad I was able to do such a cool experience where I could learn from this, and then just be a better person.
Is there anyone in the Netflix reality TV universe you’re interested in?
It’s kind of like dating your cousin. I don’t know if I could do that. Because a lot of the girls in the Netflix world, I adore, and I love their personalities on the internet. So I can’t imagine dating one of their exes. It’s messy. But I just think that, at the end of the day, having an open heart and open mind to be even on a dating app, it truly has to be with intention, because you can quickly get lost in the quantity of it all versus the quality.
Love Is Blind season 3 is available to stream on Netflix.
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Source: Stylecaster.com
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