Love Is Blind’s Nick Claims He Wasn’t the Only Man Discussing Women’s Looks

Love Is Blind’s Nick Dorka Claims He Wasn’t the Only Man Who Discussed Women’s Looks

By
Laura Bradley,
a reporter and critic covering the entertainment industry.

Photo: COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Love Is Blind reunions are notoriously messy, but on Wednesday night, season seven’s postseason debrief took the cake and added a few metal goblets of wine for good measure. Aside from Taylor Krause and Garrett Josemans, who blissfully chatted about the latter’s postseason glow-up, everyone from the main cast seemed to be in some kind of hell. Ashley Adionser and Tyler Francis worked overtime to brush off rumors that he abandoned three kids to come on the show. Marissa George cried over her breakup with Ramses Prashad, who looked like he wanted to teleport off the stage. Tim Godbee and Alexandra Byrd, who hadn’t spoken since their onscreen split, were at each other’s throats. And as they discussed their own breakup, Hannah Jiles branded Nick Dorka as a “very calculated person,” alleging that he called her “ugly” and a “5 out of 10,” and compared her looks to a “grenade” behind her back — and, crucially, off-camera. Woof. Would you believe me if I said Nick had a “great” time?

Maybe he’s exaggerating, but when we caught up with Nick by phone on Thursday for a debrief, he was taking the reunion flak in stride. He also claims he wasn’t the only man who talked about women’s looks on the way to Mexico.

You got a lot of heat at the reunion. Were you surprised by anything that was brought up?
I did get some heat. I felt like I was getting overwhelmed. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, and some people use that platform to tell their side of things and get the upper hand. That’s not me.

We’ve all seen the episodes, right? We all know what went down. I wasn’t surprised that certain things got brought up, but I was surprised that they never asked me anything positive about myself — “tell your sides of things. Talk about duck riding. Talk about Hannah.” I was getting peppered with questions, but that’s a reunion, you know? I can’t say I was surprised, and I had a great time with it. I don’t think I got bombarded with questions or anything like that.

Several women said they’d heard, seemingly through their partners, that you’d made unkind comments about Hannah’s appearance, and the men seemed to be holding back — although Stephen and Ramses both eventually confirmed as much. I wondered, was there a bro-code thing going on? Did the guys talk about things you were gonna say and things you were gonna keep private?
Yeah, we did. On the way to Mexico, when we were sitting on the bus, we all talked about the women’s looks, and somehow I got thrown under the bus. I never called Hannah a grenade. I said I was a little underwhelmed, but we all were, right? It was a very stressful time. One thing I can say about it is, I never talked to Stephen once in Mexico, so I don’t know what he’s talking about.

I might have had a conversation off-camera with Ramses that was meant to be guy to guy. He told me some stuff. I told him some stuff. It was never, like, throwing shade at Hannah. We were just being real. But I guess pillow talk’s a real thing, so then he might have said something to Marissa.

It’s like the telephone game, right? You start with something, then when you get five people deep, the words change. My thing was, “Unless it came out of my mouth to you, Hannah — unless I said something on-camera, you can’t really use that.”

I’m just really happy Garrett stood up for me at the reunion, because Garrett knows exactly who I am and how seriously I took this process. And I know how Taylor feels about the situation, which I won’t comment on, but Garrett, Taylor, Ashley, and Tyler are my four people. I don’t really talk to the other people as much. It is kind of weird that I was getting some shade when Hannah was talking about my looks the entire show and how displeased she was. But that’s how reunions go, and I understand.

It sounds like you feel that you kept other people’s confidence and don’t feel they did the same for you.
Correct. And that’s the type of man I am and stand by. I never talked to anyone other than, really, just the guys on the bus that one day, and everybody was talking about it.

I’m not going to air your dirty laundry just because you aired mine. That’s not the type of man I am, and I think that’s shown on the show, and I’m really pleased that people see how genuine and real I was with this whole process. But people could have taken accountability for their actions.

It can be really hard to have a genuine conversation in a chaotic setting like a reunion, so I want to ask you here: What exactly did you tell the guys about Hannah?
I didn’t say much. All the guys, we’re like, “She’s a little less attractive than we thought.” Not that she’s not a beautiful person. We weren’t calling any of the women ugly. I don’t think Hannah’s ugly. I would never tell the other guys, “Yeah, she’s a grenade.” That’s not me. We all had those conversations where it was like, you know, They’re pretty women, but not what we expected. That type of thing.

I never brought her looks up once on-camera. That’s not what this is about. We had a connection, and we had a vibe, and unfortunately, she saw it a different way and handled things differently, and that’s probably why we didn’t work out.

You mentioned your bond with Garrett. I don’t think I saw any photos of you on that fishing trip. Were you there? Do you still keep in touch with the guys?
Garrett and Tyler and Tim, they’re my three best guy friends on the show by far. Being in that engaged situation, going to Mexico, living in Arlington, we’ve got a lot of similar experiences and shared moments together. I keep in touch with those three almost daily. Garrett and I have been talking nonstop today. You know, those are three brothers I’m going to have for the rest of my life. I’m just happy they have my back and I have theirs. I need to go spearfishing with Garrett.

I was gonna say, but you didn’t go fishing!
I did not. I think he wrote to me and I was away that weekend, but it’s definitely on my list. And I’ll definitely have to practice my breathwork.

A lot of folks online have had a lot to say about your dynamic with Hannah. Some people have called her behavior abusive, but you defended her at the reunion. How would you describe your dynamic, and how did that relationship change you moving forward?
We had a great dynamic in the pods. You could tell we had a true connection, and we had really strong feelings. And the second part of the experiment is physically being with someone, physically living with someone. For us, that part might have been tougher to adjust to.

She has her way of doing things. She’s very independent, and I think it was hard bringing someone into her space. It was hard for me to adjust. I wanted her to be happy, right? That’s why a lot of times, I’m just listening and trying to understand.

I can see why people are saying it’s abusive. If I wasn’t so tough-skinned, it would have been a lot harder on me, but I’m the type of guy who puts myself in people’s shoes. It was a hard time, so I tried to see and reason with Hannah and understand where she’s coming from.

Ultimately, it was fantastic, because I have so much clarity in what I have to give to a relationship and what someone can expect, and also what I need in return.

Regarding that 90-day goal that got mentioned, what does becoming the most famous person to appear on Love Is Blind actually look like? To what degree did you actually visualize that? 
If I had to put it into words, being the most famous one on Love Is Blind doesn’t have to do with clout. It has to do with, “Hey, you will be the most famous because you found love, and people love the relationship you’re in, and it’s a genuine connection, and people want to follow that story.”

It’s just unfortunate, because I had that conversation with Hannah, like, 20 times, and she still felt the need to bring it up. There are two things that bothered me. One was why are you going through my stuff? Why are your friends going through my stuff? That’s an invasion of privacy. I would never do that. And the second one is, on my wall in my place, anyone who’s been over, they see I have ten sticky notes with these 90-day goals. That date is the end of the 90-day goals. I didn’t write it two weeks before.

I don’t know if she wanted to save face or get the last laugh or upper hand, but you know, it’s unfortunate we had to end that way.

Another thing that came up was the DMs you were getting from other women. Obviously, you were broken up, so they’re not this huge scandal, but I do wonder what was in them. Who was hitting you up? 
There was this one blue check mark that hit me up first, and this was a couple months before the reunion. She knew somehow that we were going to be on the show and slid into my DMs. She lived in Texas or something like that. I told her I was going to be in L.A., and she’s like, “Do you want to fly me out for the reunion?” I’m like, I’ve never flown anyone out, and I’m certainly not flying you out. That woman didn’t respond after I said, “No, I’m not gonna fly you out,” and I’m sure that’s why she reached out to Hannah. It’s like, why are you doing this to me? I don’t know why you’re trying to make the story bigger than what it is. But I didn’t get a chance to talk. They interrupted me.

Love Is Blind’s Nick Says the Other Guys Discussed Looks Too
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