Is Love Really Blind?

We chat with Love Is Blind Season 6 cast member and former Raleighite on the truth behind pod dating.

*Spoilers ahead!*

Is love truly blind? According to Love Is Blind Season 6 cast member Ariel Gomerez, it’s only “legally blind.” Adding with a laugh, “it doesn’t have 20/20 vision.” A former Raleighite (he helped open V Pizza’s Raleigh location with owner Anthony Rapillo), Gomerez is one of the 30 men and women who opted to try to find love sight unseen by only talking to potential love interests in “pods” separated by a wall.

The popular reality TV show hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey on Netflix challenges these singles to prioritize an emotional connection over a physical one, with couples only getting to see each other face-to-face post-proposal. They must then test their relationship in the real world before saying “I do” at the altar—or walking away forever.

Upon the release of the first half of season six—which took place in Charlotte—we chatted with the licensed mortgage loan originator about his experience on the show, what he’s learned about dating and more. 

How did you get cast on the show?

I applied on a whim after someone told me they were doing casting calls. I filled out a questionnaire; got a phone call from them; and then started a three-month process of interviews, Zoom calls and different things of that nature. Filming started at the end of March 2023. 

Why did you want to be on Love Is Blind?

I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, let me just do this to get on TV’ or anything. I’m a little bit older; I’ve dated for a good chunk of my life. I just thought this would be a good experience—and let me see how this works out. 

How would you describe your experience?

My experience was good; I don’t have any complaints. I met a lot of great friends. The only people I hang out with here for the most part are guys I met from the show who I got super close with. I’m friendly with everybody. 

Did you make a romantic connection?

Obviously I didn’t make it past the pods portion. Toward the end, I was down to two people I was interested in, one more so than the other—but it just didn’t work out. … I have a bad habit of doing a lot of overthinking, so I probably talked myself out of that connection. It was me in my own head that kind of got in the way for me. 

Why did you decide not to follow through with the proposal?

You get to the first date and you’re like, ‘Oh, this is fun,’ and then as the dates go on, you’re like this is getting kind of serious. But then you get into wedding ring talking, marriage certificate talking… and it kind of hit me. And that’s when the overthinking started. I’m not saying I didn’t want to get married. I just started self-reflecting on myself—like am I ready to be a husband to this person? And then once you start sounding unsure to the person on the other side of the wall—especially when other days you sound so sure and so calming—it can kind of throw people off. It is very real in there. I don’t know why, for whatever reason, it didn’t fully click with me in the beginning, but it caught me while I was in there. 

Give us the tea on pod dating.

It was interesting talking to people through a wall without any other distractions. You don’t really know how many distractions there are in the real world until you get somewhere where there’s absolutely zero distractions. I know when people see the show they’re like, ‘Oh, how do you fall in love in four days?’ And it’s like, well, in four days I spoke to this person for about eight hours without interruption. So by the time you’re done, you total up 20–30 hours talking to one person uninterrupted—so there’s really nothing else to do except get really emotional and build connections.

Take us behind the scenes… how does dating really play out?

The first day you’re there you talk to everybody. From there, it’s who you want to talk to the next day, and then it goes from there. It was almost like a dating app. If you match them and they match you, you date the next day. And then things go on. Maybe one person doesn’t want to see the other. It’s really you choosing who you want to see again and whether or not they also want to see you again. 

What was a typical day-to-day for you while filming the show?

It was almost like a frat house of bored guys. Once you get in the lounge, they let you know who your dates are. As the days go on, you have less and less dates. If you’re not on a date, you’re in the lounge just hanging out. They supply you with a ton of food—I was eating a lot. The lounge is pretty big, so I would walk around [and] play sudoku. If we didn’t have dates at the same time, my friend Nolan and I played pool. So they have to have easily hundreds of hours of footage of us just on the pool table. They had a workout center there, but I didn’t use it. … A lot of people would journal, write down their thoughts. Some people brought books or a chess board. 

What did you learn from your experience on Love Is Blind?

It was really insightful. Obviously there’s not a lot of distractions, so you have a lot of time on your own. There’s no phones, TVs, nothing like that. So there’s a lot of self-reflection. It was a big part of the reason I decided to switch out of the restaurant business. I decided the restaurant thing wasn’t what I wanted to do long term. And that’s when I decided to get back into mortgages, which is what I was doing before the restaurants. I also decided to move to Charlotte, and I’ve been here ever since.

What was your biggest takeaway when it comes to love and relationships?

The physical part is an important aspect, but you can build a real connection in there. The couples who get married, they last—like more than regular couples. It does work. Personality definitely goes further than looks by far. 

Now that you’re out, what’s your MO when it comes to dating?

Talking to other people now is very different. I’m in sales, so I’m good at chitchatting, even if I’m not interested. But now, after doing dating this way and just seeing how much further it goes and wanting more than just casual dating, I take that portion of the process a lot more seriously than I did before. A deeper connection can go a long way.