I thought the moment where Garrett told you he found you to be a bit guarded in the pods, and you seemed surprised and took the feedback, to be an interesting moment of communication between the two of you. What did you learn about yourself through this experience?
It was a really big growing moment for me. I was asking someone that I was dating for feedback on how to make them more comfortable, to keep going, to share information. I admit that I’m a thoughtful person, and so in terms of when I speak or say things, I think about them before. I’m not necessarily someone that just blurts out a bunch of stuff. So, I can really empathize and see why Garrett thought I was calculated and guarded. You’re kind of in this fishbowl of all these cameras, and you’re having deep conversations. I’m like, Ah, I’m not used to saying all these things.
This experience taught me that I can be thoughtful and still think about the words that I have to say, but find ways that I can ask my partner to make them more comfortable and open up more. The word calculated wasn’t the best word choice by Garrett, but I understood what he was saying. I think we addressed it pretty well. You saw we fixed it and moved on.
Had you watched the show before you went on it? What surprised you about being on the show?
I watched every season as a passive thing when I was folding laundryâ¦I didn’t realize how big of a show it was until I was on it. I really didn’t realize it’s number one on Netflix, and there’s millions and millions of people watching it, and there’s a whole fandom around it. I’m not someone who really watches reality television. It was just kind of a convenient thing on my Netflix account, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much people love this show.
You have emerged as a fan favorite this season. Did you see that coming?
I’ve been gobsmacked, honestly⦠Garrett and I talked about it on our last date, and I was like, we’re probably super boring, babe. I hate to tell you that we’re going to probably not go past this point [of filming]. I didn’t think we’d be a fan favorite. I thought we would be middle of the pack, or like, âFast forward, fast forward, fast forward.â So I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
