WEBVTT - This is Dramatic with Love is Blind’s Nick Thompson 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:06.040 This is the most traumatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast. 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:09.960 Hey everybody, Chris Harrison coming to you today with a 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:15.880 very interesting show. I have heard these stories about Nick Thompson. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.640 He was a contestant on season two of Love Is Blind. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.520 Seemingly he had a really good journey. To use an 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.720 old catchphrase of mind, the show went well. He met 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.000 this woman, Danielle, they fell in love, they got married. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:37.160 But then it all changed and these articles started coming 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:41.760 out about some interviews he had given that he and Danielle, 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:44.159 the woman he married and fell in love with on 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:48.680 the show, they got divorced. That's true, but his life 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.560 has been turned upside down. He has since lost his job, 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:56.760 He has allegedly is on the verge of becoming homeless 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:01.080 because of all this, and there is this kind of 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:06.560 war of words of okay, is he mentally healthy? Was 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.320 it the show's fault? Is it production's fault? What is 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.160 going on with this story? And to me, the reason 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:17.679 it sparks my interest is something's not connecting. I've read 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:22.080 these stories and if you watch the show and you 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.880 read these articles, it doesn't make sense to me. And 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:29.440 so I'm a big believer of instead of reading clickbait 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:33.200 headlines and going through life like that. Let's go to 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:35.640 the guy himself. Let's go to the source and let's 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.399 talk to Nick Thompson and find out what is true, 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.440 what is fact, and what is fiction. And that's what 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:42.880 we're going to do today. We're going to get to 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:47.440 the bottom of this. A very captivating, compelling interview with 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.880 Nick Thompson. And joining me now is Nick Thompson. 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:51.720 Nick. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:53.120 First of all, thanks for the time. 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:55.560 Oh, thank you. I'm happy to be here. It's nice 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:57.360 to have an opportunity to meet you and talk to you. 0:01:57.560 --> 0:01:57.760 Yeah. 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.760 I really wanted to reach out to you and get 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.120 you on the podcast because I found your story. I 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.080 was really captivated. I read a couple of articles and 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.120 I couldn't quite connect the dots because it seemed that 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:13.799 I was missing something in this story. And I said, well, 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.320 there's got to be more to this. Because the guy 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.239 we all saw in love is blind. You weren't a villain, 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.160 you weren't cast or portrayed as this bad guy. So 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:27.400 I'm like, there's some sort of disconnects. So I'm like, Okay, 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:31.720 what's going on with Nick Thompson? And so I'm like, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:32.760 let's just go to the source. 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.000 That's a great place to go because I'm sure, as 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:41.040 you know and I've probably experienced, the media isn't always telling. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:41.520 The full story. 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:46.120 Ye come on, you know it's mind blowing, and hey, 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:50.400 then to past a clickbaity headline is way too much 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:51.440 to ask for a lot of people. 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.240 Ye I've dealt with That's okay. I've dealt with more 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:55.240 than two or three of those. 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.320 Yeah, you know what, I think. I know you have too, 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:00.320 I've seen them. 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:01.480 I have. 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.960 I think it's funny because you see like attention span shortening, 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.680 but then you see things like podcasts and long form 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.560 conversations sort of growing in popularity. So it's like a 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:14.959 weird disconnect for me. So we could have this nice 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.440 conversation here and you know, get the whole story, but 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:19.320 people also don't want to click past a headline. It's 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:20.320 such a unique dynamic. 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.280 You're right. I mean, as the TikTok world or Instagram 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.720 whatever reels world has captivated us, I think more and 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.160 more of us have also railed against it, whether it's 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.280 the you know, I think Joe Rogan kind of broke 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:32.800 that mold of like, no, I'm just going to go 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:34.440 do my own show. And I know when I went 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:36.480 through what I went through, I wish I had followed 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.440 that kind of Rogan Chappelle model where I'm like, I'm 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:42.920 just going to go tell my own story in long form, 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.119 like you said, where there's no there's no headline, there's 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.640 no clickbait. It is amazing to me the things that 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.320 get put up in a headline and that are okay, 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:53.440 and then if you actually read the story and you 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.920 get to the fourth paragraph, you realize there's no meat 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.680 to this. So it is it's just one more thing 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:01.840 you have to battle in this world. But you know, 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:02.320 so be. 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.120 It's it's so true. 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:05.720 And I heard you talking about that on your show 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.800 that dropped yesterday actually where you guys were talking about 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.680 Caitlin and Jason, and yeah, you know, just one thing 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:13.720 you said, by the way, I just really stuck with me, 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:17.440 was you were you said that I don't leave the 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:19.960 comment if it's not contributing good to the world or 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.440 something along those lines. And I just want to say, like, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.320 we're all human beings, and the amount of people who 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:28.920 read a headline about me last week and have decided 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:30.520 that they were going to use that as an opportunity 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.200 to be cruel, which you know, those things don't bother me, 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.839 but you know, it's just like look in the mirror 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.760 a little bit and read past the headline and try 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:41.320 and understand what's actually going on, because we're all human beings. 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.520 Like you're a human being, I'm a human being. We 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.200 all just have some of our stuff public. 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.279 Yeah, And you know, when I was going through the 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.400 Bachelor and Bacherette world, it was this new adventure for me, 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.680 but it's this. It was the same profession and so 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:59.920 I had this assent in this business for thirty years. 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.280 I had been a sportscaster. I cut my teeth in 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.159 local news and was a journalist. Then you know, people 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.120 saw the top five percent when I became the host 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:09.760 of The Bachelor. I've been doing this a long time, 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:14.119 so it was nothing new for me to hear people 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.280 chirping from you know, the back row. But when you 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.559 are Nick Thompson, when you are Caitlin Bristow or Jason 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.760 Tartick and you just come on this show, it's hard. 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.359 And I try to prepare people, but it's hard for 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.080 people to understand when you are essentially shot out of 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.360 a cannon. You know, and people will say, oh, Nick, 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.440 you signed up for this. Well, yes, but you also 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.960 probably didn't quite understand until you got into it exactly 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.039 what you signed up for. Is that accurate? 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:45.520 That's one hundred percent accurate. And you know, for you know, 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:47.320 one of the examples I share with love is blind, 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:49.520 is I signed up. For example, I knew I was 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:51.800 giving away my phone and my connection to the internet, 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:53.880 my connection to family and friends for three weeks if 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:58.000 I made it, you know, into the engagement portion. And 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.240 what I didn't know is that I wouldn't be able 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.160 to like leave a hotel room, or I wouldn't be 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.320 able to get food or water at my discretion. So 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.920 there's things like that that people you know, and they 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:10.680 look and I wonder what it is. It's probably a 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.720 little jealousy, probably a little projection, but it is like 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.400 even if you think, Okay, I'm not going to be 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.960 able to eat and drink water, you know, at my discretion, 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:23.240 do you know how your body's going to react to that? 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:24.880 Do you know how your mind's going to react to that? 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.520 Do you know how the imbalances and your hormones, Like, 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.680 there's just so many things that you can't put in 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.120 a contract or put on paper. 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:33.039 You know. 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.359 One of the things I find interesting and I always 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.120 found this the study of human behavior fascinating when I 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.360 was hosting the show for so many decades. And I 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:44.480 know Love is Blind is no different, as all these 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:48.520 shows are somewhat similar in their approach. What I find 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:54.599 fascinating is when you take away Nick's defense mechanisms, the 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:56.920 things that you rely on every day. We all have 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.320 things that we do, whether you know it or not 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.800 or pay attention to. Maybe you call your brother, maybe 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.039 you call your mom, Maybe you go work out and 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.880 you hit a punching bag, maybe whatever your spin class. 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.880 The things that we do that relieve that stress and tension, 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:11.679 so we don't have to just live in our feelings 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.680 in emotion all the time. So on one level, it 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.560 is very healthy because you have to deal with yourself. 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.920 You can't go on your phone, you can't get relief 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.760 from this. But at the same time, it's a tough 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:27.280 place to be if you're not used to that and 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:28.280 you're not prepared for it. 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.400 That's so well said. I couldn't agree more. And that's 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.560 one thing when people I talk to, some people who 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.240 are thinking about a show or have been cast in 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:37.800 a show, and you know, they ask, well, what's it like? 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:39.520 What do I need to prepare for? Is this something 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:41.040 I should do? And I don't ever tell people what 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.040 to do, but I share my experience. And one of 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.440 the things I say is is similar to you. It's 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:50.040 you're in your everyday life and then you're you're taking 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.480 Like me, I take a walk every morning. That is 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.120 very important to me to clear my head, get you know, 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:59.760 my my chemicals balanced, my certificating clock super important to me. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.280 That was taken away from me. I intermittent fast. My 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:07.200 schedule for eating used to be between like noon and seven, 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.440 and here it was just like all over the place. 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:12.800 And that you know, that impects your gut, it impects 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.440 your body, it impects your mind. And then the working out, 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.960 like there wasn't a lot of opportunity to work out, 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:19.800 and that's something I do five six times a week. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.120 So it is that that whole, that whole process, and 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:27.120 that whole entire sort of template you put around your 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.400 life or structure you put around your life that is 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.439 just completely stripped away. So even those tiny little things 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:34.480 that happen in a day that help keep you clear 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.600 or or help make you feel better. 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:37.120 Those are just. 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:39.640 Golf and you know, and by no means do I 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.600 mean to attack the you know, Love is Blind producers. 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.920 I don't know them and I wasn't on the set. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.520 And in their defense, just because I know the other side, 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:49.840 they're also just doing their job. They're like, we just 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:53.200 need Nick ready to go at eight o'clock, nine o'clock whatever, 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.520 and oh, we're behind schedules, so they're not even thinking about, oh, 0:08:57.559 --> 0:08:59.360 I know Nick needs to get up and like get 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.960 his exercise to be healthy and to do now. You know, 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.520 it's like they're just You're an employee essentially at that time. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.160 So my I guess my question is when you came 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:12.160 into it, what were you expecting? And then how did 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.360 it turn out that was so great, that made such 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:16.200 an impact in your. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:20.320 Life, So that it's so interesting because I didn't know 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.680 what to expect. I actually didn't really watch much reality TV. 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:28.120 I watched Nick Vile season ironically from the Bachelor, and 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:32.880 that's probably the only non competition reality show that I watched. 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:35.520 And I only watched that too, just because we were 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.839 doing one of those tournament brackets at work. 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:40.080 It's like, well, I want to be a part of that. 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.920 So so you know, I didn't have a lot of experience, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:46.600 and you know, they actually reached out to me through LinkedIn, 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.160 where you know, that was where I had most of 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.840 my social media presence other than my Instagram dog photos. 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.720 But but you know when they when they came to me, 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.200 I was kind of like, I was really uneducated about 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.440 the industry. I was really uneducated about the process. So 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:04.079 what did I do? I went and watched Love Is 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.840 Blind season one, and I was like, oh, like, this 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.520 is different. This isn't you know about people you know, 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:12.680 as my dad would say, people hooking up in hot 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.280 tubs when he heard I was on the show, It's 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:17.880 what he thought it was. So it was, you know, 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.240 it was like very genuine and had this authenticity to it, 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.199 and the people that were on and had this authenticity 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.760 to them and this realness of them that I didn't necessarily, 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.320 you know, right or wrong, I didn't necessarily think of 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.520 reality shows in that way. So first and foremost like 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.559 just going on the set, like I had no idea 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.120 that we would be filming or working for eighteen hours 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.280 a day, twenty hours a day, again without any structure 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.520 of your normal life, without you know, the access to 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.000 the things that you want to eat and you want 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:51.280 to drink. And so that part to me was pretty shocking, 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.920 and I actually had a physical reaction. I got a 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.000 migrain on day three just from I think the chaos 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:58.680 of all of it. I didn't drink that much on 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.040 the show because I was not going to be making 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:04.920 drunk decisions about who I married. So it was it 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:10.000 was really it was really just sort of like overwhelming 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.440 and all consuming with that. And then to your point earlier, 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:15.839 when you do get a few minutes of or a 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.800 few hours back at your hotel room, like you are, 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.520 you were just sitting in your emotions. I write a lot, 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.319 and I was writing in my journal every opportunity I got, 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.480 because it was just trying to make sense of it all. 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.320 Dating fifteen people. They you know, it's like for seven 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.719 minutes at a time, it's just it's so much and 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.120 all consuming, and you just don't anticipate that. 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.079 And so what I found interesting is if you watch 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.200 the show, if you're just a fan, you watched it, 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.880 you're thinking, oh man, this guy really cruised through this. 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.560 It was a really good experience for him. He actually 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.480 found love. I mean, it was successful. So's that to 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.480 me is maybe the disconnect for a lot of people 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.840 when they're seeing some of these headlines of like this 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.000 guy crushed it. Like you know, say you were on 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.280 the Bachelor and you were quote unquote the villain and 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:03.840 you got the bad at it, so to speak. But 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.560 that wasn't you. So I guess explained to us, where 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.640 is that disconnect where this was not a good experience 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.520 for you although it looks to us like it was. So. 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.520 One of the things that I realized so last year 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.079 was I don't even think I've said that last year 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.719 was the worst year of my life. Like I by 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:25.240 the end of the year, I was like, I don't 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.160 want anything to do with any of this anymore. I 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.320 wish I would give anything to go back to my 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:33.040 life before Love is Blind. And as I started reflecting, 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.320 you know, I started asking my qu why why why? 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:41.440 And you know, I came to this whole concept in 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:45.439 my mind that while I went through this, I was 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:49.440 justifying everything that wasn't going well because I found love, 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.880 or I justified the fact that I lost fifteen pounds 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.439 in the first three weeks because I wasn't eating or 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.040 drinking water or the fact that I got such a 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:00.360 bad migraine that I had to like leave set and 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.040 was vomiting, and like it just like you pushed that 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:07.560 aside because okay, you did it now saying I crushed it. 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:09.360 Like I never really thought of it as a competition, 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.160 which I think is the way people look at it, right, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.440 And people even say that, they're like, oh, man, you 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.040 killed it, you won. I'm like, yeah, well, I didn't 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:18.680 think of it that way. But you know, for me, 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.520 it was it was really like, how am I going 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.480 to go into this and be myself no matter what, 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.480 not end up in situations in which I wouldn't be 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.719 in real life or in conversations I wouldn't be in 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.760 real life. And that was sort of my my you know, 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.840 foundation to this. And I was completely fine if I 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:39.640 go and I go home the first day because I 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.840 don't connect with anyone, Cool what an experience, right, Or 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:44.520 if I get married on it, I'm like, cool, that 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:47.960 must have been meant to be. And so you know, yeah, 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.079 it went great right from that perspective, And once you 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:52.920 see on TV and you know, I didn't do anything 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:54.880 or say anything out of character, so you know, I 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:57.280 don't have that and I feel and I've spoken to 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.320 people who have been edited into a villain and it 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:13.560 does it like completely uproots and ruins their entire life. 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:17.880 First of all, I'm very sorry to hear that when 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.320 someone says that last year was like the worst year 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.280 of my life, I'm sorry to hear that when you 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:28.240 look back, what was the impetus for that? Like, obviously, 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.080 and I know you'd be like just being on love 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.200 is blind, but what what you know? Go deeper, like, 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:39.000 what was it that made this such an impactful moment 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.640 in your life, that sparkplug moment in such a bad way, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:43.760 in such a negative way? What was that? Like? Where 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:44.840 did it turn for you? 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:49.080 I guess, yeah, so it was The show comes out 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.520 in February of last year, right, so you've got, you know, 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.280 the high of. 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.600 Of that, you're doing press, you're probably being because you're 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:58.280 one of the stars, so you're being flown around and 0:14:58.320 --> 0:14:58.960 doing doing the. 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.120 Dance exactly exactly, and then you know, I got to 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.360 do some things that I never dreamed I would have 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.240 the opportunity to do, and so you know, that's all good, 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.120 But what was going on behind the scenes was my 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.240 marriage was falling apart and we were struggling because we 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.520 were a very polarizing couple for the show, and so 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:21.040 we were struggling with, you know, our marriage struggles. We 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.600 were struggling with now this is in the public eye, 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.280 We're struggling with all the hate. And you know, I 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.400 didn't get nearly what Danielle got. Danielle got so much hate. 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.960 There were days where she would be so sad and 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.000 so depressed, she wouldn't want to leave the house, she 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.600 wouldn't want to leave the couch, and so, you know, 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.440 we were dealing with with so much stuff behind what 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.040 you see on Love is Blind that it just sort 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:46.480 of snowballed, and then, you know, we we ended up 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:50.120 getting divorced. She filed for divorce in August, and that 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:54.320 was just when things just went insane because I hadn't 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.120 told my family. I wasn't I kind of still thought 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:00.760 we were going to figure things out. I hadn't told 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.040 my family. I hadn't I told maybe my best couple 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.200 of friends that we were in dire straits. And then 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.040 TMZ leaked this article and that's how my mom found 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.160 out Lovely for example, Lovely Yeah. Yeah, So it's like, 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.600 so that's when it just started like snowballing for me. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:20.400 And then there was, you know, the divide obviously of 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.000 people of there's going to be team Nick and Danielle 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.480 even though there shouldn't be, right, but that's how they 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:29.040 do it. And then you know, they were I opted 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:32.040 to never talk about it and and really avoid most 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.280 interviews on it because you know, it hurts, it was painful. 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.280 It's a real divorce, it's you were it's a real lore. 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:40.320 You were really in love, you were really married. 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:46.320 That's absolutely true. I don't think people think that, yeah. 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:47.600 Well, and it's also you know, it's that's why, you know, 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.960 interesting and ironic that you're coming on right after this 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:55.480 Jason Tartik and Caitlin Bristow split because I know them 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.920 both very well. I know them intimately, they're they're friends 0:16:57.920 --> 0:16:59.960 of mine, and so yes they were on the show, 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.200 and yes, you know, Nick and Danielle were on the show. 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:04.719 But I try to tell people these are humans who 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:06.680 were really married. They really did love each other. And 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.119 another aspect that's really hard for people to understand is 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:12.760 when you're going through and I've been through a divorce, 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.800 it sucks. Just in general, divorce sucks. It's not fun. 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.119 Breakups are never because things are going great. So you 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.240 get divorced, but then the tabloid of it all, in 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.359 the social media of it all, Danielle's getting things said 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.760 about her and to her. Nick is getting things said 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.480 to you about you about her, and so it almost 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.760 creates these two camps and you start to doubt things 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.960 that you know even it starts, you start to question 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:42.600 things you actually were sure about. 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:45.640 If that makes it's like you get gas lid. Yeah, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.320 it totally does. And I just remember there was, you know, 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.080 and this is where things again, they kept snowballing for months. 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:53.200 I had a friend who I've been friends with for 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:56.320 over a decade who's lives in the UK. She's from 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.760 the UK. She spent some time in Chicago. That's when 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.240 we met ten years ago. She came to visit from 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.560 the UK to see her family here and we went 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:07.160 out to brunch. And this was maybe two a week 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.000 or two after the divorce announcement, and we went we 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.040 went out to brunch. We sat on a patio, not 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.320 even just the two of us, with three two or 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.080 three of my friends were there, and someone saw us 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:21.080 and started this entire reddit thread about how clearly I 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.639 cheated and this was howhy the marriage ended. And so 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.879 all of a sudden that like later that day, I 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.359 started getting all these dms. You cheated, You're a cheater, 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.680 You're you're ruined this, you're you have a My friend 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.640 started getting hate. They track they somehow tracked her down 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:39.040 from my social media like five years ago when I 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:43.359 was in England visiting, and somehow made that didn't make 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:45.040 the connection that we've been friends for a long time, 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:47.000 but that instead she was a home wrecker. So she 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:48.639 started getting all of us hate, and it was just 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.040 I'm just like, my poor friend who who I haven't 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:54.320 seen in five years, is here and now now unfortunately 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.760 part of this and getting harassed and so like that 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.360 was part of the snowball. And then you know, I 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:04.919 ended up up losing my job after getting you know, 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:07.720 pretty much eviscerated in the media for things that I 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.200 did not say and things that I did not do, And. 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.359 So that that happened. That was that was probably the 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:14.000 worst day. 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.879 So you come out of this and you're you're in marketing, 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:20.960 you're very successful and you have this great job. So 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:25.000 you got fired and did they say it is because 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.879 of the press, and we just can't go further with 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:29.000 you because of what's going on. 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.920 So they were they laid off I think roughly twenty 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.280 five percent of the workforce. And of course they're not 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.280 going to say that's why at the moment, but I 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:41.359