How’s life been? 

It’s been good. This past month and a half has been crazy though. It’s been very chaotic. I didn’t expect October to be as crazy as it was, but that was just naivety. But since then, it’s been great. I mean, since the reunion, the chaos of every week having a new set of episodes and the anticipation of the online chatter… there’s just a lot. But yeah, since then, it’s been great. Taylor and I are getting to finally be public and run around and show each other off. It’s been a lot of fun. 

What was your dating life before you joined Love Is Blind? Was there any specific experience that prompted you to go on the show? 

No, it’s more like a lack of experience. I’m living in a small town, Fredericksburg, and I wasn’t dating at all. I was spending all my time working and hanging out with friends and family and working out, and the occasional spearfishing trip, which was my life. It’s funny, the first day, you go on 15 dates. That was more dates than I had been in the past six and a half, seven years. So it was eye-opening, to say the least. I mean the goal was to go learn. If nothing else, this could kickstart this romantic dating side of myself again, which had been dormant for six and a half years.

What surprised you the most about speed dating so many people? Is there anything that you wanted viewers to see that they didn’t get to see? 

I think I was surprised at how challenging it was going to be. I expected to have more time. I didn’t realize the format was what it was like, you date 15 people, and then the next day, you cut that down in half. And I think that you know, if Taylor hadn’t been there, I probably would have more grievances, but I don’t have anything to complain about. I met Taylor and I’m like, extremely happy and grateful and lucky. But I think that for someone like myself, who is a bit more quiet and reserved and calm and slow, it could have been the case that Taylor and I didn’t meet. If we’d have ranked each other just a little bit lower, like maybe we wouldn’t have ever even gotten a second chance. With 10 minutes in there, you have to come off really well and very energetic and excitable. It’s exhausting but my biggest takeaway from dating in general was that just be honest, and be authentic, because ultimately, you’re supposed to be getting engaged with someone. And if you get engaged with someone, via not being authentic, you are going to end up with the wrong person.

Considering that Love is Blind has such an expedited timeline, did you kind of have any personality traits in mind that you were looking for?

No, I was a bit more structured than that, a bit more rigid. So going into it, like as a scientist, I’m like, ‘What are the things I’m looking for?’ And I remember sitting on the plane, writing this out and editing. Then even after the first day, I revisited my notes and crossed things off. Taylor even said something that I added to my list. She said she was looking for intellectual curiosity. I had that same thing written down but in way more words. She’s way more eloquent than I am. So I stole that one from her. And kindness was a big one. I like authenticity as well. Yeah, I think that it’s really hard to fake those things. And so I was looking out for that.

When did you figure out that Taylor was your number one? Because you know, what viewers saw is that right from the get go, you guys were made for each other. 

She won’t let me live this down. You guys get to see in the pods that Taylor and I are both a little bit different versions of ourselves. They’re a bit more reserved and a bit more careful, cautious, and slow. We’re both a bit like that. And I think that it took us a little while, a bit of a slow burn. And, you know, there was someone else that I thought I was more in tune with at the beginning. But then, it was just an initial spark in that first day or two, but it never went anywhere else. With Taylor, it was more of this hockey stick curve that was a little bit of a burn, and then eventually got very aggressive, like probably by day four, I started to say, ‘Holy shit, like, I’m falling in love with this person.’ And I’m grateful that it was Taylor. You really have to feel overwhelmed with like, these strong, but like, I can’t be without this person to get engaged. So luckily, I found that. Absolutely.

What was the most weird thing about the entire experience? 

I don’t think that I ever expected to feel this way to be able to fall in love that quickly, and to feel so strongly about somebody that I’d be willing to commit to marrying and spending the rest of my life with. I spent six and a half years being single and I didn’t think that I would ever feel that way at all, let alone on a reality dating show where I think the reality TV world can be a bit vapid. I didn’t expect to find someone with such depth there. Taylor was there and that was great, but that doesn’t mean that we would be compatible and be in love with each other, and so many things had to go right. I’m still in shock at how perfectly it all worked out for us. 

What was it like keeping your relationship just low key for so long?

It’s not like we were dying to get on a television show and tell people. So it was fine. We weren’t hiding, per se. We didn’t go to the gym at the same time and we took care of certain things. But not posting on social media is kind of this thing where towards the end, you’re like, ‘Man, I really want to just share where I’m at and post where I’m at.’ So not being able to do that and celebrate your marriage is difficult. But for the most part, everybody that knew were people we cared about, like our parents, our friends, our family, they all knew. We’d still send them pictures of us and things like that. So that was fine. 

What did you and Taylor do with that one year that nobody knew what you were up to?

We were inseparable, honestly. From the first moment in Cabo to the end, we were completely inseparable. We went everywhere together. And we traveled to California, Costa Rica, and Milwaukee in the middle of a nasty snowstorm, because Taylor had some work out there. We did Europe together, we went to an Arsenal game together. So it’s funny because people knew that I was a big Arsenal fan, I was posting about being at the Arsenal game. Secretly, the person who’s taking the most pictures of me is right here next to me every time. We’re excited to go back and hopefully do another Arsenal game together and get to redo the whole Europe trip together.

Both of you are ambitious people living independent lives. What has it been like balancing that aspect with having your relationship out in the open for everybody to talk about? 

Yeah, it’s difficult. I didn’t think that it was going to be as hard as it is. And to deal with the criticism and everyone having an opinion about decisions you guys make together has been a little challenging. But ultimately, we’re madly in love. We know that we’re going to have these challenges and these struggles. That’s what we’ve had to learn is just how to work through those things as a couple. It’s been beautiful to watch our growth together, our communication, our strength, our understanding of one another, and both verbal and nonverbal cues. You make this big leap on the wedding day and you know you don’t have all the information. I know that we don’t have all the answers today, but I trust that we’ll figure them out. I’m willing to put my faith in this other person that they’ll work with me as well, and that’s what it’s been. We got really lucky throughout the experiment, and we’ve gotten really lucky since then that all these things still worked out. We’ve been willing to compromise on things and work together to make this work.

Coming to the internet side of things, which can be a little tricky to deal with at times, especially after the reunion episode where there were tiffs between certain people. What do you have to say about those things? And just how do you navigate that situation of people talking about you when they don’t even know you personally? 

Yeah, I’m still dealing with it, to be honest. I’m still trying to figure out how to navigate that. I think not listening to it, not paying attention, putting up blockers, not reading the comments, you know, but it’s easier said than done, especially when people are directly messaging you things. Luckily, I come from a very privileged position, because I got married and most people celebrate us. I see what happens with some other folks who, you know, have had it a lot worse than I have. I feel for them deeply, because whether they deserve it or not, whether they did wrong or not; nobody deserves the kind of negativity that we receive online. Sure, you put yourself into it, they signed up for this. But it’s like, ‘I signed up to learn something about myself, and to hopefully find somebody I can marry.’ I don’t need it, nor did I sign up for like this extra stuff. I’m not going on here to get lambasted for my small mistakes. So I think that this is a learning experience for everyone, and I hope that everyone can take away and extract value out of it. As Taylor likes to say, ‘Take the rose and leave the thorns.’ But it is easier said than done. I hope that everyone from the show is getting through this as well as they can. 

With the platform that you’ve given the show, what can we expect to see from you now? 

I want to make a positive impact. That’s kind of a cliche but we didn’t do this for the attention, but you’re getting it regardless. People are leaning into it and telling me that I’m a very healthy person. I’m a health optimizer. And I enjoy science. I enjoy sustainable fashion. People are also interested in these things. I put out a story last night about how kiwis at bedtime can help you sleep, and people are interested in the little things. It feels good to tell people about these things and have a platform where you can help people improve their health and improve their sleep, and I really like that. I think I’m gonna lean into that side of it.