What may’ve been. Love Is Blind alum Bartise Bowden thinks that if he’d mentioned sure to his former fiancée, Nancy Rodriguez, on the altar, they’d nonetheless be collectively right now.
“That’s a part of the explanation why I mentioned no, as a result of I solely wanna make that call one time. Let’s say I say ‘sure,’ and we encounter issues or no matter, we’re sticking collectively,” Bartise, 27, completely instructed Us Weekly on Monday, November 21. “Her dad and mom are divorced; my dad and mom are divorced. I’m not going by that. So sure, if I mentioned sure, we’d nonetheless be collectively.”
The fact TV persona additionally revealed the place he and Nancy, 33, stand now.
“We took most likely three to 4 weeks [apart] after [our] marriage ceremony day. Didn’t talk in any respect,” he defined. “After which a month later, she texted me and mentioned, ‘Hey, can we, like, discuss and sort of decompress collectively and undergo every part?’”
Bartise Bowden and Nancy Rodriguez Sara Mally/Netflix (2)
The Texas native shared that he and Nancy spent “like 5 hours” speaking over dinner and drinks. “We determined to maneuver ahead making an attempt to be associates. Quick ahead just a few extra months, [and] now we’re each in different relationships. And I discovered it arduous to keep up the extent of friendship that Nancy needed with me whereas I used to be additionally making an attempt to be respectful of a brand new lady I used to be courting as a result of, you recognize, she would get jealous that I used to be speaking to Nancy,” he mentioned.
When it comes to what their dynamic appears to be like like right now, Bartise instructed Us that the exes are “cordial work acquaintances.” Nonetheless, if it had been as much as him, they’d’ve given their relationship one other shot after the marriage.
“That was my plan. I used to be like, ‘I’m not able to say sure for the remainder of my life with you proper now, however … if we maintain going romantically then, who is aware of what we might be?’” he mentioned. Nancy, for her half, didn’t share his optimism and selected to finish their romance that day. The CPA shed some mild on what he was feeling when his ex-fiancée instructed him she was carried out.
“I’m like, ‘You notice you’re chopping me off proper now, although you simply mentioned sure to spending the remainder of your life with me. Like, how does that make any sense?’ Which I imply, in hindsight, that was only a very emotional show from her as a result of she reached out to me three weeks later,” he defined.
Though the spark between Bartise and the speech pathologist didn’t final, he nonetheless thinks that the Love Is Blind experiment was successful in his case.
“I believe the objective for everyone is to search out out, are you able to fall in love with any person primarily based on who they’re on the within and have any person fall in love with you for who you might be on the within? So, I believe for me … the present labored. It didn’t finish in marriage; nevertheless, the present just isn’t a failure for me or for Nancy,” he mentioned.
Throughout season 3 of Love Is Blind, which premiered in October, Bartise was sincere with Nancy about discovering one other girl he met within the pods, Raven Ross, bodily enticing.
“It was undoubtedly arduous and … embarrassing to look at [that conversation]. … I undoubtedly really feel dangerous about that,” he shared with Us. Raven, 29, acquired engaged to Sikiru “SK” Alagbada on the courting present. Though SK, 34, mentioned “no” on the duo’s marriage ceremony day, they continued to pursue their relationship afterward. The previous fiancés introduced that they have been going their separate methods on Sunday, November 20.
“Their relationship actually was, like, essentially the most secretive I suppose,” Bartise mentioned of Raven and SK, including that he didn’t have “a complete lot of ideas” on their break up. “It’s not my spot to achieve out to them. I’ve are available in between their relationship, you recognize, loads of instances already.”
The College of Texas alum additionally weighed in on the controversial cuties’ scene between Cole Barnett and Zanab Jaffrey, who additionally went their separate methods after Zanab, 32, turned down Cole, 27, throughout their nuptials.
“I believe it was simply, like, the straw that broke the camel’s again,” Bartise mentioned of the second when Cole reminded his then-fiancée that that they had a “large ole’ supper” deliberate. Through the Love Is Blind reunion, Zanab claimed that the interplay was an instance of the realtor making an attempt to regulate her consuming habits.
“I don’t suppose it appears to be like dangerous for Cole in any respect,” Bartise mentioned. “Zanab just isn’t essentially the most safe girl as is, so, like, that’s gonna be a difficulty for her.”
