How 'gaslighting' led a 'Love Is Blind' fan favorite to be jilted at the altar
Finding "happily ever after" on "Love Is Blind," the Netflix dating show we can't stop cringe-watching, turned out to be harder than unclogging a toilet without a plunger for Nancy Rodriguez.
Each week since the third season premiered last month, viewers have watched in frustration as her pod partner, the vain, gym-obsessed 25-year-old Bartise Bowden, openly shared his attraction for another fitness-loving contestant, Raven — all while Rodriguez, a giggly 31-year-old speech pathologist and real estate investor, stayed hopeful their love would prevail.
But after Rodriguez shared her "I do" at the altar, Bowden made the decision not to marry her.
From the start of Rodriguez's journey, the outcome seemed almost preordained: While vacationing in Cancun, Mexico, in January, she received an Instagram message from a friend with a link to a casting call for the show's third season, which was seeking singles in her hometown.
"I was like, 'Girl, please, ain't nobody got time for that. I'm running businesses. I'm traveling. I'm single as can be," Rodriguez recalls. "Dating was kind of going OK even though I wasn't meeting the people I wanted to meet. I really did feel like the people that I was meeting weren't ready to accept me for who I was; meaning where I was financially, where I am at the level of my career."
Spoiler alert: She applied. But it took some persistence. Midway through her first attempt at filling out the lengthy online application, the Wi-Fi connection went out. The next day, she gave it another go. Again, connection was lost. Ignoring any signs the Wi-Fi may have been attempting to relay,
