"It’s a nerve-racking experience" - Love Is Blind star Blake talks about the adrenaline and emotional stakes of pod dates
Blake discusses the emotional and practical challenges of pod dates on Love Is Blind season 9, explaining why he and Anna chose to leave their connections unexpectedly.
Anna and Blake from Love Is Blind season 9 (Image via Tudum by Netflix)
Pod dates on Love Is Blind present participants with a structured environment designed to facilitate emotional connections without physical interaction.
Contestants enter the pods to form meaningful bonds, but the format also introduces uncertainty and pressure. In season 9, Blake experienced the intensity of these encounters firsthand.
“It’s a nerve-racking experience, and I certainly found comfort in knowing there’s someone going through the exact same thing,” he said.
Over the course of the season, both Blake and Anna decided to leave the pods without informing their respective connections, acting on personal assessments of compatibility and readiness for commitment.
Blake and Anna on navigating emotional stakes and decisions in the Love Is Blind pods
Early connections in the pods
Blake and Anna formed initial bonds with several participants. Anna described her attraction to Blake, explaining that she was drawn to the "kindness" in his voice.
She also noted that he seemed very normal. Blake confirmed the connection, stating,
“We share a similar sense of humor — the way we view the world and kind of the ridiculous nature of the experiment we were in.”
Blake also interacted with other participants, including Megan W and Kait.
Anna developed a connection with Patrick, despite initially perceiving him as very "bro-y" because of his first impression in the Love Is Blind pods.
She mentioned the possibility of gathering "information" about someone by hearing about their past or childhood, which can reveal pieces and values of their personality.
Their dialogue also included experiences as the children of immigrants, adding further shared cultural background and understanding to how they viewed their upbringing.
Emotional and practical considerations
Contestants evaluated their emotional responses and the structure of the experiment.
Anna described the process as overwhelming at times, noting that she began seeing herself as "vulnerable" and felt unsettled because the experience involved a very personal part of her thinking.
She also considered her family’s perspective and recalled that with all the stress, she eventually questioned her participation, asking herself what she was doing in the experiment.
Her parents, unfamiliar with reality television, had concerns about her safety. She said,
“When I told them, ‘Hey, Mom and Dad, I’m going on this show, they were like, ‘Are you being kidnapped?’ ”
Blake mentioned a pragmatic perspective to his decision to step back, saying he was "pragmatic" to a fault and came to realize, over time, that a proposal was not going to happen.
He also advised that when he left, he hadn’t told Megan he was leaving, adding that in the moment, it felt like his emotions were at a point where he was focused on his emotions and that he thought he was making the right decision to exit.
Impact of leaving the Love Is Blind pods
The departures of Anna and Blake had a direct impact on their connections within the pods.
Blake explained that at that stage of the experiment, he and Anna had not discussed a "proposal" or engagement, but they had established a solid bond and friendship through their interactions.
Anna depicted her departure from Patrick as sudden and described being emotionally flooded.
She described that her eyes were almost "swollen" from crying, and expressed a strong sense of discomfort from the experience, indicating how difficult the emotional pressure participants endured in the pods was.
Blake reflected on his experience, noting regret about not informing Megan directly:
“So what hurts is knowing that someone was going through that, and I wasn’t there to metaphorically catch them.”
