Nancy and Bartise.Photo: NETFLIX
This post contains spoilers from the season 3 finale ofLove Is Blind.
Love Is Blind’sNancy Rodriguezdid not expect all the drama that unfolded on her wedding day toBartise Bowden.
During the pair’s season 3 wedding episode, fans watched as Nancy, 33, said “yes” to Bartise at the altar. But Bartise, 27, could not reciprocate those feelings, and ultimately said “no” to marrying the real estate investor.
Despite the drama and getting her heart broken, Nancy tells PEOPLE exclusively that she has since moved on from Bartise and they are now “respectful” with each other.
“Right after the wedding, we took time apart,” she says. “I think for me, you saw me, I was like, ‘It’s black and white. You said no. I’m out.’ I had to do that to protect myself, because at that point I was so blindsided that I needed to process how did this happen?”
“Rewatching it, it was like, ‘Oh, that’s how it happened,'” she adds. “I would hope that Bartise and I could be friends at some point and later on in life, maybe in his 30s, we can be friends. But I don’t see the benefit of us being friends at this point.”
Nancy and Bartise.Netflix
During their dramatic wedding, Nancy’s mom repeatedly interrupted Nancy and Bartise’s conversation. At one point, she even told Nancy, “This man is not ready for you, he’s not ready for you who you are… cause you’re too much for him.”
Nancy’s mom also called Bartise “stupid” as her distraught — and once-skeptical — younger brother cried over the outcome and told his mom, “I didn’t want to be right [about this]!”
When they finally got a minute to themselves, Nancy admitted to Bartise, “I did not think you were gonna say no… you f—ing gaslit me.”
“I chose you. You didn’t choose me… How is that not black and white? I’m not gonna backtrack,” she said, adding to cameras, “My heart is shattered, it’s broken. He blindsided me… There’s no point to love someone who doesn’t love me.”
Speaking to PEOPLE about her family’s reaction, Nancy says, “My brother and Bartise were about the same age, so my brother got it. And when [Bartise] said no, I had to shut down my feelings and I even said to Bartise, ‘It’s okay.’ Those were my first words when we got outside. So my mom and my brother fought the fight that I couldn’t fight in that moment.”
Nancy and Bartise.Patrick Wymore/Netflix
When asked if she has any regrets about her journey onLove Is Blind, Nancy says no — at least, for the most part.
“I think for me, the person I did the experience with was the person that I was supposed to be with and I wouldn’t have changed that,” she says. “So would I do this all over again? Absolutely. Would I do it with a 25-year-old? No, thank you.”
For Bartise’s part, hetells PEOPLE he had no regrets about his timeon the show and views it all as a learning experience.
“I love my journey with Nancy because, especially watching it back and watching myself, kind of feeling embarrassed to have watched myself say some of the stuff that I said and ashamed of myself,” he says. “I like that journey because I’m able to learn from it and grow from it.”
Addressing Nancy’s passionate family reaction, Bartise says he “absolutely understand[s] where they’re coming from” and why they were so angry with him.
“I have a younger sister, so I would have the same emotions that they’re having. However, I wanted me and Nancy to have that moment so I could explain to her everything that was going through my mind and my reasonings behind saying, ‘I do not,'” he notes. “And her mom and her brother were not letting me do that. So I was getting very frustrated because that was me and Nancy’s moment. That was our experience. That was the culmination of this wholeLove Is Blindprocess for us, and they were getting in the way of that.”
And though Bartise faced criticism during the season 3 reunion for moving on with a “tall blonde” days after his wedding, he also echoes Nancy’s sentiments about where they currently stand today.
“Right now, we are, I would call [us] acquaintances,” he shares. “Our depiction onLove Is Blindwas very much a rollercoaster. It was up and down, and that’s continued to be what it has been — but not romantic. So we’ve gone from friends to acquaintances, to no communication to disliking each other, back to friends, and right now, I would say we’re acquaintances.”
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Season 3 ofLove Is Blindis now streaming in full on Netflix.
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source: people.com
