Emma Betsinger was caught in a love square on Love Is Blind season 10.
“I think, going in, I wanted to talk and tell my story to the important people that I could see get down on one knee, and that was these three men,” Emma, 28, exclusively told Us Weekly after the first batch of episodes dropped on Netflix on Wednesday, February 11. “I needed each day to continue to just see where things bloomed and saw where things pan out.”
Emma found connections with Mike Gibney, Conner Spies and Steven Sunday in the season 10 pods. The retail merchandiser’s banter with Steven, 32, ultimately fizzled after he pressed for details about her first kiss, her virginity and questioned if she was a “late bloomer.”
“The whole experience was very strange. I think it took a 180 that I didn’t expect,” Emma told Us. “I rewatch[ed] it. I was talking very slow, and I had pauses. I was like, ‘What is happening right now?’”
Emma pointed out that she and Steven had “good conversations” on multiple pod dates — until a noticeable change.
“We knew each other. We’ve been dating for hours, but it felt like he flipped a switch, and he was like, ‘No.’ I think, maybe, he just wanted to be fun and silly and goofy because that’s who he is,” she said.
According to Emma, fans only saw “a semblance” of Steven’s questions about her virginity.
“In real life, it was a longer, stretched out version, but he was really trying to get me to open up about virginity,” she said. “I was, like, ‘I don’t want to. Why is this relevant?’ You guys are seeing such a [clipped] version, but that conversation was kind of a drawn-out, like, minute and a half [or] two minutes. It just started making me feel like, ‘If you were my person, you wouldn’t pry if I felt uncomfortable.’ It just became more uncomfortable for me, and I think through it all, that was a sign that he was not my person.”
As Emma kept getting glimpses of reasons why Steven wasn’t The One, she also noticed that he “kept interrupting” her.
“I was trying to formulate thoughts,” she said. “It started from fine to, like, ‘What is going on and for me to not be able to comprehend?’ And his mind was moving so fast, like, he was talking, and I couldn’t communicate as fast as him. So it was very odd.”
Talking with Steven also made Emma realize how strong her connections were with Mike, 30, and Connor, 32.
“I could not discern the two. I cared for them both, so equally, for many different reasons, but the connections were very strong for both of them,” Emma told Us. “I think with Mike, I always knew [in my gut] it was Mike because he was challenging me. We had great conversations, [and] when I said something he would be like, ‘But, why do you think that?’ Or he was so inquisitive and wanted to learn more about me as I did him, and he was very open, and that’s what really drew me to him.”
As Emma’s feelings for Mike and Connor kept getting stronger, she was torn about who was her best match.
“I was, like, ‘I’m confused. I’m talking to two people,’” Emma said. “I literally told Mike. I was like, ‘I can’t decide. I don’t know what’s going on.’ Mike was like, ‘Continue dating. See it out, I’m always here.’ … I made sure to never cross emotions to each person and made sure like they were the person I was dating at that time.”
With Connor, Emma acknowledged he was “so fun.”
“We have the best banter, great comedy,” she recalled. “It was fun, like, the hours just moved by so fast with him.”
Connor ultimately broke up with Emma to pursue eventual fiancée Brianna McNees.
“Navigating the breakup felt like a true breakup because we had feelings for each other, and I did think it could have gone farther,” Emma said. “To navigate that, and then go immediately into a date with Mike after I was like, ‘Oh, this is a lot of things to juggle.’ But yeah, both of them are great guys.”
In the end, Mike proposed to Emma before they met in person.
“In the end, and going to Cabo with Mike, and just being with him, I felt a sense of calm and [security] and safety with him,” she said. “[He] had all the elements of a future partner when we started, just, like, continuing to grow our love within Mexico.”
The first six episodes of Love Is Blind are now streaming on Netflix. New episodes drop Wednesdays.
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