OU ALUM CONNOR SPIES TALKS “LOVE IS BLIND” EXPERIENCE, TIME AS A BOBCAT
BY CAMI SEYMORE PHOTO COURTESY OF CONNOR SPIES
When “Love is Blind: Ohio” contestant Connor Spies caught heat for still having a keg at his house, it didn’t exactly shock anyone — especially if you know he’s an Ohio University alum.
“Love is Blind” is an experimental dating show where participants date in “pods,” which are separate spaces where they can talk but never see each other. Couples who develop strong connections can choose to get engaged without seeing each other before the face-to-face reveal after the proposal. Four weeks later, the couple will decide at the altar whether or not to marry each other, determining if love can truly be blind.
Season 10 of Netflix’s “Love is Blind” premiered on Feb. 13 and featured singles from all across Ohio. Spies, who is originally from Cleveland, attended OU for his undergraduate degree and studied sports management.
“You name it, I've lived it in Athens,” Spies said. “It was an awesome five years. I worked for the football team for four of those, and I ended up staying on for an extra year to work full-time with the team, doing operations and video coordinating. So I was in Athens for actually six years. I mean, they basically were trying to kick me out. People around me were like, ‘Are you OK? Is there something holding you hostage, or somebody being like, you can't leave?’ But I loved every minute of it.”
After graduating, Spies went on to work in sales as an account manager before finding himself on “Love is Blind,” dating women in pods, and getting engaged on national television.
“I definitely didn't have a real plan,” Spies said. “I think everyone went in there with the right reasons and to go in with good intentions. How you react to certain things and how you make your way through the process, everyone kind of did it differently. But going in, I mean, I think most of us are in our 30s, have dated a lot around before, and we're kind of ready for that next step.”
Spies ended up engaged and in a relationship on the show, but reflected on the experience as part of a broader moment of his own personal growth.
“I mean, it's weird. I didn't do anything different. I think most of my friends and family would legitimately say, ‘That's just Connor.’ So it's weird in the sense that, I guess, this many people know an insight into my life, or at least, my dating history and who I am a little bit as a person. But it's been fun to share more parts of me through social media and just kind of be more myself.”
Spies said the sudden visibility of his life has taken some getting used to, particularly given the show’s online popularity.
“I didn't expect, I guess, this much of a social media reaction,” Spies said. “I think when we were in it, it's not the craziest thing to us, and we're just trying to figure out relationships in life. But when there's 8 million people having opinions, and there's a new podcast or Instagram reel every day, it really gets magnified.”
Outside of his engagement, Spies also formed a close friendship with Jordan Faeth, another OU alum from the cast. The pair recently visited Athens together and have leaned on one another for support as the show continues to air and public attention grows.
“It's kind of nice having Jordan right down the road and being able to do fun things with him, and just two Bobcats just kind of having fun with it.”
Although he’s grateful for the support, Spies urged viewers to keep perspective amid online discourse.
“We're all normal human beings at the end of the day, or at least try to be,” Spies said. “So what you see is a very small percentage of us, and hopefully you can see the different sides of people through either social media or just who they are in real life.”
