Catherine Richards, who grew up in Jersey and went to Le Rocquier school, featured in the first-ever UK season of Love is Blind which premiered earlier this month.
The 30-year-old dental nurse, who worked for Bracken Barrett, was originally approached by Netflix through her Instagram account.
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Catherine said: “At the start I thought ‘oh, this was just another one of those messages’ but I answered, and then it was getting a bit more serious.
“I was doing casting interviews and I said to my manager ‘I think this is for real now’.
“Then I took my mum to London and I got a phone call asking for me to fly out that week.”
The 11-episode inaugural UK season of Love is Blind is designed as a social experiment, where groups of singles go on dates with people that they cannot see.
By meeting in specially-designed “pods”, the participants cannot see who they are talking to and attempt to form deep connections without any sense of physical attraction.
If they form a bond, the couples get engaged (still without seeing one another) before moving in together to decide if they want to take the relationship forward.
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Catherine admitted that she had never watched the original Love is Blind series, based in America.
“I knew what it was about but I wanted to actually go in there blind, no game plan,” she said.
The “long journey”
Catherine explained that it had been a “long journey” from casting to filming
She received the original message for Netflix at the beginning of 2023, but filming didn’t start until around this time last year.
The series premiere debuted on Netflix on 7 August, with several more episodes arriving on 14 August.
The season 1 finale is set to hit the streaming platform this Wednesday 21 August.
The dental nurse said the “hardest thing” was keeping the secret to herself.
“I had to keep asking for time off work and my friends kept saying ‘what are you doing?’,” she said.
“It was honestly the hardest thing to keep quiet. If anyone knows me, I am such a little gossip.
“I did tell my parents because I couldn’t just sneak out the house and then all of a sudden get married!”
After being cast in the show, Catherine then endured months of “living out of a suitcase” as the cast were whisked off to Sweden to film the pod dates.
They then headed to Corfu for the couples retreat, before moving in together in London.
“We did a lot of travelling,” she said. “I lived out of a suitcase for months, only eating Wagamama and Nando’s.”
“Jersey’s very isolated”
Tabloids have described her motivation for going on the show as being because “everyone’s related in Jersey”, but Catherine explained that the appeal of starting afresh in a room of new people was what drew her in.
“Jersey’s very isolated,” she said. “You grow up, go to school where you find your sweetheart, you have a white picket fence and you work in finance.
“But I’m not really about that. When you go out in Jersey, you’ll see her ex or you find a new friend and they know your ex.”
Catherine added: “It’s not just Jersey, you’d get that in any small town but I can’t really live like that.
“On the show, I was in there and thought I could create a new me if I wanted to, so it was an amazing opportunity.”
“It was just nice to talk to people who didn’t know me. It was fun!”
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Catherine continued: “I think Jersey is great to settle down and have a family but I think there’s a massive world out there, whether it’s for career or love.
“I will always go back to the island as my family are there, but right now I’m doing this!”
A “surreal” experience
Now living a life that looks quite different to when she first got the message from Neflix, Catherine said it’s “surreal” and she is taking “every opportunity she can”.
She said: “I went shopping the other day and it was quite full on, but I just keep reminding myself that I’m grateful to be living this life.
“Just 18 months ago I was working in a normal job. Every day something else pops up and I’m learning how to cope with it all but it is getting easier.”
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Catherine said that she is still continuing to study for her dental nursing exams, and hopes to go into the cosmetic or surgery industry eventually.
However, she is “enjoying this part of her life” as much as she can for now.
“You forget the cameras are there”
As for her time on the show, Catherine explained that the series only shows “a snippet of what happens”.
She said: “We were filming in the pods for two weeks and there is also a lot that happens off camera that won’t be shown, but that happens in every reality show we watch.
“In terms of the pods and the feelings shown, what you’re seeing is me. You forget the cameras are there and you are in that bubble.”
Catherine explained that on the first day of the show, participants date 15 people for about eight minutes each.
By the end, the dates last for around two hours with filming taking place from 07:00 until 23:00 each day.
“It’s a lot!” she said.
“I wanted my story to be heard”
Throughout the show, Catherine’s personal life and childhood are central to how she forms connections with other participants.
She tells her dates that she was adopted as a child, and explains how this has contributed to who she is as a person.
“I let the show really dive into my life,” she admitted.
“I think it’s important that people are watching the real Catherine and my family and friends were involved.
“I was very careful coming from such a small island, but I wanted my story to be heard.”
“It’s a juicy, juicy show”
Hinting at the drama in upcoming episodes, Catherine explained that much of the on-screen tension was down to a variety of factors.
“Everyone forgets that we were all sleep deprived!” she said. “They were long days and like I said so much happened and a lot of it isn’t shown.”
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She added: “People are going to have their opinion of you but you’ve just got to be strong the whole way and stay true yourself and block that out.
“It’s a juicy, juicy show.”
As to whether she believes that love really is blind, Catherine said: “Without giving anything away, I will just say that I’m very happy and the experiment does work.
“It’s honestly amazing. If you can get to know someone’s personality behind a wall then the looks genuinely shouldn’t really matter.”
WATCH…
You can watch Catherine as she tries to find true love behind closed doors on Netflix right now.
The first nine episodes of Love is Blind UK have been released with the final two dropping on Wednesday 21 August.