The Big Picture

Reality TV stars from
Perfect Match
discuss their experiences on the show, including the challenges of finding love while being filmed.
The stars explore the possibility of finding love on a dating game and weigh in on strategy versus genuine connection.
They share their reactions to watching the first season and future plans for participating in other reality TV shows, featuring stars from various previous seasons of popular shows like
Love is Blind
and
The Circle.

Netflix’s reality dating game, Perfect Match’s second season brought together 22 well-known faces from the streamers’ popular dating shows, including Love is Blind, The Challenge, The Trust, Too Hot to Handle, Squid Game, and more. The rules of the game are as follows: Contestants arrive at a villa and need to find their match. Then the singles pair off to compete in a series of compatibility challenges under the watchful eye of host Nick Lachey. The winning couple will then have the power to bring one or two fresh faces into the villa, wreaking potential havoc and making some contestants feel very insecure.

Netflix invited Collider to a $58 million mansion in Bel Air for an interview with some of the contestants before the second season’s premiere. Collider chatted with some streamer favorites: Micha Lussier, 28, (Love is Blind season 4), Jessica Vestal (Love is Blind Season 6),Tolu Ekundare(The Trust), and Xanthi Perdikomatis (The Circle Season 5). The reality show stars answered truthfully how it was to look for love while the cameras were rolling and whether is it possible to find love on a dating game.

Perfect Match Release Date February 14, 2023 Cast Nick Lachey Main Genre Reality Seasons 1 Story By Chris Coelen Writers Chris Coelen Streaming Service(s) Netflix Directors Chris Coelen Showrunner Chris Coelen Expand

‘Perfect Match’ Stars Reveal Biggest Challenges
Collider: How was the experience of being on the show? What was the biggest challenge?

Micha: It was hot as absolute hell. I was sweating, you’ll see it on the show, there is no makeup left on my face.

Tolu: I think I’m the only one who loved the heat. It was great, I was thriving.

Jess: Being out in the elements, being out in the jungle, being hot and sweaty, was just a lot.

Xanthi: I think meeting all these people all at once and just like, continuously speed dating was a challenge in itself. You know what I mean. Just meeting people, then dating them, then trying to gain relationships, it was just very fast, so the time was a challenge in itself.

Tolu: I would say just navigating, like you’re in a microcosm when you’re in the house, so in the real world there is 8 billion people to choose from, but in the house there are five. So just picking between the five who seem like the least terrible? No, don’t roll that. Yes, just picking between the houses.

Collider: For you Tolu, it was different because, before that, you were not on any dating show, correct?

Tolu: Exactly. It was so weird because I never saw myself doing a dating show ever in life, and anybody who knows me in real life, knows that like especially when it comes to romantic connections, I am so to myself. Nobody knows how I am romantically except for my romantic partner. That’s it. So coming into this dating show and thinking like: oh you know, I’m going let myself be open, I’m going to be a lover girl. It’s not going to be like ‘The Trust’, I’m going to put my walls down, because in the trust I had them wide up. So this time I just wanted to be more vulnerable, and I learned why I put my walls up.

Collider: Is it possible to find love in a reality show?

Xanthi: Yeah I think it is possible. It’s all about people’s intentions, you know. It’s harder I would say to find love in reality TV, just with all the cameras and all the attention that we all get sometimes, but it’s definitely possible.

Jess: We’ve seen it before. I mean, look at Love is Blind, it’s a true testament to not just relationships but real marriages.

Tolu: Like, Lauren and Cameron, they were literally in my head when I came into Perfect Match. If Lauren and Cameron can find that kind of love on a reality show, nothing is impossible. Maybe I’ll be a Lauren.

Did the Women of ‘Perfect Match 2’ Have a Strategy?
Image via Netflix

Collider: Coming in, did you think about strategy or finding love?

Xanthi: I think a lot of the girls were more open to finding love.

Micha:I thought the whole prize was like finding the perfect match. Like, I don’t understand, strategy for what? What are we trying to win here? we’re not getting a bag, I don’t understand the strategy part at all. What are we trying to win here?

Collider: Did you know anyone on the show before?

Xanthi: A lot of us didn’t know each other. I would say it was 50-50.

Collider: How uncomfortable were you during some of the games, like on the kissing challenge

Micha: That was the worst experience of my entire life.

Collider: Xanthi, you covered your mouth…..

Xanthi: I think the most uncomfortable part was the kissing challenge for me. Like I said, I’m very traditional when it comes to dating and being intimate is very spiritual for me. So, if I don’t have that connection for you in my mind and my heart, it is very hard for me to get physical with you and in real life as well. I wouldn’t go around kissing seven guys at once or five guys at once, so I just wasn’t really willing to do it just for the cameras. I wanted to stick to myself and if my match was going to accept that – great, if not, he wasn’t accepting me.

Collider: Tolu, you looked very comfortable, actually.

Tolu: I looked comfortable?”

Collider: Tolu, You are a good actress.

Tolu: Yeah that’s what I’m saying. I said, you know what, you can’t let them see you sweat. So I was already out of my comfort zone, already out of my element being on a dating show, and then they’re like: Surprise! Kiss everyone. And mind you, for four years I only kissed one guy.

Micha: They had a sexy song [on the headphones] and I had the “cucaracha” playing on mine, my guy didn’t have any service, so it was either that or rain noise.

Collider: Did you watch the first season?

Tolu: It was so funny, I watched the first season when I was packing up and go to ‘The Trust’. I was watching when the season came up and was like: Oh my gosh this is so cool, and not even knowing…..”

Xanthi: “You were watching?

Tolu: Yes. It was good. It was cool, they’re having literally all the fan favorites come on the show and like dating each other. I was like, Oh my God, I know her, and know him, I know them…

Jess: See, I had no idea that’s how they pick people up like that. I’m like, why am I even here? My show wasn’t out.

Xanthi: They picked a very colorful and diverse cast.

Tolu: Very flavorful. I thought we had brought the sauce to the season. We brought the flavor honey.

Xanthi: We brought the full menu.

Collider: Are you going to go on another dating show?

All: No.

Xanthi: After Perfect Match, no more dating shows.

Tolu: Give me a show that lets you win a large sum of money like the trust, that I will do again.

Collider: I want to hear from the rest of you. What kind of show would you like to be on?

Jessica: Something indoors. I would never do anything….I mean, for me it was more like Survivor. I’m just not an outdoorsy girl. That was not my journey.

Micha: I don’t know, I might get off the screen.

Jessica: We are retiring Micha I Hope you guys enjoyed her, she’s not coming back.

Xanthi: Dating is tough and depending on your experience, really I think you declare whether you want to do it again honestly sometimes, but I’d say I would do another competition show for sure, I love the competition but finding love on TV is not for me.

Collider: How soon after you got in the house did you forget that the cameras were rolling?

Jessica: After a while, yeah.

Xanthi: After a while you forget the cameras.

Tolu: After like two days the cameras start feeling like trees.

Xanthi: Also you stop caring. At this point we are here, so catch what you can baby.

Micha: You definitely stop caring.

Perfect Match is available for streaming on Netflix.

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