Before Brianna “Bri” McNees (seemingly) found The One in the Love Is Blind pods, she had to choose between her respective connections with Connor Spies and Chris Fusco.
“When I was comparing Connor and Chris in the pods, let it be known that it was Connor or bust,” Bri, 34, exclusively told Us Weekly after the Wednesday, February 11, season 10 premiere. “Connor was my No. 1, and if Connor would have cut the connection off with me, I absolutely would have went home.”
While Bri now says she was set on Connor, 32, she stayed open to get to know Chris, 33.
“I think Chris is a good example of the kind of guy that I would typically date,” she told Us. “There’s a lot of attributes and characteristics of things I learned about him in the pods that I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this checks [out].’ I want someone that operates at 1000 miles an hour. He’s intense, like, he challenges himself every day. These are all things that are true to my identity.”
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Chris ultimately cut off his connection with Bri to pursue his eventual fiancée, Jessica “Jess” Barrett, allowing the senior merchant to remain focused on her romance with Connor. (Connor also broke up with his other pod date, Emma Betsinger, before she accepted a proposal from Mike Gibney.)
“What was fantastic is I actually learn[ed] this other side of myself and what I need through Connor and how Connor shows up for me in ways I never knew I needed,” Bri said, stressing that her fiancé made her feel safe and secure. “[He broke] down walls that I’ve never been able to break down by myself. That comparison is, kind of, what I’m used to and what’s new to me.”
Bri met Connor in person after accepting his proposal.
“He has a really strong grasp of who I am and what I need,” she explained. “He’s, like, my supportive man that’s standing behind me. We have great communication, and I made sure that I addressed any insecurity that Connor would have in any of those situations, to let him know that he is my man. I made a choice to continue to pursue him.”
Bri later reunited with Chris during the cast’s post-pod getaway to Mexico, stressing that she wanted to have a legit conversation with Chris versus the casual convos she left her castmates having.
“As we get into the physical world and the reality of things, I think it’s not so much I’m hyper-fixated on exploring the connection,” Bri said. “With Chris, it’s more of an acknowledgement and respect to say thank you for the connection, and I value you know, our conversation and who he is as a person.”
On the show, Bri openly lamented that many of the former pairs refused to speak about going on dates together in the pods just a few days earlier.
“We all [came] to Cabo and just pretend we’ve never met each other,” Bri quipped to Us. “I think that’s weird, like, we just went through this really intense experiment. I shared a lot of really vulnerable things that I haven’t even shared with some of my best friends, and I just want to say, like, ‘Thanks for pulling that out of me so I could show up for Connor in a different way.’”
The first six episodes of Love Is Blind are now streaming on Netflix. New episodes drop Wednesdays.
