Love Is Blind star Nancy Rodriguez has responded to the scene of Andrew Liu using eye drops to “fake cry” after she rejected his proposal.
The third season of Love Is Blind officially returned to Netflix on Wednesday 19 October with the release of the first four episodes. At the beginning of the series, viewers were introduced to 30 single folks in the pods and five newly engaged couples.
In the pods, Andrew Liu – a 30-year-old wildlife photographer – made a connection with 32-year-old Nancy Rodriguez. But by the end of episode four, Rodriguez revealed that she has formed a stronger bond with fellow cast member, Bartise Bowden, and rejected Liu’s marriage proposal.
After being dumped by Rodriguez, Liu was asked by producers how he was feeling during his confessional. It was then that Liu asked producers if the cameras were rolling, and poured eye drops into his eyes to appear as if he was crying.
“It didn’t feel good to be completely honest,” he said. “I guess I feel satisfied that I went for it. Yeah, man. It hurts.”
He then filled his eyes with drops once again, this time with tears streaming down his face, and said, “I never thought I could care for someone that would bring me to tears.”
Now, Nancy Rodriguez has responded to the infamous moment. Speaking to Newsweek, the speech pathologist explained how the eye drops scene didn’t catch her by surprise because Andrew gave her “a lot of deception” in the pods and his persona was too “cool, calm and collected.”
“So, I called it out, you know,” she said. “I must have superpowers in the pod to be able to tell that something was off. When I saw that scene, it just really confirmed and validated that I made the right choice to say ‘no’ to someone who wasn’t in this experiment and this experience for the real reasons.”
Rodriguez went on to accept a proposal from Bartise Bowden in the pods. Although the 27-year-old senior analyst initially hit it off with Raven Ross, Bowden and Rodriguez ultimately decided they were better suited for one another, and became engaged. It’s currently unclear how their relationship will progress, after Bowden admitted to finding Ross attractive. Plus, a preview for the upcoming episodes showed Liu and Rodriguez meeting in-person.
Rodriguez isn’t the only Love Is Blind cast member to react to Liu’s “cringeworthy” eye drops scene. In a recent interview with Bustle, Love Is Blind hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey poked fun at the moment. “Oh, he wasn’t doing fake tears. He was taking care of his dry eyes,” Vanessa said jokingly. Nick added that it was “pretty muggy while they were filming” and production told him that Liu’s “personal humidifier” broke, causing his eye issues.
Liu’s eye drops scene also sparked a flurry of viral memes and social media reactions from fans online. Many viewers questioned whether Liu’s tears were real, while others were shocked that Love Is Blind producers decided to leave the eye drops moment in the final cut.
“one of the #LoveIsBlind producers had it out for andrew and made sure the clip of him fake crying made it into the final cut,” said one user on Twitter.
“It’s so petty that the producers included the footage of Andrew putting eye drops so he could look sad. I’m so here for it!!!” another person wrote.
The next three episodes of Love Is Blind season three premieres on Netflix on Wednesday 26 October.