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Dubai: Love Is Blind has never been short of dramatic moments, but Season 10 has managed to deliver one of its most unexpected storylines before the dating even gets properly underway.
A routine break turned medical emergency
Elissa, an ICU nurse and one of this season’s singles, found herself in hospital during the very first days of filming after making a mistake that could have cost her her eyesight.
During a break between dates in the pods, Elissa spotted what she thought were eye drops sitting on a dressing room table. Given her nursing background, she didn’t think twice about using them. “I put it in my eye, and I was like, ‘Holy crap. That is thick,'” she recalls in an interview with Netflix.
It wasn’t eye drops. It was nail glue.
Quick thinking saved her eye
Despite the shock of the moment, Elissa’s medical training kicked in immediately. “I held my eye open because if you shut it, and you got glue, you’re going to pull off your skin,” she explains. She also happened to be wearing a contact lens at the time, which doctors later confirmed had acted as a protective barrier between the glue and her actual eye.
On-set medics rushed to her aid, but despite her pleas to continue with her remaining dates, she was sent straight to hospital. Doctors confirmed she had a corneal abrasion and treated her with a bag of saline solution to flush the glue out. “I got the glue out, and then I saved my lashes, thankfully,” she says, clearly knowing what matters most in a crisis.
She returned to the experiment the next day sporting an eye patch, which one imagines made for quite an entrance back into the lounge.
The other contestants had no idea
During Elissa’s sudden absence, the rest of the female contestants were left completely in the dark about what had happened. “They were kind of freaked,” she says of their reaction when she returned. “They were so wonderful, though. That was the best part. Those girls rallied behind me and then on we went to the dating world.”
Far from being deterred by the whole experience, Elissa returned to the pods more determined than ever. “Did you know that eyes heal the fastest?” she says cheerfully. “By day two, it was just a little blurry and not irritating. I just couldn’t wear my contacts, so I was in the pods half blind. I mean, I was really committed to this.”
Love found and then lost
Despite her rocky start, Elissa went on to have a meaningful experience in the pods, developing strong connections with two men named Jordan and Miguel. She ultimately chose Miguel, feeling the chemistry between them was stronger.
The couple got engaged and met in person for the reveal. “Right away when we saw each other, it was chemistry, like I thought it would be,” she recalls warmly.
Unfortunately, things fell apart quickly once they returned to normal life in Ohio. Elissa says Miguel blindsided her by announcing he was moving to Tampa the very next day. On top of that, he was apparently unsettled by the fact that Elissa had a connection to his former fiancée. The relationship ended before it truly had a chance to begin, and the two have not spoken since.
“He stole this experience from me,” Elissa says. “It was really hard afterward.”
The lessons she’s taking forward
Rather than dwelling on the disappointment, Elissa is channelling her experience into some hard-earned wisdom about dating. As a 39-year-old who knows exactly what she wants, she’s not planning to waste any more time.
“Dating with intention,” she says of her biggest takeaway. “I dodged a bullet. Now, I’m going to ask the harder questions sooner and not waste my time. Like, what are your values really? Are you a narcissist? Hopefully no. Next time, I’m going to find those red flags real quick.”
A story that sums up the show perfectly
Only on Love Is Blind could a contestant end up hospitalised for a nail glue eye incident, return wearing an eye patch, get engaged in a pod, and still walk away calling it a learning experience. Elissa’s journey through Season 10 may not have ended with the love story she hoped for, but it has certainly given viewers one of the most memorable introductions in the show’s history.
Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.
