{"id":958590,"date":"2026-11-09T21:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T21:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/958590\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T21:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T21:06:11","slug":"rob-feeley-on-love-is-blind-season-11-reunion-and-michaella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/958590\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Feeley on ‘Love Is Blind’ Season 11 Reunion, and Michaella"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRob Feeley<\/a> is sitting in his car.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s taking the Zoom call from the driver\u2019s seat, two days before the \u201cLove Is Blind<\/a>\u201d Season 11 reunion drops on Netflix<\/a> \u2014 and almost two years following the night that turned him from fan favorite into the most talked-about man on the Boston edition of the dating series. He\u2019s screened the reunion, and the first thing he wants to do is get one piece of internet lore straight.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m the Walmart Travis Kelce,\u201d he jokes when asked if the Kansas City Chiefs tight end or Taylor Swift ever reached out about the resemblance that launched a thousand memes. \u201cI\u2019m a lot less athletic and I have a lot less money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s the kind of self-deprecating line that made Feeley, a 40-year-old AI infrastructure salesperson, easy to root for in the pods. That\u2019s where he fell for retail executive Michaella Giorgio and got engaged. But we saw something different at the reunion, as he was hunched forward on the couch with his elbows on his knees, waiting for a beating that never fully arrived. Michaella, as it turned out, saved most of her fire for beekeeper Matt Waldrip, whom she had quietly dated after filming.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat did arrive this season was a reckoning. At the cast\u2019s first get-together back in Boston, Feeley spiraled, going after Matt, dismissing the \u201cexperiment\u201d and daring viewers to cancel him. Before that, a dinner with his five closest friends left Michaella sitting through a barrage of comments from one of them, his friend Jay. After all of it, the engagement didn\u2019t survive.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his exclusive exit interview with Variety, Feeley alluded to a run of losses in the year before filming. Over the course of our conversation, he lays them out plainly: a long-term relationship ended, he lost his job, two of his best friends died and his father was in hospice.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m a human being just like all of us,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of my worst moments was caught on Netflix.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFeeley also speaks about why he almost skipped the reunion, his 78-year-old mother who nearly flew across the country to sit in the audience and whether he\u2019d ever do a dating show again.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tYou were a fan favorite early in the season, and then you became the most discussed person on the show, all within a single episode. What was it like when you opened your phone after that episode aired?<\/p>\n

\n\tMan, I couldn\u2019t even really watch it. This has been hanging over my head for a year and eight months. It was one of the toughest moments I\u2019ve had, probably as a person. I watched it before it came out because I had to go film the reunion, but when it aired, I still had to perform at work and everything else. All the text messages, all the hate online. I\u2019ve never really been through that. I got the internet chirps early on, when they first called me \u201cmama\u2019s boy\u201d and \u201cAI this.\u201d But I knew this was going to be a different level. It was a hard time, to be completely honest. It still is.<\/p>\n

\n\tA lot of people were taken by the way you spoke about your mother and your father. I lost my dad in the last couple of years, too, so that connected with me. Looking back, was it too soon to put yourself in that kind of vulnerable position?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m a person who bottles things in, and it wasn\u2019t just my father. It\u2019s not an excuse. I didn\u2019t know they were going to post my exit interview, and I wasn\u2019t trying to excuse my behavior by blaming it on losses. But subconsciously, I probably wasn\u2019t in the right mental space.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sequence was kind of crazy. My long-term relationship broke up. I left the house. At the same time, I lost my job. Then my best friend passed away. Then my other best friend passed away. And then my father was in hospice. I\u2019m trying to keep my head on straight, and I threw my name in the hat for \u201cLove Is Blind.\u201d I\u2019d never watched the show in my life, to be completely frank. I just wanted to find love.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think all of those things poured onto me without me even knowing it. You tell yourself, \u201cI\u2019ll be OK. Keep moving. You\u2019re a man. Keep moving. This is a good opportunity.\u201d But I didn\u2019t know what the whole thing entailed. No phones, sequestered, all of that. With my anxiety, it was a pressure cooker. There were nights in the hotel room by yourself where I\u2019d talk to my dad.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the top of the reunion, you said you weren\u2019t even going to come. How close were you to being a no-show?<\/p>\n

\n\tOut of respect for Michaella, I owed it to her to come and talk. She and I have talked since the show, but I felt like I couldn\u2019t just leave her on an island. Whatever she had to say about how I behaved publicly, she deserved an explanation publicly. That was a big part of it.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut who wants to go in front of America and be a punching bag? I was ready for it, though. Be a man in the night, be a man in the morning. Michaella deserved for me to go to the reunion.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou mentioned going away for 50 days after everything came out. Was that a program, or did you seclude yourself?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt wasn\u2019t a program. I was depressed. You can ask my friends. I was full of anxiety. I didn\u2019t go into my basement and seclude myself for 50 days. I just worked out, stayed away from a lot of things, didn\u2019t go out, didn\u2019t drink at all, ate right. And I sought counseling. A psychiatrist. I was like, \u201cAll right, I got to get this shit right.\u201d I might have showed up to one place in those 50 days. I was very on my grind, focused on getting myself right mentally, because that was a very, very tough experience for me.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou seemed grateful at the reunion that you\u2019d made that change by going to therapy. I think it\u2019s important for men to see men like you giving it the seal of approval. Are you still working at it?<\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely. I just met with my psychiatrist last night. The one thing I\u2019d tell people is, it\u2019s not a two-day thing or a three-day thing. You can\u2019t give up after two or three months. You have to continuously go.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve suffered from severe anxiety my whole life. When I was very young, my mom put me in counseling and the lady would be like, \u201cTake your temperature and put it this way\u201d and I felt like I could outsmart her. I had very bad separation anxiety with my mom and my little brother. My psychologist told me anxiety is just another word for fear. You fear the unknown. And that was a lot of what happened on \u201cLove Is Blind.\u201d If you\u2019re going to go to therapy, don\u2019t just go three times and knock it. It takes a long time to really get the treatment.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was surprised I didn\u2019t see your mom at the reunion.<\/p>\n

\n\tFunny story. She\u2019s 78. I bought a house this year and put my mom in the \u201cin-law\u201d apartment because her landlord was steamrolling her and raising her rent. So I still joke that I live with my mom. I have no ego.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe was supposed to come to L.A. with my brother. I go downstairs to her apartment, and she\u2019s got her clothes laid out on the bed, so cute and stressing out, like a kid going on vacation. She just wanted to support me. And I said, \u201cMa, if you\u2019re doing this because you think I need you there, I appreciate it, but I can\u2019t put you on a flight across the country to have anxiety.\u201d And I\u2019m happy I didn\u2019t, because that taping was six hours. It would have been overwhelming for her. It wasn\u2019t fair to my mother. God works in mysterious ways. My best friend came in her place with my brother.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think your mom might go down as one of the favorite parents in \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d history.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe one thing is authenticity. She\u2019s an authentic person.<\/p>\n

\n\tLet\u2019s go back to \u201cthe dinner\u201d with Michaella and your friends. What was it like watching that episode, and what were the conversations with your boys afterward?<\/p>\n

\n\tI wanted to bring five of my close friends because they\u2019re super important to me. People asked why I didn\u2019t bring women. I just wanted her to meet my close nucleus of friends. I didn\u2019t know my one friend [Jay] was going to behave that way. I didn\u2019t know he\u2019d been drinking beforehand.<\/p>\n

\n\tRewatching it was a complete embarrassment. I was ashamed. My friend is completely embarrassed. There\u2019s no part of him that thinks that\u2019s funny. In the moment, I didn\u2019t know how severe it was. When I rewatched it, I was like, \u201cWhat the fuck, jeez Louise.\u201d Michaella didn\u2019t deserve to sit there and listen to any of that BS. These are men of integrity. I know these guys are good people. If I could change it, I\u2019d change it 100 out of 100 times.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe and I had a serious, serious conversation. I can assure you he feels 10 times worse than I do. He\u2019s still not back to himself. It\u2019s affected us, it\u2019s affected families. It\u2019s not indicative of who we are. The one person I care about in that whole thing who had to listen to that BS is Michaella. I\u2019ve apologized to her, and I continue to.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd no excuses for Jay at all. But it might come out later, so I\u2019ll say it. He\u2019s also been battling stage three lung cancer. It was during that time, too. He\u2019s in remission now, but I don\u2019t know where his head was in that moment and it\u2019s not excusable at all. I just know that right now he\u2019s not in a good place. There\u2019s no one more embarrassed than him and me about that scene. And obviously Michaella. It was tough to watch.<\/p>\n

\n\tMichaella said at the reunion that some of it came from your paranoia. You said it was the cameras. Do you feel like she will go down as \u201cthe one that got away?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt would have been great to meet in a different environment. I didn\u2019t behave correctly under the pressure of it. I love who Michaella is. She\u2019s an incredible human being. I think the world of her \u2026 still do. I told her I\u2019m here for you whenever you need me, and I mean that.<\/p>\n

\n\tI told her, \u201cYou deserve better than me. There\u2019s going to be someone who can do everything you want, and I apologize that it couldn\u2019t be me.\u201d Behind the pods, it was incredible. Then it got to the real world, and I thought, \u201cHoly shit, this might happen.\u201d And I folded. She didn\u2019t deserve that. That\u2019s the reality.<\/p>\n

\n\tI need to ask about \u201cBeekeeper,\u201d aka Matt. Michaella came for his throat the entire reunion but was very soft with you. What\u2019s the story there?<\/p>\n

\n\tPost-show, a lot of the guys hung out. I learned that Michaella and Matt were seeing each other, maybe seven or eight months after the show. To be completely honest, it stung a little bit. No pun intended. (Laughs)<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re doing dad jokes now. Cam\u2019s going to lose his brand.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt stung naturally. But Michaella is a grown woman who can date whoever she wants, even if it\u2019s someone from the cast. It\u2019s not her duty to go date someone who\u2019s not. My initial reaction was, \u201cI hope they\u2019re happy.\u201d I didn\u2019t know when they broke up. I wasn\u2019t going to DM Michaella or poke Matt. It\u2019s not my business.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen apparently shit went south. I think a lot of us were shocked. I didn\u2019t know the Harry Potter stuff, the chicken cutlets. He was doubling down. He came off complimentary at first, and then I don\u2019t know where it was going. I was just as surprised as you. That was an electric reunion, I\u2019ll tell you that.<\/p>\n

\n\tJohn and Sarah were the season\u2019s only married couple. What was your reaction to how their story played out in the end?<\/p>\n

\n\tListen, there\u2019s no room for infidelity in life. You pick your person. I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s on a TV show. You can\u2019t behave that way. The bed you made, you got to lay in it.<\/p>\n

\n\tI try to mind my business as much as I can. Some of us knew about the text messages, the explicit things. The other things in their relationship, I frankly don\u2019t know anything about. But you can\u2019t text an escort or a stripper, whatever it was. He lost Sarah, so he paid the ultimate price. You don\u2019t like to see anybody go through that hurt, and clearly Sarah was hurt. Families were involved, and it was getting ugly.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen John\u2019s dad got involved. <\/p>\n

\n\tI think Maury is a fierce protector of friends and family. He dated Sarah in the pods, and I think he was protective of her. The father is protective of his son. It just unfolded in a crazy way. Everyone\u2019s emotional, reactionary. My brother and my best friend were sitting right next to John\u2019s dad, so they were in the thick of it. We were all kind of shell-shocked.<\/p>\n

\n\tMichaella\u2019s fall at the reunion looked mortifying, but she took it like a champ. Is that just her personality?<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen we first met, she had these chattering teeth, like the yellow wind-up kind, because she likes to laugh. She\u2019s self-deprecating like me. She takes things in stride. Life\u2019s not that serious. If anything, it makes her relatable. She took a nice fall and she got up like, \u201cOkay, then.\u201d Michaella is very lighthearted, and that\u2019s part of the reason I fell in love in the pods.<\/p>\n

\n\tI read body language. You\u2019re a big presence; you take up space, but on that couch, you looked like you were in a cocoon, bracing for impact. Am I reading that right?<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst off, the chairs are super uncomfortable. I didn\u2019t want to lean back and look like I was eating potato chips. My posture sucks to begin with. I\u2019m trying not to bump into Blake on my left, trying to put the pillow under me. The easiest thing was to put my elbows on my knees.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut yeah, I took it very seriously. I hurt somebody. It wasn\u2019t a joke to me. I wasn\u2019t coming in loose and busting chops. These are people\u2019s lives. It\u2019s Michaella\u2019s life. I didn\u2019t know what to expect. But try sitting where they had me for six hours.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhere do you hope you and Michaella end up after this? Friends?<\/p>\n

\n\tI want her to live the best life ever and keep being a shining star. I think this will catapult her to doing great things. I\u2019d like to be friends and be cordial. We gave each other a big hug after the reunion. I don\u2019t know if they caught that. I texted her that night, like, \u201cHow did you take things? I know it was intense.\u201d We did have something great. It was just in a really weird environment for me, and I wasn\u2019t mentally prepared to be the person Michaella needed in that moment.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you dating anyone? And would you do another dating show like \u201cPerfect Match?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI might get kicked off before I even touch foot on the show. [Laughs] I\u2019ve definitely learned a few things. But right now, I am seeing someone. So probably not. It\u2019s not in my cards at the moment.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo that\u2019s a no to \u201cPerfect Match\u201d until further notice.<\/p>\n

\n\tUntil further notice, that\u2019s a no, my friend.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnything I didn\u2019t ask that you want to say?<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst and foremost, I want to apologize to Michaella and not just Michaella. Anybody who was offended, anybody whose experience I ruined that night, I want to vehemently apologize. I\u2019m a firm believer in growth. I\u2019m a human being just like all of us, and one of my worst moments was caught on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\n\tI have an enormous friend group of great people in my community. I coach Pop Warner. I\u2019ve worked hard to build my character and be there for people. I don\u2019t want to let one bad moment define the person that I am. I hope some folks can give me grace. I don\u2019t need people to feel bad for me, but I need people to understand that was one blip. I\u2019m not blaming producers. It was my own behavior. I wish I could turn things back, and that\u2019s not indicative of the man that I am.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d Season 11 reunion is now streaming on Netflix. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rob Feeley is sitting in his car. He\u2019s taking the Zoom call from the driver\u2019s seat, two days…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,122671,435,525878,427],"class_list":["post-958590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-love-is-blind","tag-netflix","tag-rob-feeley","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}