On the Netflix show, Henderson (Ng\u0101ruahine) connected with Ashley Carpenter. They dumped each other at the altar, and later, at this week\u2019s reunion special, she accused him of being \u201cfake\u201d. <\/p>\n
Hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey remarked on \u201ca lot of gaps\u201d in story timelines and a lack of vulnerability. <\/p>\n
Alex Henderson. Photo \/ Netflix<\/p>\n
Is Henderson as shady as he came across to some on TV? Or did he get a \u201cvillain\u201d edit? <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been nearly a year since filming ended. The 32-year-old has \u201cmoved on in the best of ways\u201d. <\/p>\n
Henderson is Chicago-born, Ohio-raised and M\u0101ori. His biological father is from New Zealand and not present in his life, and his mother is American. Across his arm and chest is the t\u0101 moko he received while in Auckland after reaching out to artist Gordon Toi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had wanted to get t\u0101 moko to celebrate my heritage, my journey, to reconnect with my people,\u201d Henderson says.<\/p>\n
Job titles on the show label Henderson as a soccer coach. No, wait, he\u2019s in financial sales. Actually, he\u2019s a day trader. It\u2019s all \u201cvery, very complicated\u201d, Henderson admits.<\/p>\n
To viewers still confused, he says this: his career as a professional soccer player in North Carolina ended after knee surgeries, which led him to work in finance in Denver, Colorado, and later into external mutual fund wholesaling – until Covid shut that down. <\/p>\n
He got a severance package from Columbia Threadneedle Investments – he was paid a full year\u2019s salary, plus a bonus. He travelled free with United Airlines as a benefit through his mum, who had worked there. <\/p>\n
Later, he moved to Nhulunbuy in Australia\u2019s Northern Territory and then Melbourne, made easy because of his New Zealand passport. <\/p>\n
On Love Is Blind, Henderson, who now lives in Arizona (\u201cstill nomadic\u201d), and Carpenter struggled, which led to a mutual \u201cno\u201d at their wedding. The answer was never a surprise. The delivery was.<\/p>\n
According to Henderson, the pair had a short, respectfulconversation hours before the wedding about their decision, so that no one would be blindsided and they could both get closure. <\/p>\n
It was ‘I don’t’ for Ashley Carpenter and Alex Henderson. Photo \/ Netflix <\/p>\n
At the altar though, Carpenter gave a speech Henderson wasn\u2019t expecting, and questioning his integrity.<\/p>\n
What was going through his mind? <\/p>\n
\u201cIt went straight into, \u2018okay, I disagree with what you\u2019re saying here. Where are you trying to come from? And what are you really trying to say here?\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Despite making a decision beforehand, Henderson said he went through with the filmed wedding because he was trying to \u201cgive my full self to the experiment\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn any good experiment, you can\u2019t predetermine the outcome, and in order to take those results forward as proof, I think you have to go all the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show and the production also plays a hand. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe always encourage couples not to make a decision before the wedding,\u201d Vanessa Lachey said at the reunion. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou truly don\u2019t know for certain how you feel until you are standing at the altar before all of your family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cracks appeared at the wedding in less obvious ways too. For a slick Netflix production, Henderson had noticeable bits of fluff on his face and clothes at the altar. The beard was also thicker. Commenters online pointed to a lack of effort. Then it became a meme. <\/p>\n
Was he mad at the producers for not warning him about fluff and fuzz?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Henderson says. \u201cIt\u2019s funny, some of that was protecting my future wife in a weird way.\u201d <\/p>\n
He revealed he hadn\u2019t walked his mum down the aisle (not shown on camera), and hadn\u2019t gone to the barber, shaved, or fixed his suit \u201con purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that my future wife will want a wedding that is a little bit different, that\u2019s just for her … I am going to look correct for [her], because [that] is the right woman that I want to marry.\u201d <\/p>\n
The fuzz, however, \u201cthat\u2019s an accident\u201d. He laughs.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a moment in the show when Henderson is talking about his plans over the next five years. It involved a \u201cpotential trust in Dubai and a safehouse in Queenstown, New Zealand\u201d.<\/p>\n
Alex Henderson has ambitious plans. Photo \/ Varsha Anjali<\/p>\n
So New Zealand is earning another rich doomsday prepper? <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want a billionaire bunker in New Zealand,\u201d Henderson clarifies quickly. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn America, there\u2019s a lot of stuff going on at all times, so I think it\u2019s very cool to have all the passports set up and have a place that I can go to that\u2019s free and take my family to that\u2019s seemingly safe. I like New Zealand in general, I look at [buying property] as a safehouse there,\u201c he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not a billionaire bunker that I\u2019m trying to avoid nuclear holocaust with, I promise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henderson is currently single. After going through the Love Is Blind experience and watching himself on screen, he says he\u2019s learned he should be \u201cproactive\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn future relationships … if there are issues or trigger points [about the] past and on my timeline, [I would] pull her aside and say, \u2018hey, let\u2019s go through this together and figure this out, because obviously this is an issue for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also learned a lot about what he wants in a partner – and it\u2019s not just someone with darker physical features, as was suggested on the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone thinks that it was just a physical thing with Ashley, that it was the only inhibitor. One thing she taught me to look for in my next wife or woman … is somebody that will stand by you publicly, even when you\u2019re wrong,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat being accepted, and then reciprocating, is a pretty big deal to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Varsha Anjali is a journalist in the lifestyle team at the Herald. She is based in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the Netflix show, Henderson (Ng\u0101ruahine) connected with Ashley Carpenter. They dumped each other at the altar, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[20306,8239,23541,78417,1559,31787,156,37119,37483,16798,47836,10938,16718,293,185,3112,194,2882,1094,111,139,69,80564,20930,6115,6045,1974,176926,6926,1973,1305,10811,437,3337,14638,6923,4276,102,6490],"class_list":["post-328954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-alex","tag-american","tag-blind","tag-blinds","tag-called","tag-doing","tag-entertainment","tag-explains","tag-fake","tag-fiance","tag-henderson","tag-herald","tag-him","tag-his","tag-is","tag-job","tag-kiwi","tag-love","tag-netflix","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-participant","tag-queenstown","tag-real","tag-reality","tag-record","tag-safehouse","tag-season","tag-sets","tag-show","tag-straight","tag-tv","tag-usa","tag-wants","tag-what","tag-why","tag-with","tag-wraps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}