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Bartise Bowden is spilling secrets about his time on Perfect Match.
The Netflix reality star says he can no longer watch reality TV now that he knows what goes on behind the scenes. He also says that cast members on shows like Perfect Match are there to build their brand, not find love, and that he was stunned when one couple from his season actually got engaged.
‘Perfect Match’ alum says drama is ‘played up’ for the cameras
Bartise didn’t quite know what he was getting into when he agreed to appear in the first season of the dating competition series Perfect Match.
“I was flying in blind,” he recently said in an exclusive interview with Casino.org, noting that he filmed the show before his season of Love Is Blind was released. He says he was told it was a competition show, not a dating show. So, when he arrived in the villa and learned it was all about making romantic connections, Bartise was stunned.
“I get down there and we’re filming like a love show. I had just gotten done filming Love is Blind, so I didn’t want any relationship; I didn’t want anything,” he said. (Bartise infamously rejected Nancy Rodriguez at the altar in the show’s third season.) “I just wanted to go down there and party. That’s essentially what I did, which got me into a lot of trouble.”
While Bartise might not have been prepared for Perfect Match, that didn’t stop him from having a great time. He said that despite the drama people see on screen, most of the cast members got along fine.
“The most fun part of these shows is what happens off camera, because everybody’s having a good time. We’re working, we’re making money, we’re having fun, we’re in Panama,” he said. “All the drama is played up when the cameras are rolling, but when the cameras aren’t, it’s great. It’s a complete 180.”
Bartise Bowden finds reality TV ‘triggering’
Bartise candidly confessed that he and the rest of the Perfect Match Season 1 cast saw the show as a job.
“Oh, every single person on that cast, including myself [was thirsty for clout],” he said. “I don’t have any problem admitting that.”
“We were all down there for a business purpose,” he added. “Look at the relationships after the show! People got engaged on the show, which I thought was dumb as f***. I wanted to call all this s*** out, but I had just gotten blasted by everybody on the show and had no credibility to call everyone out.” (Joey Sasso and Kariselle Snow got engaged during the Perfect Match Season 1 finale, but later broke up.)
Though he has multiple stints on reality TV under his belt, Bartise says bingeing the latest season of Perfect Match isn’t on his to-do list. He says knowing how producers are “stirring stuff” behind the scenes makes watching any reality show “triggering.”
Despite those feelings, he’s not complaining about his villain edit.
“It’s better to be a villain and remembered than it is to be liked,” he said. “That’s why I’m the one that gets more opportunities from these shows.”
Nor is he upset about his role as one of the most-hated Netflix reality show alums.
“Like I said, I was doing my job, and my job was to entertain — and [people] seemed entertained, whether that was good or bad,” he said. “They cared enough to go online and say what they thought about me.”
Perfect Match Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
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