Warning: spoilers for Love Is Blind season 8, episodes 1—9, ahead.
If you’re reading this, you’ve learned the outcome of that Love Is Blind cliffhanger between Taylor Haag and Daniel Hastings. No, Daniel had not followed and unfollowed Taylor on Instagram prior to the show—at least, not according to the follower app the registered nurse checked during the opening scene of episode seven.
Taylor’s suspicions weren’t outside of the realm of possibility. After all, the pair had a lot in common and the registered nurse was able to confirm they had mutual followers.
“In that moment, he looked so familiar,” Taylor tells Glamour. “I can still account for our mutual followers—I know for a fact that I have seen Daniel’s profile at one point in time, whether it was my on Explore page or whatever it may be.”
Read moreTaylor Haag Explains That Dramatic Love Is Blind Cliff-Hanger
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No matter how Taylor came to her initial conclusion, the pair was able to put the misunderstanding behind them.
“To be clear, after that conversation that was on camera, I never went back to continue searching,” Taylor says.
But while she and Daniel got past that particular debacle a year ago, she feels it is still important to set some things straight. “I don’t want his character to be compromised or questioned because of insecurities that I was bringing from past experiences into this relationship,” she explains.
Below, Taylor talks more about the Instagram drama, her and Daniel’s journey, and how social media affected the experiment for everyone in season eight.
Glamour: Your head was clearly in a lot of different places throughout the first six episodes. I know you were concerned about your father, who was ill. I hope he’s doing well.
Taylor Haag: He is. Thank you.
Given all you were going through, do you think there was there any part of you that was looking for a reason to go home after the reveal?
I wouldn’t say there was a reason to go home because of my dad’s illness, but certainly I was afraid of it being too good to be true. Again, the connection that Daniel and I built in the pods was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. And I was like, Could this be real? There’s no way!
So, the jaded part of me as an almost 33-year-old woman with a lot of heartbreak in my past was like, There’s just no way that this is real. So I think coming into it a bit guarded and jaded from past relationships definitely played into it.
In episode six, you recalled an image of Daniel sitting cross-legged in front of a Christmas tree with a drink in his hand. It’s crazy how closely the photo you described matched one of his actual Instagram photos, even though he was right about the differences.
I was kind of spiraling…I was voicing these concerns, and then I got a bit of confirmation from someone who had their phone who was almost clarifying what I was saying. So, I came to that conclusion very easily, but [without my] own devices and resources.
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To be clear: did you check to see who had followed and unfollowed you?
I was only looking at “have unfollowed” at that time.
Okay, so was he one of your followers?
He was not. And also, to be clear, after that conversation that was on camera, I never went back to continue searching. We were under a bit of a microscope in that conversation, and there was not a time limit put on it. But I felt like, “Okay, I’m not, like, getting what I need, and this is also not being productive for our relationship.” So after the fact, I never went back to continue looking or searching for what I thought I knew.
Was there any part of you that was still wary of going to Honduras?
At that point, I had asked for my family to be reached out to because, again, my dad was in the midst of his treatment, so I wanted to make sure that everything was good on the home front before I went even further away. So, once Daniel and I cleared that space and we were good with each other, there was no question of our relationship.
Social media always plays a big part in Love Is Blind, with exes and people coming out of the woodwork after the show starts to air, but that outside influence played a big part of your season while you were still filming. We’ve got David’s friends talking about Lauren and some guy she was allegedly seeing before the show. There was allegedly a TikTok video made about Ben. What was it like watching that play out in real time?
First, the Dave and Lauren situation was heartbreaking from my side of things, with Lauren being one of my best friends. She was telling Dave, “This is not someone to worry about. This is not what he’s claiming it was.” And that is the truth, and I know it’s the truth, and I know the truth will come out. But I think, obviously, all of us were operating on very limited information and a lot of outside opinions. And so Dave was really taking the weight of other opinions heavier than he was taking Lauren’s at the time, which is unfortunate. But Lauren stayed true to herself and stuck to her story. And I think that’s really important.
As for the Ben and Sara situation, it was shocking. I remember just being dumbfounded when the TikToks and Love Island people started speaking on it, and people we had no idea were even aware of our situation. Yeah, it definitely altered the situation, not only in their relationship, but for all of us as well, while filming.
You said you and Daniel had “mutuals.” Do you mean you had mutual friends?
We did.
It’s not unexpected that you might have similar circles. But after the initial drama, we didn’t hear anything about you two, like we did with those other couples. What were you hearing at the time about Daniel?
Absolutely nothing. Which was music to my ears. There was so much chaos going around with us, and we were both trying to be a helping, listening ear to other couples [about their] situations. I have not heard a bad word about Daniel and I think that’s why, to this day, I’m still defending his character about knowing what I looked like.
I think the world of him. I have not heard a bad word about Daniel and that’s, I think, what made that second batch of episodes so effortless for us.
Back to Dave. I loved that moment where you shut down his complaints about Lauren’s sleeping habits in Honduras. You said, “Do you snore? Maybe you keep her up. I’m going to ground you a little bit. She’s the best. Be nice to her.” Can you tell me what was going through your mind?
When Dave and I dated in the pods, there was a bit of arrogance that came off to me. And knowing Lauren as well as I did, I wanted to make sure that the man wasn’t just placing the blame on the woman.
I wanted him to recognize that maybe he wasn’t completely innocent in the situation. Like, maybe it has something to do with you. So I was just trying to play devil’s advocate and keep her considered in the conversation when she wasn’t there to give any input or defend herself.
Were you surprised your mom said yes when Daniel asked for permission to marry you?
I was not surprised because I continuously told my parents, “You just have to meet Daniel. Just, please meet him, and you will understand. You will get it. You will see that our love is real and tangible.”
I knew once they got eyeballs on him and they were able to have a conversation with him across the table, that they would love him and accept him, and that’s what happened.
I really resonated with you telling your parents that choosing to get engaged without their input made you more confident in your decision.
The whole pod experience, we didn’t have our devices, we weren’t able to talk to our people. It was a very empowering experience, where it was like trusting yourself and knowing that what you’re feeling is real and valid, and acting on that.
Can you talk more about your feelings about divorce? You both kept saying it’s not an option.
Faith is just a really large part of our story, even though I don’t think it was really portrayed in the pod scenario. We both have a very heavy stance on divorce because of our faith background.
My parents have been married for 50 years. They were high school sweethearts. My grandparents were married for 70 plus years. It’s just a very large part of where I come from and our stances on marriage as a vow. So, it’s something that I only wanted to do once, and there was a lot of weight in that conversation.
With that in mind, what pushed your hand to join a show about marriage with such a short timeframe?
Being 32 at the time and having the dating experience and the life experience that I had, I knew what I wanted. And I knew what were hard stops for me, and what were green flags, and what I wanted in a potential partner, and what I needed in a relationship.
Again, because of the heartbreaks and the relationships that haven’t worked out in the past, I was just so confident that I’m ready to be a wife. I’m ready. I know what I want, I know what I deserve, and I know what I want in another partner. So that’s what gave me a peace of mind going through the experiment.
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We see Virginia and Devin have a brief prenup discussion and it comes up again in the teaser for the next episodes. Did you have that conversation?
They did film a girl’s night between Virginia and I, and she was bringing up the prenup and I was sitting there thinking, “Oh my gosh, that hasn’t even crossed my mind. Like, am I missing something here?”
So obviously, that conversation sparked that in my brain. But before and after that conversation, it was never a thought of like, “That’s something I know I need to do before I feel comfortable getting married.”
Whether or not you make it to the altar, did you and Daniel talk about it?
I think I brought it up to him, like, “Virginia was talking about a prenup, and I did not think about that for us.” And I think it was mutual like, “Oh, I hadn’t thought about that either.” So no, we didn’t take it any further than that.
Based on these three episodes, you two seem well on your way to the altar. Without giving too much away, what can we expect to see from you two moving forward?
I think you can expect to see a lot of excitement, a lot of joy, and just a lot of intentionality. I don’t even know if that’s a word, but we were very intentional about every day, every hour. We literally said we are taking this hour by hour, and took that very seriously throughout the entire experiment.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Love Is Blind episodes 10—12 drop on February 28.
The post Taylor Haag of Love is Blind Answers Lingering Questions About Her Instagram Drama With Daniel Hastings appeared first on Glamour.
