Nick Dorka talks Love is Blind Season 7, relationship with Hannah and the reunion

We followed the singles of Washington D.C. in season 7 of the popular Netflix reality series Love is Blind. One of the contestants on the show was a former football player and real estate agent, Nick Dorka. While the experiment didn't lead to wedding bells, Dorka didn't see the entire journey as waste. I had the pleasure of chatting with Dorka about his time on the show, Hannah, the reunion, and more.

In the pods, Nick and Hannah were destined to become one with their funny back-and-forth banter, which charmed us all. However, after the couple met and headed to paradise, things quickly got weird after the "International Duck Incident." It almost seemed as if this jump-started what would be a whirlwind of a roller coaster for these two, leading to the breakup.

I enjoyed my chat with Nick as he was vulnerable about the process and didn't leave any questions off the table. We talked about the pods, how he adapted to that, his relationship with Hannah, and the reunion that quickly went awry. You can listen to the full interview here and read the excerpts below.

Ricky Valero: What about Hannah made you feel like she was the one?

Nick Dorka: It was a couple of things, the energy. Every time I walked into the pods, I knew it was her. As soon as she said something, I was hooked. And that's the point of the pods finding someone to match your energy, and it was always fun. Towards the end, we started to peel back the layers and get more serious.

RV: Who were some of your other connections in the pods?

Dorka: It was Hannah, Katie, Marissa, and Taylor. I talked to Taylor until the last day, and Marissa and Katie said the same thing. Everyone other than Hannah said you were my dark horse, and they had someone that they were comfortable with, but something about him (Nick) intrigued them. Those were the four matches that I made in the pods.

RV: We had the "International Duck Incident," did it shock you that it turned out as aggressive as it did?

Dorka: Yeah, it was a harmless situation. Something funny is that that night, all the couples got together, and we had a party, and the guys were coming up to me like, Nick, what did you do earlier? I'm like, dude, I don't think I did anything. I'm like trying to remember. They said, man, you gotta be more mature and hold yourself. Like you're here for Hannah. And I'm thinking to myself, what did I do? Like I didn't do anything bad. And so the situation came across on TV, exactly how it happened.

That was like the first kind of pause for me, you know that I couldn't be myself. And then someone was judging me for being myself, right? Because you don't want anyone to change you or switch you up. And I'm a fun guy, right? I'm gonna ride the damn duck.

RV: At the reunion, do you think the results would have been different if you had ripped the bandaid off and said you said those things and moved on? 

Dorka: No, because I didn't say some of those things. I did say some of them. I never called her a grenade. I told Ramses off-camera when we were just talking man-to-man, totally removed from filming, that I was underwhelmed with Hannah's looks. But everyone was every single one of the guys, and the women were. And so I know things about everyone else that they've told me. Do you want me to air out your dirty laundry? No.

It shows a lot about people's character and how they perform under pressure. They can talk about those things and throw my name under the bus, but my people are Garrett, Taylor, Tyler, Ashley, and Tim. Those are the opinions I cared about. I didn't talk to Steven once in Mexico, so, you know, it's kind of things like that where you could say what you want but shows a lot about people's character at that moment being put in that situation and seeing how they act because I'm totally different. I guess that's why I only talked to a couple of people, and I keep my circle small.

Love is Blind Seasons 1-7 are streaming on Netflix.