The Wellness Co. interview Love Is Blind’s Natasha Waters

The first season of Netflix’s Love Is Blind was watched by 30 million households and at the time became the number one trending show on the streaming platform. Looking up to her parents who have been together for over 40 years, Natasha Waters entered the show. The Careers Coordinator from Cheshire left without getting engaged, however she showcased her strong mentality after an incredible weight loss journey.

With the latest series of Love Is Blind airing in October, The Wellness Co. caught up with Natasha to discuss her wellbeing, health and fitness routines, the secrets behind her incredible five-stone weight loss, a backstage pass to the show, how wellbeing was prioritised and being vulnerable on national television and why the TV following has been difficult for her to navigate.

 

Wellbeing

What are your current fitness goals?

So right now, I'm basically just focusing on building strength and toning up and generally just feeling my best. I do love seeing progress and I've been working towards getting a four pack but I’m not quite there yet.

I've been working for a while, but for me it's not really about the physical side anymore. Obviously, I'm proud of the five stone weight loss journey that I've had, but exercise for me now is more about my mind really. I just feel so relaxed when I go to the gym and have a quick sprint after I finished off a long day in work, so it’s more about enjoying it. But, the four pack is still a goal.

 

What is the drive behind the four pack?

I don't know. I've never wanted a six pack. I don't know why I've wanted it for years, and I've been trying - I've been sprinting. But I think I need to shift something up in my exercising. I've been doing some more pull up weights, but hopefully I’ll get there eventually.

How do you prioritise mental wellbeing and what are your quick win activities?

I meditate in the morning, even if it's just for five minutes when I wake up, I'll have an app on my phone, so sometimes I'll quickly get up and just do a bit of meditation.

I actually started off my weight loss journey in Slimming World, but after I kind of stopped going to the weight check in. The weight just slowly piled back on anyway, so it didn't really work for me, but it did change my mind-set in terms of making healthier switches. So instead of grabbing a bag of sweets, I'll have a packet of melon or pineapple. 

 

Did you make a conscious decision to not fully pursue an influencer career?

I basically share like I did even before I went on Love Is Blind. If I'm completely honest I literally would post once a month. I'm not great on social media and keeping tabs on it.

But I am trying my best to engage as frequently as I can with the people who I have connected with and who have reached out to me since the show, because the support I've had has been so lovely and it's meant so much. I just want my socials to stay authentic and not be a rolling content wheel, I guess.

I have had a lot of people who have been inspired and asked about my weight loss story. Sharing that is something I want to do, so I can hopefully help other people with it too.

I’ve actually been talking to a couple of my friends, and I've been thinking of doing a YouTube podcast type of thing with some of my sporting fitness friends, so maybe that’s on the horizon soon.

There's also so many messages. When it was first on (Love Is Blind), it was just madness because I'd literally go to sleep and literally wake up with 500 new followers in the morning.  What do you do with all those new messages and requests? I didn’t know how to control all that, it was overwhelming.

What do you think being an influencer does to your wellbeing and mental health? What are the main pressures faced in that world?

All these people have wanted to follow you and want to see your life and your story. You do feel like you need to kind of give something back. And then in terms of that, that's like your own social media for the platform that people are following on you on. But yeah, there’s a constant need to look at it.

And you know, whatever you're going to post, it might get some kind of random judgement from someone you’ve never met too. I've had people commenting on my pictures from years ago when I wasn’t even on Love Is Blind. Someone commented because I had a glass of wine in three pictures and they're asking, “are you okay?,” “Are you always drinking?,” which is silly because it’s taken completely out of context, but it’s surreal how crazy people paint a picture of you that quickly with assumptions.

The online world isn’t the real world, you just have to stay grounded and not take it too seriously. Someone said I sound like I’m from the film Chicken Run and I just found that funny!

 

What advice would you give to an aspiring influencer when it comes to taking care of their mental health?

Just remember that literally nobody can take care of your mental health except you. If being on social media too much is causing stress, take a step back. Remember why you're doing it and set limits - don't be afraid to sign out and switch off.

Your mental health obviously comes first, but sometimes you forget that when different opportunities pop up. When I was on Love Is Blind, a lot of podcasts and different people reached out for interviews and content, which was amazing, but it soon gets overwhelming.

There was an American podcast that asked me for a chat and at first I said yes, because initially you say yes to absolutely everything without thinking about it. But then I got overwhelmed because they said it would be live. Netflix did sign it off - They ran the questions past the Netflix production team to see if there’s any content that can’t be asked or if I could do the interview etc. Some are just there for a gossip attack, so Netflix would try to protect us from that kind of thing.  But the live element gave me such bad anxiety that I had to cancel that one for my own wellbeing.

I was very sorry to let them down but I had to put myself first. It's important to not say yes to everything and just basically take time if you can't do it. If you feel like it's going to affect your mental health and your anxiety levels, take yourself away from it, you don't have to do it. You don't owe anyone anything and thankfully they were really lovely when I sent the message.

How did you handle being in the spotlight and what effect does being on TV have on a person?

One minute I’m just sat at home working and then the next it feels like everyone's got an opinion of you. But it just made me realise how important it is to have my support system with my friends and family, and to stay true to myself. I've been lucky to have a lot of love and support from people all over the world which has been amazing to be honest. It’s helped build my confidence, but at first it is scary and overwhelming.

 

How has your fitness journey affected your mental well-being?

It's completely changed my wellbeing to be honest. So working out for me is like my therapy now. It’s the time when I'm just focused on me – I’ll finish work, go to the gym, put my headphones in and sprint, and in that moment literally nothing else matters and I’m completely in the zone.

It makes me feel strong and clears my mind. My fitness journey has been more about my mind than my body, so it’s had a huge impact, it’s completely changed the way I think.

Do you use any alternative wellbeing, exercise or recovery methods?

I've done some meditation and tried breath work, yoga. I do a lot of journaling as well. I find it so therapeutic to just jot my thoughts down at the end of a day. I’m always up for new things though, if anyone suggests anything I’ll give it a go.

What go-to gym or fitness activities would you recommend for those looking to improve their mental wellbeing?

My friend suggested I try Pilates and yoga, so I do classes with her and I find that really relaxing and that also helps as well with running and sprinting. It improves my recovery, especially Pilates in terms of stretching out my body because sometimes I forget to do it. On top of that, weekly walks with friends and family – just getting out in the fresh air makes a huge difference.

You've spoken very openly about your weight loss and your fitness journey, can you share some tips on how to do it in a healthy and sustainable way?

I like to slowly increase the intensity, so I wouldn't go from zero to 100 in no time at all. So every time I'd workout or sprint, I'd kind of set mini goals. So, can I do this a little bit faster this time? I'd increase the speed on a treadmill by a tiny amount or go up a slightly steeper hill, variation keeps things interesting over a long period of time.

I’ve pretty much tried every kind of class, it’s important to experiment and find what you like doing the most, so it never feels like a chore. There’s different ways that you can tweak your intensity levels, so you can get basically get what you need out of it. And for me as well, it wasn’t just about appearance and what I wanted to look like, it was about my personal development and what I wanted to feel like – finding those inner goals can really help with the drive.

Like I'm learning to like love myself and accept myself at every stage, so just be proud, even if it feels like a small achievement, just be proud of every step that you take because some days I just did not want to turn up to the gym, so even making it there felt huge!

How did you deal with the setbacks, so as in maybe one week you went on the scales for example, and it wasn't the target that you had in mind or it took longer to achieve your goals than you expected, how do you move forward from that?

I'll never really beat myself up because for me it was kind of like, “at least I'm going, at least I'm showing up. I obviously had a goal figure of the weight that I wanted, but some days you don't feel like getting up and doing it and that's okay too!  You don't have too, just don't beat yourself up and make yourself feel bad, because that negative thinking doesn’t help anything.

 

Love Is Blind

How do the producers offer support for contestants in such an intense show?

They were actually really good throughout. There's always someone on set to talk to and as standard, we had welfare checks every day. We had them first thing in the morning before we started filming and last thing before bed and that was the daily routine. It was very similar questions that we were asked and it's also an opportunity for us to say anything that's bothered us that day or that we're worried about.

For instance, you could have had an intense day and you didn’t want to sleep with that weight, so you’re encouraged to share it. You’re not allowed to miss those well-being checks either, they force you to have them and will check on any of the medication you’ve had, that you’re eating correctly etc.

And on set as well, we have specialised therapists, so it's not just like the welfare production team, we have people that are specialised to talk about those kind of traumatic things because I mean, you think you're going to find your husband in like two weeks. You're asking the most intense questions because you're trying to get to the bottom of it and want to learn about the other person as quickly as possible.

You do have to be vulnerable and you do have to be open, so it's obviously very important that we had those specialised people that we can speak to, and we were lucky that we did and I'm still really close to a lot of the production team now. I have all of their numbers in my phone, so if I do need anyone, they’re there.

What was the filming schedule like? Did you get much time off camera?

Yeah, it it's packed, there's a lot of filming. Like it's early mornings, late nights. Sometimes they kind of give us a schedule in the morning, so you kind of know when you're going to be wrapping up, but sometimes obviously it does run over.

There was downtime and we could rest. We had a break where they gave us a time to go out for fresh air, have some food and chill outside together. So there is a balance but it is a very intense whirlwind.

In my own like personal life. I'm quite reserved anyway, so I do like my own time, like sitting in and doing coding and stuff. So for me being in that experience with 14 other women was intense and not something that I'm used to. It's not the norm living with them all the time. So when we did have any kind of downtime I just tried to chill.

I’d keep a little journal and I'd have my headphones in, I was quite tragic really. I had a Love Is Blind playlist while I was there, I’d transport myself with music and me and the girls would play games, eat food together etc, but they don’t really tend to show those bits on TV as it’s quite boring just watching people eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Do you still keep in contact with anyone from the show?

Yeah, loads of them to be honest. It’s such an intense experience that the girls do have a really special bond, that no one else is going to ever really understand. I mean some of the guys as well to be honest, because at first you date all 15 men, so you obviously make friends. It's not always necessarily a romantic connection. You build those friends because you speak to them a lot, sometimes for hours.

I’m close to a lot of them, I was out with Demi just two weeks ago, we went to London for a party and a friends’ boxing match which was great.

 

How do you feel now about your time on the show?

I mean, obviously when you see the show, you think, “oh, is she okay?”
But now I've got really fond memories of it, and there’s nobody on there that I have any issues with or vice versa. I'm quite lucky. I would, I'd go back, it was a fun experience.

It is intense, it's a lot and you put literally everything on the line for the world to see, because if you're meeting your husband, you want them to know exactly who you are and everything about you. But then you kind of forget that there's cameras everywhere and the world's going to be seeing it too. They're going to see you cry, they're going to see you slip up.

Sometimes you just do something and it's like, why did I do that? Like the bit when I'm at a mixer and I’ve put my lipstick on awkwardly– you start to get very self-conscious about even the smallest things.

I don't know if I’d do a dating show again but going back and doing the reunion with the cast, I’d definitely do that again because I love them all to bits. It was nice to actually film that, to be honest, because I was so nervous at the time before filming the reunion because I hadn’t seen some of them in a year. I hadn’t spoken to them because it was just such a weird experience that I needed to take myself away to decompartmentalise everything, so when you do go back it’s so nice to close the chapter together.

Did you have much time to prioritise well-being during the show at all? Or was it like pretty much you'd finished filming?

It's mostly a whirlwind to be honest. We’d be on set for filming, but we had our own hotel rooms, which was really nice for sleeping. So obviously you do get to kind of take yourself and you have that time where you can be on your own.

I'd be in my hotel room and I'd be doing burpees just to do something.  I also journal a lot and they gave us our own journals to write in so you can keep notes,  and remind yourself what you spoke about and remember the interesting conversations.

They also gave us separate notebooks that we could use in the hotel room where I would just jot everything down and think about what happened in the day and put it pen to paper and then close it off and you're ready for a new start for the next day. I mean, that's something I do anyway, so that was something that I needed to do as well while I was there. It was a complete whirlwind but I tried to fit in whatever wellbeing and self-care activities I could.

If you could relive it, what would you do differently?

I don't really know whether I would to be honest, I was completely true to who I am in the process and my emotions at the time. I listened to my heart really and that's all you can do in that process and experience.

I will say, while you're in that environment though, it's so easy to just overthink and I know I did that a lot. I was thinking about everything far too much. So if I did do it again, I'd probably be like more conscious to let that go and just enjoy the moment even more, because it is a really fun once in a lifetime experience. I think I did get quite heavy on the fact that I was thinking, “that could be my husband” and actually just enjoy the moment, stop overthinking and taking it too seriously.

How conscious were you that there was a camera on your most of the time and you’re constantly being filmed?

It’s weird actually, they set up the pods in a way that makes you completely forget that you’re being filmed. The cameras are all hidden and concealed, so once you get deeper into conversations you can actually forget that you’re being filmed. Almost like the window-mirrors you see on police interviews and crime shows, you can’t see any of the cameras and it’s not like there are people there filming and directing. It allowed you to really embrace the experiment and gives you the best opportunity to be your real self, without the worry of how you look on the screen.

You can’t hear anything either, just the voice as it’s completely soundproofed. It means you open up and feel sale, and can be vulnerable. There’s a point where I’m crying in the mirror, I didn’t even know there were cameras there – so they capture the dramatic, “real” stuff. I was very much in the experience, the first day is weird, after that you get used to everything and are completely unaware that it’s a TV show.

The conversations are completely natural as well, I know some reality TV show can look staged but apart from a few prompts that could help us with conversations it’s pretty much a really authentic flow, which is why you saw me cry so much because it is real.

 

What was your toughest moment in the show?

So obviously you saw the moments where I am really vulnerable. It was hard going through that at the time. But watching those emotions back was scariest part because you kind of relive it and know everyone else will be watching too. It’s a strange thing seeing yourself open up like that on national TV, that was definitely one of the more challenging parts.

It was filmed a while before airing obviously, so once you’ve processed the show you then kind of relive something and have to watch it back. People did reach out with so much support though which also helped – getting friend-zoned on worldwide TV was a tough moment!

What was your personal highlight?

The connections I've made, and obviously the personal growth that I've experienced as well along the way, I've come out of it with friendships that I know I'll have for the rest of my life. Plus, a much stronger sense of who I am as well, and what I deserve from a romantic relationship. It's been really rewarding to be honest, to hear stories from people who have watched my story and been able to resonate with it and they've shared their own stories of self-worth and self-love. So that for me, has been a massive personal highlight. To inspire other people is a really nice thing.

Was it more cathartic or embarrassing opening up that way on TV?

Both to be honest. It’s weirdly cathartic, there’s something strangely therapeutic about being real and millions of people watching it.

It’s scary, but it's actually also freeing as well. I remember the first advert going live and I’m crying on it, and I instantly felt absolutely terrified. There was also an article and the main picture was me crying with my veins popping out of my head, waiting for everyone to watch it was scary but like I said, I had more support than anything as it resonated with people. Falling for someone but the feeling not being reciprocated can be common, so there’s definitely something cathartic in that.

I was really worried about looking like an idiot, but actually it just made me think that you should be true to who you are and your feelings – there’s no shame in doing that.

What advice would you give anyone that's going on to Love is Blind?

Just be unapologetically yourself and don’t try to be what you think people want to see. I mean, obviously I went in there and it didn't really work out for me in that respect. But I wouldn't change any way that I've done it, to go in and be me, that's all I could be and all I knew how to be.

Trust the process because it can be so surreal. But if you let go and you do open up, there is a possibility to find something amazing, I've seen it happen with people in my series and in past series and they're still together and they're very happy.

I'd go in exactly the same way as I would with the same hope, because it can work. But yeah, just be yourself. Don't try and play up to the cameras because you will get found out. It becomes very apparent, be genuine and don’t overthink.

What advice did Matt and Emma Willis give you?

I didn't get to see much of them. I met them briefly basically during the pod dating stage. They came in on one of our first nights when I was with over 14 women in the lounge and kind of gave us a pep talk. They are both genuinely really down to earth and lovely, very normal people!

I remember the first time I walked in and everyone was there, I was so nervous and overwhelmed because I’m just a normal girl from Cheshire and some of these women look like supermodels. I was thinking “what am I doing?,” “why am I here?” and I remember Matt came over and actually asked me about the weight loss journey, he was very supportive and I felt comfortable quickly.

To be able to open up about it then was great, I shared the story with the production team because it was a massive part of why I wanted to go on – I didn’t want to be judged on my physical attributes, more on who I was. That was the appeal for me and one of the main reasons I signed up.

So when he asked me it did feel like a supportive moment and then the girls asked me about the journey and said I should be proud of it. Matt and Emma were just really lovely, they were rooting for everyone and genuinely wanted love stories to unfold, they backed the process.