The Cast Of Perfect Match Season 2 Talk Loyalty, Friendship, and That Harry Jowsey Drama
Perfect Match brings our favorite Netflix reality stars together to see if they can find love in a tropical paradise. They form relationships, participate in challenges, break up couples, and send them on new dates all in hopes of winning… a trip. Hosted by Nick Lachey, the second season brings together former cast members from shows like Too Hot To Handle, Love Is Blind, The Circle, The Trust, and Dated and Related. While this season seemed to have more contestants who genuinely wanted to find love, there was a lot of drama too. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado spoke to members of the cast to talk loyalty, that alleged kiss, and find out who’s still together.
From money to love, trust is very important — and The Trust star Tolú Ekundare learned that first hand as she developed a friendship with Date and Related’s Chris Hahn that led to something more. “My favorite trope when it comes to love is the friends to lovers. That's why I am loving this season of Bridgerton,” Ekundare laughed. “All of my relationships in the past have always started off as friendships. Then, as we know each other more and as I grow more vulnerable, it develops into those romantic relationships, which I feel makes it stronger. As a friend, you accept me wholly for me, and as we progress to lovers like, ‘Okay, now you can get a little bit more.’”
While it was her ideal start to a relationship, it unfortunately didn’t last in the long run. “I felt like I was really privileged to have a friendship that turned into a more romantic relationship,’ Ekundare said. “I was hoping it would lead to something long lasting and real. You know, life lifes, but I really did enjoy like that motif.”
Luckily, through all the dating ups and downs, the girls had each other to rely on in the house. “One of the quickest connections all the girls made in the house were with each other. We all were just like, ‘This is going to be tough and we need our girl chat at the end of the day,’” shared The Circle’s Xanthi Perdikomatis. “That's pretty normal when you're dating in the real world too. You're not going to put your trust into everyone at first when you're dating, but one thing you definitely do when you're dating is rely on your girls to have chitchat or get some advice.”
Perdikomatis continued: “The girls just really leaned on each other when we needed to. Dating's tough. You need that support. We're all really lucky and most of us are girl’s girls so it worked out really well.”
While Perfect Match features a variety of Netflix reality personalities, some have bigger reputations than others. Harry Jowsey catapulted into fame thanks to Too Hot To Handle, growing his social platforms, launching businesses, and even appearing on Dancing With The Stars. “Harry's big enough where he's a name brand at this point. He's dated anybody under the sun that you could possibly name,” shared Stevan Ditter about his experience on Perfect Match versus Jowsey’s even though they both came into the show with “player” reputations. “I keep a lot of my relationships a bit more low key, so I think I just kind of snuck under the radar with that. Going against him, you're the nice guy no matter what.”
Despite rumors she had heard about him from her housemates, Jess Vestal and Jowsey matched together each week and were very focused on each other. That is until Melinda Berry came into the house. Originally a contestant on Too Hot To Handle, she went on to host Dated and Related. While the men and women in the house were separated for the day to hang out with former contestants who left the house, Berry alleged that Jowsey kissed her and claimed that people were making things up about him because of “who he is.” “Everyone's preconceived ideas and their perspective of him was definitely more than valid. I was never naive to it. I had the same common knowledge everyone else had, but, when he and I had a serious conversation about us dating, I was just like, ‘Hey, I'm going to give you this fair chance that you're asking for and take what you're telling me at face value,’” Vestal told me. “To your point, I had just come off of Love is Blind. It hadn't even aired yet so I'm very novice in this space whereas he is like a very seasoned vet. He was like, ‘Focus on me and don't pay attention to the chaos around us’ and that's what I did. I think I was probably the only one who was surprised at our outcome because I had instilled so much trust in him.”
We eventually learn that people have reputations for a reason, as it is confirmed in the finale that Jowsey was lying and he did indeed kiss Berry. Although, at the time of this interview, Vestal still hadn’t seen the receipts. “There's certain things that happened that I will find out and see the truth at the same time the rest of the world does,” she told me, “so will report back.”
Jowsey wasn’t the only Perfect Match contestant to have his loyalty tested. While Micah Lussier and Kaz Bishop started off as a strong couple in the house, the later half of the season has him constantly being paired with other matches. Instead of shutting them down, Bishop showed interested in these other women, which caused a lot of drama between the two. “The loyalty was definitely tested. One hundred perfect. You know what, I tried to just be true to myself and just enjoy the whole experience for what it is,” said Dated and Related’s Bishop. “Just enjoy the moment and if it did work out and it is going to go somewhere then we'll know.”
“I definitely tend to try to see the best in people. I don't think that's a bad thing. I think that it's something that will actually lead me in a positive direction once I find the right person,” said Lussier. “Unfortunately he just wasn't.”
Bishop and Lussier might not have worked out, but there was another Love Is Blind contestant who had interest in her. Izzy Zapata also started out in the house at the beginning of the season, but came on a bit too strong for Lussier (“I love the blondes, what can I say?) and ultimately didn’t last long. But he got another chance at one of the final match ups to get back in the house with Lussier. Unfortuntely for him, it was in the friendzone. “I learned very quick starting Perfect Match ain't no Love Is Blind, so I went in with my heart at the beginning and looked like a fool. Me and Micah ended up just matching as friends. She brought me back into the house and, at that point, we changed the game plan. [I] tried to come in with a fuck boy vibe this time around,” Zapata said. “We definitely did build a strong friendship. […] She would help me out [with] which girls I should probably go for and stuff like that.”
Through all the ups and downs in the house, only one couple seemed to be a lock to win Perfect Match: Stevan Ditter and Alara Taneri. While they didn’t win in the end, they did find a strong connection. “I think a lot of it is personality. Obviously anybody on any Netflix reality show is going to be beautiful,” said Ditter. “But, when it comes down to personality at the end of the day, you really want somebody that you're just going to be able to have a good time with. Relax, be yourself. As that continued to go on and I got to know Alara more, it just seemed like that's what I was able to be with her and herself with I.”
Who is the ultimate match? And did anyone end up together? Watch Perfect Match season 2 streaming on Netflix to find out.
