A (brief) reality TV success story. Danielle Ruhl and Nick Thompson walked down the aisle — and exchanged vows — after meeting on season 2 of Love Is Blind.
The twosome were the first pair to get engaged after meeting in the pods on the 2022 season, but their bliss didn’t last long. During the group trip to Mexico, Danielle, who was feeling sick, was upset when Nick returned from a party with their costars. While it appeared that she was mad about how he interacted with the rest of the cast, Danielle later claimed there was inaccurate speculation about the fight online.
“The true story is that I told Nick about a traumatic experience I had in college right before I encouraged him to go to the couple’s party without me to represent us as a couple. While I was lying there sick, I started to get in my own head, and wondered whether I had shared too much too soon and I started to relieve an event that I had repressed for so long,” she wrote via Instagram in February 2022. “This caused me to have a panic attack and I went into the closet so that no one could see me in such a public environment. I also looked outside at the couple’s party. This was not because I was jealous, but because I needed support and wanted to see when Nick would be coming back.”
The marketing director noted that Nick “had no idea what happened” when he was gone.
“When he found out what happened behind the scenes, he was more than supportive and we were able to learn from it and get past it. I want to reiterate that I am fully aware that I can project my anxiety onto others and it is something I am constantly working on,” she explained. “However, being dragged down on the internet for my mental health and being ‘diagnosed’ with every disorder in the book based on an hour of footage taken from months of filming is not only damaging to myself and my family, but to anyone else who have had similar experiences.”
Danielle was candid on the show about struggling with anxiety. “I understand that I have things to work on, and I was in a great mental space before going on the show. However, the stressful environment brought me back to a place that I never expected,” she continued. “I hope that in the future everyone will get to know the real me — as a human being — and not a character on a reality TV show. I am not looking for sympathy or saying that I did not make mistakes throughout my experience. I am looking for understanding for every single person who may have demons they are facing behind closed doors, for everyone who feels misrepresented, or for anyone who is triggered by those who attack others for having feelings that others may not understand.”
Love Is Blind’s Deepti Vempati also took to Instagram to defend Danielle.
“We’ve become best friends since the show has wrapped. We bonded over our love for music, The Office, blow-up guitars, our insecurities, our anxieties and our love for others,” she wrote. “I have seen a lot of hate and negative comments and it saddens me. Mental health is an important subject and I will not pretend to know everything about it. But, one thing is for sure — when you are trying to heal and grow, having a healthy environment is necessary.”
Nick reposted the remarks, adding, “Beautiful posts from beautiful people. Let’s be kind and support one another.”
Despite the rocky trip to Mexico — and a few other hiccups — Danielle and Nick were one of the only two couples to get married on the February 2022 finale, joining Iyanna McNeely and Jarrette Jones as one of the duos to wed. That August, however, both couples called it quits.
Scroll through Nick and Danielle’s timeline:
