Exclusive Interview
‘Sneaky Links’ Host Chloe Veitch Talks Messy Colt Love Triangle, Shocking Final Couples & More
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark Season 1.]
Hey, Netflix reality fans, you up?
On May 21, Netflix dropped its newest reality dating show, Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark. A cross between Love Island and Too Hot to Handle, the show features “six sexy singles [who] check into a motel in pursuit of true love, only to be reunited with their long-term booty calls.” During their stay, the contestants have to decide if they want to deepen their connection with their “sneaky link” or if they want to pursue a relationship with someone else.
Swooon recently caught up with Chloe Veitch, the Netflix reality TV veteran (Too Hot to Handle, The Circle, and Perfect Match) who makes her hosting debut on the show, to discuss her role in the new Netflix show and to learn more about her mystery man ahead of the Sneaky Links premiere. Now that all 10 episodes of Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark are available to stream on Netflix, we’re back with Veitch to break down all of the motel drama, final couples, and the shocking finale of the show.
Netflix
We’d love to start by talking about original sneaky links, Samira and Manny, who have been on-again/off-again since high school. Why was it important to include a pairing with that much history on the show?
Chloe Veitch: I think it’s so important for the shock factor of that couple pairing to be shown to millions on Netflix. Truly, because it’s not uncommon. You watch it and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I have spent and wasted 10 years of my life with this guy who’s not interested in me. Where are my boundaries? And then you start to realize, okay, maybe we need to have that conversation, that closure.”
What you start to realize is that, for Samira and Manny, all they needed to have was that one conversation for it to be done, and then they both moved on. Whereas, we are too scared of commitment and confrontation to have those conversations, so we’re just dragging people along in our lives. It’s like that famous saying. This show is literally tied to the quote, “If I’m not married by 30, I’m going to marry my guy best friend.” It’s almost like that is the premise of the show, like just keeping them there, just enough, just so [you] don’t feel lonely.
Netflix
Throughout the show, we saw a major love triangle between Colt, Angelique, and Kelsey. In Episode 5, you challenged the guys to pick one woman to cook for, but Colt shocked everyone by cooking tacos for both of his connections. Can you walk us through that moment?
Veitch: First of all, [his original connection] Angelique was allergic to avocado, so that was a little bit of an oopsie. He probably should have known that information. But I do genuinely think that, as an audience member, it’s important for people to understand that even though a guy is giving you some sort of attention, it doesn’t mean you have to allow it to happen. Colt probably did really like Kelsey and Angelique. But it’s the indecisiveness that’s the problem, and I think that is what’s relatable. [Given the nature of the show], every scene is going to be a relatable scene, whether you relate it to a friend, a family member, or a boyfriend.
And I think in Colt’s case, he is a nice guy. But as a woman, you need to decide, am I going to put up with this sh*t, or am I not going to put up with it? So I think the whole scene of him handing two women two different dishes, I would have chucked the plate at him if I were Kelsey or Angelique.
At the end of the season, the final couples were Manny and Avery, Travis and Zoe, Brandon and Jacie, and Colt and Kelsey. Each individual had the chance to decide if they wanted to check out as a couple or check out alone. Who were you most shocked to see show up in the lobby to leave with their partner?
Veitch: To be honest with you, I know that the guys had to go to the lobby to wait for some of the women to come, but I thought Brandon was just going to up and leave and go out the side door, even though he didn’t really have an option but to stand in the lobby.
Were you surprised that his connection, Jacie, was the only one who decided she didn’t want to check out as a couple?
Veitch: I wasn’t surprised one bit. That girl says everything with her full chest. She reminds me of me a little bit, in my younger days, where I would just do whatever I wanted to do.
Netflix
Speaking of surprises, were you surprised that none of the originally partnered Sneaky Links made it to the end together?
Veitch: Yeah, I was really surprised, to be honest with you. But you know what? I think I assumed that some of the sneaky linkers were going to be in their original pairing, or at least one couple towards the end. But this is such a powerful message: You’ve got how many people in a motel with their sneaky links that they’re supposed to have feelings for, and none of them made it out alive. They were partnered with other people, and they wanted something else. For people watching the show, it’s almost like: “Wake up! Your sneaky link is not the one!” That is the premise of the show, like [your sneaky link] is in the way of you finding the one. That was an eye opener for me personally, even though I was the host, because I’ve been [a contestant] on previous shows before. I learned a lot from the experience, even though I wasn’t in a couple or had my sneaky link on the show.
It’s been about a year since the season was filmed. Are you still in contact with any of the Sneaky Linkers?
Veitch: Yeah. I speak to a few of them, to be honest with you. It’s weird because obviously now I’m the host. I don’t want to blur lines, and I don’t want it to be an HR problem, or Netflix coming at me like, “Chloe! Stop following the boys!”
Is there any tea you can spill about how Travis and Zoe, Manny and Avery, and Colt and Kelsey’s relationships fared outside of the motel?
Veitch: I know that [Netflix is sharing] where they are now a week after [the premiere]. I can say that you’re genuinely not going to see this curveball coming. It’s great news, but it’s news that you probably didn’t imagine happening, if that makes sense. There’s definitely something that’s going to shock everyone. Even I was like, “Oh my God. Really?!”
Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark, Season 1, Netflix, Now Streaming
