Exclusive Interview
‘Sneaky Links’: Colt Fason Confirms Kelsey Tomlin Split & His Status With Angelique
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark Season 1.]
If Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark star Colt Fason taught us one thing, it’s that no love triangle is complete without TWO plates of tacos.
While the 32-year-old model and sales consultant entered the Sneaky Links motel as Avery Wadbrook’s sneaky link, Colt quickly found himself caught between his feelings for his early connection, Angelique Wilcox, and Kelsey Tomlin, one of the season’s bombshell additions. While both relationships saw multiple ups and downs, Colt ended up committing to Kelsey, and the duo left the show as a couple.
A year after Season 1 of Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark was filmed, we sat down with breakout star Colt Fason to discuss everything that went down after the cameras stopped rolling and his relationship status with both Angelique and Kelsey.
While fans were hopeful that Colt and Kelsey would make it as a couple, Colt told Swooon that they are “unfortunately” no longer together. He shared that going from spending whole days together for weeks to getting back to the real world was “ultimately what kind of drew [them] apart.” He stated that the transition from being at the Sneaky Links motel to entering the real world “was just some extra pressure and stress and anxiety” that played a part in their separation, which occurred less than a month after filming wrapped.
Even though Colt and Kelsey are no longer in a relationship, he shared that they are on good terms, and occasionally run into each other as they both live in Nashville. He explained, “We’re kind of intertwined with different friend groups, so we’ve seen each other a handful of times after [breaking up].” According to Colt, when they do see each other, they’re sure to catch up before heading back to their friends.
Netflix
Now that Fason can finally share what went down behind the scenes on the show, he told Swooon that he is most excited to “give some clarity to fans, and maybe even to some of the cast members.” During their time filming, the cast of the show had been in “this little reality world” where they spent day after day together from 8 a.m. to 1 or 2 p.m. However, as soon as filming for a reality TV show ends, Colt said, “Everybody kind of disperses and goes back to the normal world.” A year removed from production, he shared that “there are definitely a lot of questions about the show that people are maybe confused about or just want more clarity.” Now that the waiting is over, he is looking forward to sharing some much-needed context about his life that he hopes will help his fellow motel guests and viewers of the show understand his onscreen decisions.
“I mentioned a couple of times [on the show] I’ve been married before. I’ve been in some serious relationships, and I got married at 21. From there, I was married for, like, six and a half years, so I didn’t really have a moment in my life where I was a 21-year-old running around having fun and trying to figure some stuff out.” He continued, “Now I’m getting back into the dating world, it’s totally different.” He shared that his past commitment shaped his dating life today, causing him to build “some different habits of enjoying some attention from multiple people.” These habits made it hard to choose between his relationship with Kelsey and his recently established relationship with Angelique.
As he put it, “You’ve got two beautiful girls that love you, and it’s like, ‘Why can’t you make a decision, Colt? You’ve got two girls, and some guys have zero.'” However, he assured Swooon that the feelings he had for both women were very real. “They’re pretty, they’re also very smart and intellectual. They have a lot of things that they want to provide to me, just as much as I want to provide to them. So as hard as [the decision between the two women] looked on the show, it was real.” Looking back at a moment with Wilcox where fans were able to see him get choked up by his emotions, he said: “Those are some real tears, some real feelings, because I’m just so torn.”
Colt also wanted to assure fans that while it may look like it on TV, he wasn’t “just doing whatever he wants.” He confirmed, “There were some real moments in there of trying to figure out [which relationship to choose] in such a short time.” While he has no regrets about his time on the show, watching it back “was definitely eye-opening.”
One eye-opening moment was certainly his infamous taco incident in Episode 5, in which the guys were challenged with creating a meal for one of the ladies, and he chose to present his dish to both Kelsey and Angelique. Looking back at that moment, he shared, “At that point, me and Kelsey had already kissed and then apologized to Angelique,” causing him to devote more effort to his relationship with Kelsey.
What we didn’t see on the show was that he initially decided to only cook for one person. He remembered thinking, “I’m gonna just cook for Angelique. I feel like, in my gut, it’s just the right thing to do.” However, he made the “last-minute decision” to “show the world” that he was still in the middle of figuring out who he wanted to be with. He put this decision in perspective, saying, “Sometimes, on the show, it looks like it’s been weeks that we’ve been dating or talking to each other. But it’s only been a couple of days. So you’re trying to figure out your stuff quickly. And for me, I like to try to figure things out a little bit slower.”
For that reason, in the heat of the moment, he chose not to decide. He recalled thinking, “I guess I’ll cook for two girls and see how this goes. I’ll cook for Angelique first; she’ll love it. And then show some love to Kelsey [to say], ‘Hey, I’m still in crossroads, but I want to show you some love with this.'” However, as viewers witnessed, while he was trying to do right by both women, his taco experiment didn’t work out the way he had expected.
Everett Collection
“I promise you, that was the most nerve-wracking thing I had to do while being on the show,” Colt said. “As confident as I am, thinking I can play it cool. I was in my shell, keeping my head down for the most part. Even in these cuts of the show, I’m talking, but my head is down, so I’m not even looking at other people.” For that reason, he didn’t know until he watched the show that the rest of the cast members were confused by his decision. He added, “I should have just stuck to cooking for Angelique. But it is what it is.”
While his tacos almost went to solely Angelique, he told Swooon that the main reason he chose Kelsey over Angelique in the end was that he didn’t want to do long-distance. He shared, “Kelsey’s here in Nashville, Tennessee. Location doesn’t always have to play that part, but I’ve already done long-distance in my life. I was in Europe playing professional basketball for eight to nine months in a season, while my girlfriend was back here in the States.” While long-distance with Angelique would have only been from California to Tennessee, he confirmed that location was definitely a big reason his heart swung the other way.
Now that Colt and Kelsey are no longer together, Colt shared that he is in contact with Angelique. “We followed each other on everything. And so we swipe up on stories and things like that,” he revealed. The reality star also confessed that he had spoken on the phone a couple of times with Angelique after the show so they could both get some clarity on how their relationship ended. However, even though they “kept staying flirty and kind of staying in contact” after filming, he confirmed that they are currently “nothing too serious.” While he has had a few short flings since the show, he is currently single.
Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark, Season 1, Netflix, Now Streaming
