Exclusive Interview
‘Match Me Abroad’s Monica Defends Shocking Love Triangle Switch-Up: ‘I Still Stand By That’
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Match Me Abroad Season 2 Episode 13.]
This season, Match Me Abroad viewers were met with a love triangle like they have never seen before.
During Season 2 of the TLC series, 40-year-old single mom Monica Durazo packed her bags and traveled to find love in Brazil with the help of a local matchmaker. There, she was met with not one but two local hunks, Bruno and Bernardo. While she spent most of the season exploring both connections, Monica’s matchmaker, Luiza, decided it was finally time for Monica to come face-to-face with both men, picking who she wants to be with in front of both of them.
While Monica chose Bruno in the moment, she realized during the September 14 episode that she had made the wrong choice, leading her to confront Bruno and get back together with Bernardo. Let’s just say, this led to some awkward moments for everyone involved.
Heading into the Season 2 finale, Monica sat down with Swooon to share her experience finding love abroad, explain what it actually feels like to be caught in a love triangle, and reveal for the first time why she had a change of heart. Scroll to read our full conversation with Match Me Abroad‘s Monica Durazo!
TLC
This was your first time in South America! What inspired you to travel abroad to find love?
Monica Durazo: I was really closed off to love prior to going to Brazil. I had raised my daughter, and she was doing great, and I was essentially living alone. I had my dog and my cat, and I started to get to the point where I was like, I’m just going to be alone. Anytime I had dated up here in the States, I had just been disappointed, and I second-guessed myself, and it was like I couldn’t handle being hurt. It was like, I would rather have avoided the whole situation of dating entirely to avoid getting hurt.
I started to really think about my life. I turned 40, and I wanted to find a partner. It really was interesting to me to think, I’m not unattractive, I have things to offer. I’m just not meeting the right people where I’m at, right? So those types of thoughts started to come in my mind, and I thought, well, what if I were to leave where I’m at and perhaps have better luck? And so then enters Match Me Abroad, right? The stars just aligned. I wanted to find love. I wasn’t finding it here, and I thought perhaps it would be better elsewhere. Match Me Abroad came along.
Were there any major cultural differences that you hadn’t expected between dating in America and dating in Brazil?
Monica: The men in Brazil are very passionate. They’re very affectionate. And it was what I was looking for, but it was overwhelming at times because I wasn’t used to it. I think that part caught me off guard, because in the United States, I don’t know that I was met with that amount of passion all the time immediately from the get-go. And though that is who I am, and though that was what I was looking for, it’s like, when it’s actually put in front of your face, it’s a whole different story. So it kind of got me off kilter. Here I am really passionately kissing these really awesome guys, and though I said that’s what I wanted, it was very hard to actually be in those moments.
Had you ever worked with a matchmaker before your time in Brazil?
Monica: I had never worked with a matchmaker. I actually didn’t know they truly existed. Once, my mom, when I was having trouble and difficulty dating [asked], “Why don’t you hire a matchmaker?” She had legitimately told this to me, and I just thought they don’t really exist. I just thought she was crazy.
Working with a matchmaker and having met Luiza was really helpful because it was almost like having a friend to talk through what you’re going through in your relationship, but a friend who has experience and can give you a professional opinion. Most of the time, my friends just back me up on anything. Luiza, however, was very strategic in that she would kind of redirect me if I was going down a certain path, and remind me what I’m looking for long term. That was super helpful, and she also found really good matches for me. I don’t know where I would have found them if it weren’t for her.
How did working with Luiza change your approach towards dating?
Monica: She taught me to not focus on chemistry. Because, I mean, chemistry is a very big thing for me. I like those butterflies. I don’t know a person who doesn’t like those butterflies. So she was trying to redirect that. Like, don’t focus on that, because that doesn’t last. Let’s focus on the foundational pieces: What are they looking for in life? Do they want children? How are they financially? The big building blocks of life. I think that really helped me. In fact, now we’re a little over a year past the show, and I can say a lot of what Luiza taught me, I have brought into my everyday life, and it has made a humongous difference.
Looking at your two guys, at the beginning, you were 100% set on Bernardo. What about Bruno made you choose to consider him as well?
Monica: Bruno, he’s obviously very handsome. He is mature. He’s kind. He did the whole sweep me off my feet type thing. I mean, literally, we danced in his living room, and he did the whole dip thing. Bruno is very consistent. And that’s obviously very huge for me, for anyone. I think Bernardo’s far more quiet. He doesn’t present as well, but he’s authentic, and I like that about him.
It was a challenge for me because I had this guy, Bruno, who was showing me so much affection and was doing all the right things. But then I have this other guy who’s just a little more quiet, not as polished, maybe a little more rough around the edges, needs a little bit of work, but was very authentic and humble. Those two things were very hard for me to reconcile because I like both guys, and you almost wish you could just mesh them together. But Bruno, his consistency, his kindness, his ability to want to see me, those types of things really drew me to him, for sure.
And then after meeting the two men, you found yourself in a real-life love triangle. What can you share about that experience?
Monica: Oh my gosh. I don’t wish that upon anybody. It’s very difficult. I wish people would understand, I went from not dating at all, like zero dates, [to dating two men.] My friends will attest to it. I was a third wheel on all their dates. Their boyfriends were the ones who would come hang my TVs. I was fine with being the third wheel for the rest of my life to my friends, and I just was over dating. So then I go, and I’m not only met with one great guy, Bernardo, then I met with another great guy in Bruno.
I was overwhelmed, I was stressed, and I didn’t want to hurt anybody. That was a big thing for me. I didn’t want to hurt either guy. But how do you get out of something like that without somebody getting hurt? I don’t know how to describe it, other than it was probably one of the most stressful, anxious times of my life. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined I would sit between two guys that I care for very deeply, and I would have to choose on the spot who I was going to proceed with. [Watching it back] I’m always looking towards the ground, and I remember plotting my escape, like, how do I get out of this? And that’s the type of feelings I was having because it was so stressful, but what a great growing experience for all of us. I look back at it now and I’m just like, well, I did that.
TLC
Going into that conversation, did you know you were going to choose Bruno?
Monica: I didn’t know I was gonna have to choose, first of all. I thought that maybe they were gonna be there and somehow we were gonna, I don’t know, play a game. But then, when Luiza told me that I was gonna have to choose right there, I just kind of felt bad inside. I had this sense of dread because I didn’t know who I wanted to choose. I actually just wanted to choose both of them. I just wanted more time. That was the problem. We had such a short amount of time. I really just wanted to say, can I just continue seeing the both of them, and then can we get back to this conversation later?
But that obviously that’s not the case. My time was short. I had to decide, and I didn’t know who I was going to decide until that very last minute. And I thought about who’s going to be the most consistent, who’s going to be the one that’s there, and who’s the one that’s shown me that he cares the most, and that’s when I chose Bruno.
After picking Bruno, you changed your mind and went back to Bernardo. How did you come to that decision?
Durazo: Selena Gomez says it best: the heart wants what it wants. From the beginning, I had a spark with Bernardo that was undeniable. It almost didn’t matter, like how he’s presented, or what he did, I know his heart, and his heart is a genuine, humble, honest, hard-working person, and that is what I value in someone. I’m not saying that Bruno isn’t because he is, but there is just this authenticity that Bernardo has that I could sense and I could feel and I could really appreciate. I had to think, who’s the person that I truly, truly like better? And yes, Luiza mentored me on the building blocks of life and what you want. But what is my heart telling me? And my heart was telling me it’s Bernardo, and I couldn’t deny it. I still stand by that I chose the right one.
What can you tease about what’s to come this season?
Monica: You’re gonna see a stressful moment between me and Bruno. I know what happens. I’d like to see how it’s going to be shown. But there will be some tense moments between Bruno and I, and then there’s going to be happy moments with Bernardo and I. There’s going to be some confusion for people who don’t understand, but it’s not my job to make them understand. It’s my life. I am kind of happy with the way things turned out, and to this day, we’re a year past and everybody’s well, so that’s all that matters.
Match Me Abroad, Season 2, Sundays, 10/9c, TLC
