Exclusive Interview
‘Love Is Blind’ Season 9: Madison Breaks Down ‘Scary’ Confrontation With Joe in Baja
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers from Love Is Blind Season 9 Episodes 1-6.]
After living through one of the most shocking moments in Love Is Blind romantic getaway history, Season 9 breakout star Madison Maidenberg sat down with Swooon to discuss what brought her to the show, her relationship with Joe Ferrucci, and that post-pool party dispute.
During Season 9 of Love Is Blind, which premiered on October 1, Madison stepped into the pods, letting fans know that she had a personal connection to the dating experiment. As she put it during Episode 1, “I have a blinding eye condition, and there’s a good chance that I’m gonna go blind.” Shocking hosts Nick Lachey and Vanessa Lachey, as well as all of the ladies in her Pod Squad, Madison shared that she decided to embark on this experiment because of her prognosis. She admitted, “This experiment is so much more to me because it simulates what my life could look like when I actually do lose my vision.”
Along the way, she met Joe Ferrucci, whom she described as “consistent” throughout their time in the pods, proving to have more of a “mellow” side than the rest of the guys. While their connection in the pods proved to be her strongest, and the two got engaged sight unseen, their relationship took a turn during the engaged couple’s romantic getaway to Baja.
Below, you can find our full conversation with Madison Maidenberg, breaking down her personal connection to the experiment, what drew her to Joe in the pods, and, yes, everything that went down both on and off camera after that messy pool party.
Courtesy of Netflix
I’d love to start by asking how you crossed paths with Love Is Blind? Were you a fan of the show before you joined the cast?
Madison Maidenberg: Yeah, I actually did watch it before. I was a fan, and I always thought it’d be incredible for me to do. I actually had a couple of friends get messages on Instagram [from Love Is Blind casting]. My Instagram was very locked down. I was very private, so there was no getting to me, but they got messages, and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, I would never do this.” And I was like, “Well, I would!”
I actually messaged the girl who had messaged them and was like, “Hey, like, I don’t know if I’m the kind of person you would want, but I would love to talk to you and see about this opportunity.”
At the beginning of the experiment, you revealed that you have a blinding eye condition. Can you explain a bit more about your condition?
Madison: I have something called retinitis pigmentosa. It’s a blinding eye disease. It is the recessive form, so nobody in my family actually has it. I kind of hit the genetic lottery, if you will.
When I was thinking about going into the experiment, I was like, “Wow, this is truly my opportunity to see if somebody can connect with me, to see if I feel lit up without seeing them,” because there is a very real chance that I could lose my vision. My prognosis isn’t determined, as it is with many people with retinitis pigmentosa. Everybody’s RP is so different, but it is considered a blinding eye disease, and it is degenerative. So going into the experiment, it was just so exciting because it gave me the opportunity to see what life could be like without seeing my partner and interacting with them without vision.
Do you have any updates on how you’re doing since filming?
Madison: I’m pretty stable right now, which is good. I haven’t noticed a ton of change. It’s more at night is kind of when the condition kicks in. But as of right now, it seems to be semi-stabilized. And according to my scans, there hasn’t been any major deterioration.
How has having retinitis pigmentosa changed what you’re looking for in a partner?
Madison: When I was first diagnosed at 21, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know anybody with my condition, I was just dating as 20-somethings do. And then, as it progressed, and as I got involved with the community, I started realizing I really need somebody who can be extremely understanding, somebody who is very grounded. I don’t want to think of needing a caretaker because so many people in the blind community are very independent, but I do need somebody who is a little bit more patient and a little bit more helpful.
When I’m navigating, even like concerts or dark restaurants, a lot of times I need somebody to kind of hold my hand and guide me, which is something that I needed in a partner, right? And a lot of times, patience, empathy, those things go hand-in-hand. It changed what I was looking for in a partner because I typically go for somebody that’s like me: very energetic, very bubbly, life of the party. And I started realizing I actually needed a little bit more contrast with my condition.
Did you see any of those qualities in Joe? What drew you towards him in the pods?
Madison: Initially, in the pods, Joe is so consistent. It’s interesting, actually. He was my number five on day one. He was not my number one because I was looking for, initially, kind of that more outgoing, in-your-face, really exciting, kind of person. And Joe was a little bit more even keel and mellow.
In the pods, when I was doing my interviews, I remember my producer asking me, “Who are you talking to?” And I’m talking about all these other people. I really liked Blake, I really liked Logan. And then I was like, “Oh, wait, Joe!” And it was like a light bulb moment, like, “Wow, maybe this is the person that I’ve been looking for.”
When did Joe become your number one?
Madison: I guess Joe became my number one, maybe like day three or four? It was a little bit more of a slow burn for me with him, but I slowly started seeing that we had a lot of things in common and things that I was really looking forward to exploring in the real world.
Courtesy of Netflix
When you finally met Joe face-to-face, was he how you had pictured him?
Madison: I really didn’t have a picture in my mind. Based on some things that he had told me, I was almost expecting, like a shorter, bigger Italian cowboy. That’s kind of what I guess I had in my mind. I was expecting to have the same energy from the pods transfer to in-person, especially at such a big moment during the reveal. His energy was very sporadic.
The person in the pods, for me, was so consistent, and fun, and grounding, and just had this calm energy, which is what I was really looking for. And the person in front of me after the reveal was like a deer in headlights. He was kind of all over the place. He told me he had split his pants before coming into the reveal. He actually forgot to get down on one knee, which, honestly, I forgot, too. I think we were both kind of all over the place. It’s a very intense moment, but I felt like I was carrying that energy of trying to have the same connection we had in the pods.
After you met, Joe stated that it took him “a little bit to put that emotional feeling towards someone he’d never met before.” Did you have that same experience?
Madison: I did not. I was able to carry the same emotion into real life with the physical body in front of me. I was able to put them together, and I did not personally experience that.
Jumping forward to your time in Baja at the pool party, Joe’s vibe seemed to shift a little around the other guys. What was your experience at the pool party?
Madison: It was interesting because it’s the first time that us girls are seeing the other guys, and the guys are seeing us girls. We’re all having a good time partying. What I experienced was Joe broing out, Joe having bromances. That’s just kind of who he is and seems to be his main focus. I think that we were all drinking, and Joe got pretty drunk, and he said that he had to go back to the hotel.
I don’t know what the energy was with him around the guys. I can’t speak to that as much as what I personally saw. But I just saw partying and getting together, and I guess I was a little bit disappointed that he didn’t show up for me a little bit more in that scenario. It’s our first time as a couple together in a group setting. I guess I anticipated feeling a little bit more connected than I did.
Courtesy of Netflix
When you came back from the pool party, things took a bit of a scary turn when Joe was incoherent and seemingly didn’t remember what had happened. Can you walk me through what was going through your mind when you found him in that state?
Madison: He had been gone for quite a while after he had left. And so, we were planning to film that night, and the filming was still going on. And so I came in, and he was still napping, and I figured he was gonna nap it off. We would have dinner, talk about how good it was to meet the other couples. And when I go to wake him up, I mean, I was just like, “What is going on? Like, how did you get so inebriated?” It was definitely kind of a scary moment. I genuinely was like, “Do I need to get you electrolytes?” I’m kind of looking around at the crew, like, “Do we need to do something here?” It was very confusing. I didn’t understand who this person was and what was going on with him. I felt really disappointed. I felt like, this is how you’re choosing to have this experience and have today end up?
It was really frustrating for me because after you see us get into this argument and me crying, I’m exhausted, I get into my pajamas, I’m getting in bed, and as soon as Joe thought that the cameras were off, he pops up and he’s like, “Where’s dinner? Did they bring dinner yet?” And that’s when I had just had it. I’m like, suddenly you can talk? Now you’ll get out of bed? Now you’re okay? It was very, very strange, which was on par with my experience with Joe on and off camera. And at that point, I was like, I can’t even sleep next to you. So I asked him to get his own room that night.
What changed about Joe when the camera was on and when the camera was off?
Madison: Consistently inconsistent is the best way to describe my experience with Joe. Off camera, actually, we were very much more connected. We were intimate almost every night. We were very close. We had more deep conversations than we did on camera. On camera, I felt like there wasn’t much connection. I consistently felt let down. Like, why is it that when we’re off camera, things seem a little bit more like the pods, and then on camera, they’re not? And I even actually had to sit down with him, and I asked him point-blank, like, “Are you trying to make it look like you don’t like me on camera?” And he’s like, “No, no. I’m just camera shy.” But we all know what we signed up for.
Courtesy of Netflix
What can you tease about your relationship with Joe for the rest of the season?
Madison: Well, you know, the roller coaster that you’ve seen so far? Buckle in because it’s going to be interesting to watch the rest of the ride.
Love Is Blind, Season 9, Episodes 1-6, Streaming Now, Netflix
Love Is Blind, Season 9, Episodes 7-9, October 8, Netflix
Love Is Blind, Season 9, Episodes 10-11, October 15, Netflix
Love Is Blind, Season 9, Episode 12, October 22, Netflix
