Love is Blind UK's Cat Richards pops into the ODE studio to chat to Melissa Nathoo about her experience on the show. Cat tells us why she's no longer speaking to Freddie Powell, how she's dealt with comments on social media and all about her romance with Jake Singleton-Hill. Report by Ahmads. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Um, no. Yes, I've now got an agent, which is fun, but trying to find who's not going
00:07to do me dirty has been a nightmare. But no, I just feel like every day I'm on my phone,
00:14I can't get off it. It is actually...
00:16Save all this. Save it all.
00:18Literally, at the end of the night, I'm like, nah, read a book. I don't even read.
00:24But I do now. I do now.
00:28You need to do something to just take your mind away from social media.
00:32It's a novel.
00:34Jake's like, what are you going to do if Instagram blows up? I'm like, I'm screwed then, aren't I?
00:42I was going to get an agent. I had an agent for ages, though, and then they did nothing.
00:46So I end up leaving them.
00:48I'm on a three-month contract.
00:50So far, so good.
00:52But we'll see.
00:54But this is all going through Netflix.
00:56This is still with them.
00:58I think mid-September, we'll probably...
01:00They're going to ditch us.
01:02Off you go, guys.
01:04Get some commercial deals.
01:06Bit of a headache.
01:10It's nice having that connection, though, because I went to the Perfect Couple premiere,
01:14and I saw...
01:16Benaiah.
01:18Benaiah and Nicole were there, and Bobby and Jasmine. Obviously, couples.
01:20It makes sense that we'd go Perfect Couple.
01:22Are we going to be in Freddie and Gary?
01:24We're coming. Here we are.
01:26We're really perfect, guys.
01:32No problem.
01:36Do you want to go by Kat or Catherine?
01:38I'm obviously calling you Kat.
01:40I only started going by Kat because I thought in this show that's what they were going to use.
01:42And then when I watched it, it was Catherine.
01:44I was like, oh, for fuck's sake.
01:46That meant Instagram was Kat.
01:48We'll do Catherine.
01:50No problem.
01:54Let's make sure we get all your branding right.
01:56Do you want me to take photos?
01:58Yeah, you can do it.
02:00I see this whole TikTok palaver.
02:02Do a TikTok on that.
02:04Oh, my God.
02:06I got my Starbucks today.
02:08I can't do...
02:10And I know Jodie likes to do them, especially when she's got people in.
02:12It's doing the TikTok.
02:14It's not dancers or the miming.
02:16I'm not that girl.
02:18I'll put up clips of my interviews, which I did with all of these guys.
02:20Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:23But I just...
02:25See, Jake loves it.
02:27He wants to do that tortilla couples thing where you put water in your mouth
02:29and you slap each other with a tortilla.
02:31Come on, babe.
02:33This ain't me.
02:35Yeah, he loves it.
02:37Should we do a TikTok tonight?
02:39Wow.
02:41It's good to have one of you who actually likes it.
02:43He's like, tag me.
02:45This Instagram's going up and up and up.
02:47Are we doing a photo?
02:49Yeah.
02:51There we go.
02:55Great.
02:57Very big clap, and then we are good.
03:01Wonderful.
03:03Catherine, it is good to see you.
03:05I know.
03:07It does feel like it's been ages, but not that long.
03:09No, it hasn't at all.
03:11It hasn't at all.
03:13Imagine, though.
03:15It's kind of a whirlwind, and it's kind of not.
03:17Now you're...
03:19Everything's out there.
03:21It's out of the world now.
03:23What's it been like?
03:25I think especially on social media
03:27because people just don't hold back.
03:29I know myself.
03:31Have you been reading comments?
03:33What's it been like?
03:35At the start, I was
03:37very much reading every comment.
03:39I was like, oh my gosh, I can't do this.
03:41I cried a lot.
03:43Now I find it funny
03:45because people are now arguing
03:47amongst themselves on the comments.
03:49It's not even to do with me.
03:51They're having their own little war.
03:53It's quite entertaining, but no,
03:55I literally just block and delete.
03:57It's all you can do.
03:59It just baffles me, some of the stuff
04:01that is said.
04:03Some of it hurts because a lot of people
04:05are talking about my adoption.
04:07I just have to kind of remove
04:09myself and just think, no,
04:11it's just a message. They don't know you.
04:13So yeah, block and delete.
04:16You've had some really harsh ones as well.
04:18I really felt for you.
04:20Yeah, do you know what?
04:22If I said to myself
04:24four weeks ago, do you know what?
04:26You're going to be smiling and laughing.
04:28I'd just be like, no, you're lying.
04:30I don't know how I'm actually waking up
04:32with a smile on my face.
04:34It's been that bad. Credits to anyone
04:36who's in the reality world that goes
04:38through it because it is a tough
04:40world.
04:42I'm sure one of the reasons you're smiling is Jake.
04:44No, I just haven't got coffee.
04:46Okay, your coffee and then Jake.
04:48No, yeah, Jake has been the
04:50biggest support.
04:52But it's hard for him.
04:54Yesterday was a really bad day for me.
04:56You have your good days, you have your bad days.
04:58He's having to come home from his
05:00normal job and then I'm sat there
05:02and he knows I've been reading comments
05:04or I've seen some things and he's trying to
05:06support me to the best he can.
05:08It's tough, but I'm in a better position
05:10now than I was four or five weeks ago.
05:12I'm sure people want to know about you and Jake.
05:14You couldn't talk about it
05:16at all before,
05:18but now it's fully out there.
05:20I know you're super, super happy with him
05:22and you obviously met him in the PODS original
05:24which we did touch on before.
05:28How did it come about?
05:30I think people think that Jake was waiting
05:32for me at the end of The Old Town.
05:34This is what I've been reading.
05:36He was there waiting.
05:38Obviously, I didn't
05:40know what Jake looked like at all.
05:42We got our phones back.
05:44I probably went on my phone after the wedding
05:46when I went back home.
05:48Then me and Freddie
05:50ended it. Two weeks later,
05:52I went for breakfast with my parents.
05:54I sat scrolling and his profile came up.
05:56I was like, what? Is that Jake from the PODS?
05:58I knew his journey.
06:00He had quite a rough, bumpy ride
06:02on his side of things.
06:04I just reached out and was like, hey, how are you?
06:06He was like, who's this?
06:09I was like, shit, he's not seen me before, has he?
06:11I was like, it's Kat.
06:13He was like, wait, Kat from the PODS?
06:15At first, he was like, why didn't you rank me higher?
06:17Why did I see you again?
06:19I was like, oh.
06:21Literally, we spoke on the phone for about five hours
06:23because he was like, are you not married?
06:25Then we were speaking
06:27for five weeks and then I
06:29saw him for the first time.
06:31That's been it.
06:33We spoke as friends for five weeks.
06:35I was like, let's get a flight.
06:37I can come to you. We'll spend a weekend.
06:39We went to Alton Towers.
06:41Did proper fun stuff.
06:43No meals. It was literally just kid stuff.
06:45I love that.
06:47Nearly a year later, here we are.
06:49With the dog as well.
06:51With this dog.
06:53That was the reason, right?
06:55You know what? When you're in the PODS,
06:57you have to be so critical.
06:59Any little red flag
07:01or you're like, no, you want to marry this guy.
07:03I don't want to get in between of any drama
07:05even though I got myself in drama.
07:07Any little thing, I was like, no.
07:09Everyone was like, oh my God, you're with the guy with the dog.
07:11I love the dog.
07:13Good.
07:15He's like, for God's sake.
07:17Should we go and get him?
07:19I'm so glad that it's worked out.
07:21I remember when we spoke before
07:23and we were talking about therapy.
07:25We were all doing it.
07:27You were very honest.
07:29You were like, listen, I've worked on myself.
07:31I've reflected on a lot of things.
07:33I think it's probably really important
07:35that people understand that.
07:37People are being really harsh towards you.
07:39What have you done to be like...
07:41Read a book.
07:43To show that we all do.
07:45We all have to work on ourselves.
07:47I think watching the show
07:49has been the therapy in itself.
07:51I see how I can react
07:53to certain situations.
07:55Even with girls,
07:57I've never had a big friendship group.
07:59Meeting 15 women in itself,
08:02I was like, what am I doing?
08:04That was harder than the whole boy situation.
08:08I've had therapy for the longest of time anyway
08:10because of my adoption.
08:12This is a whole new therapy.
08:14This has nothing to do with that.
08:16To be honest,
08:18watching the show,
08:20I've spoken to the girls who have been massive support.
08:22They've made everything
08:24very black and white for me.
08:26I can see how that's like that.
08:28The whole thing in itself
08:30has been a therapy lesson.
08:32Who are you still really close to within the cast?
08:34All of them.
08:36I spoke to Sabrina yesterday because I was having a meltdown.
08:38She knows me.
08:40She's very like, you're being silly.
08:42Very black and white.
08:44Maria's just like my mum.
08:46She's like, stop being dramatic.
08:48Jaz is.
08:50Again, Jaz gives me a wide world.
08:52Demi.
08:54Honestly.
08:56I'm really glad that you've got that support there.
08:58One person though obviously
09:00who people have gone crazy for
09:02is the guy who
09:04it didn't work out with.
09:06It's Freddie.
09:08What kind of terms are you guys on now?
09:10We don't talk.
09:12He blocked me
09:14straight after the launch.
09:16It's sad
09:18because
09:20I saw Freddie was quite upset at the launch.
09:22He gets really overwhelmed in big settings.
09:24I've known this about him
09:26for the longest of times.
09:28The first person to go up to him and give him a hug was Jake.
09:30He just didn't want it.
09:32Throughout the whole launch
09:34I just said, you're my priority tonight.
09:36Jake's fine. He's with the boys.
09:38I want to focus on you to make sure you're okay.
09:40I knew he doesn't like this big environment.
09:44I don't know. He just blocked me
09:46and that's pretty much been it.
09:48Are you feeling okay about it?
09:50I guess because we all have to do what we have to do right
09:52to just be okay within ourselves.
09:55I'm feeling fine but
09:57I tried to reach out to him last year
09:59before Christmas
10:01and said I think we could be really good friends.
10:03He was like
10:05no, I don't want to know you.
10:07A week before they released the cast
10:09he was like, I want to be your friend.
10:11It really played with my emotions
10:13because I was like, I don't get it.
10:15Obviously because his journey has gone
10:17really successful
10:19congrats to him. He deserves it.
10:21It's now
10:23bye bye.
10:25I just felt a bit hurt by that.
10:27I've said this from day one.
10:29Freddie's doing his journey, I'm doing mine.
10:31There's no need for us to be friends.
10:33The journey we had
10:35will stay with us forever
10:37and that's probably as far as it will ever go.
10:39But that's fine, right?
10:41We don't need
10:43to be friends.
10:45Yes, we went through the journey but
10:47so much has happened off camera.
10:49He said, she said
10:51it's pointless and I want to focus
10:53on Jake and that's that.
10:55And being friends with an ex is never
10:57easy anyway.
10:59I've got the guy who I was dating
11:01and I was blocked, I have to be honest.
11:03I'm tempted to unblock him sometimes
11:05when I get weak.
11:07When I am in a relationship that has ended
11:09I do block them.
11:11But it just sucks because
11:13I think he was very sad because I was very
11:15up and down. One minute I was like, no we can be
11:17friends and the next I was like, no we just can't
11:19it's not going to work.
11:21And then I was trying to do the right thing with Jake.
11:23It's very difficult.
11:25Social media, again, it's a whole other thing.
11:27Back in the day, we didn't have social media.
11:29We didn't have to deal with that, blocking
11:31and unblocking. You just didn't see the person
11:33and that was it, right?
11:35I do think in the future, once everything
11:37has died down and
11:39he finds his girl
11:41I think it will make things a lot easier.
11:43But right now, we're still in the public eye.
11:45People are still going on about it.
11:47So who knows in the future, but right now
11:49it's just best we're not.
11:51It's still very fresh. It's so fresh.
11:53For us anyway.
11:55Guys, can we stop talking about it now?
11:57For God's sake.
11:59Leave me with the dog.
12:01Also, I do want to
12:03touch on, what are your feelings now
12:05on pre-nups?
12:07Do you know, this has actually been so frustrating
12:09because with this whole pre-nup thing
12:11I was on, I agreed with Freddie
12:13I didn't even know what a pre-nup was.
12:15I've said this in so many interviews
12:17I did not know what a pre-nup was.
12:19I actually had to stop filming and was like, what's a pre-nup?
12:21I was not educated in this department.
12:23And everyone thought it was hilarious and I was like, no seriously.
12:25If you were married, why would you?
12:27I had no idea. So when I got told
12:29I said, everything should go to your sister.
12:31I don't want a thing
12:33because I've only known you for four weeks.
12:35So I don't know why people thought I was against him.
12:37If anything, it was my friends that were
12:39a bit like...
12:41I literally say in the snippet
12:43I'm like, should I be worried?
12:45I was so clueless.
12:47So no, everything should have gone to your sister.
12:49And he knew that because we had a conversation
12:51off camera where I was like, no I'm
12:53on your side for this.
12:55Because I've got nothing to give you and I don't want your money
12:57or house or anything.
12:59That's the thing, I think we don't see everything.
13:01All these shows are edited, right? Everything's edited.
13:03And they can't show everything
13:05at all anyway.
13:07You can't not edit it. You do need the storyline.
13:09But I think it was frustrating because
13:11Freddie knew that I was on his side
13:13for this.
13:15But obviously now it's different. I'm with Jake.
13:17We've been together nearly a year.
13:19So we have spoke about it.
13:21You know what, I still
13:23think prenups are a good thing.
13:25I do as well.
13:27I do as well.
13:29Especially in this generation.
13:31I think it's important.
13:33Although I say that, I don't know
13:35if they hold up in this country. I think it's a very American thing.
13:37I'm not actually sure they hold up.
13:39I don't know what it was. I honestly thought you just
13:41get raised and then you have a
13:43house automatically.
13:45Honestly, I was so oblivious to life.
13:47This is why you're reading more, Kat.
13:49I lived in Disneyland in my head.
13:51I'm going to Disney World.
13:53Hey, it's a great place to be.
13:55It's a great place to be.
13:57Tell me now though, what
13:59your plans are. Because obviously you come
14:01off a show like this, you have a much
14:03bigger following and more exposure.
14:05It does open doors as well.
14:07What is your plan
14:09now?
14:11To be honest, I'm just taking time
14:13for myself and with Jake.
14:15I want to work on myself to be the best
14:17version of me before I approach
14:19any other crazy
14:21dramatic decision I make in my life.
14:23I would like to work
14:25with charities for adoption
14:27because I think it
14:29plays a massive part in people's lives.
14:31The amount of response I've had
14:33saying, oh my god, I see
14:35myself in you and how you act is like
14:37me. I like that.
14:39That does make me feel a little bit better.
14:41I'd like to go down that route.
14:43Yeah, I don't know.
14:45Maybe a few little things. Maybe I'll be on the screens
14:47again. Who knows?
14:49We're going to see you doing all the different
14:51reality shows.
14:53No more dating, that's for sure.
14:55Who knows?
14:57How do you feel about
14:59reality TV now? Would you do
15:01any more?
15:03Again,
15:05I've seen how I
15:07was on one show.
15:09Like I said, I'd be the best
15:11version of myself before I entered any other
15:13crazy decision.
15:15Plus, this one I did was a dating show.
15:17If I do another one, it's not dating.
15:19If it's a cooking show, I'm not
15:21going to be losing my rag in a cooking show.
15:23Do you know what I mean? You might. I probably would.
15:25In the kitchen at night.
15:27It'd be worse, actually.
15:29It's a very different situation.
15:31What would you say to anyone
15:33thinking about maybe going on the next
15:35series of Love Is Blind?
15:37Educate yourself on a pre-nup.
15:43Do you know what? I think it's an amazing experiment
15:45because without it, I wouldn't have met
15:47Jake. And to be honest, I wouldn't have met Freddie.
15:49And our journey
15:51was amazing at the start.
15:53Have
15:55thick skin and prepare
15:57for the outside world because it's very
15:59easy when you're in it and you get very
16:01carried away, but then the real
16:03test is when the cameras are off and you're
16:05at home with your partner. That's the biggest
16:07test. So if you've got thick skin and you think, no,
16:09this is for me, then go for it.
16:11Yeah. I know
16:13actually when I put out my first
16:15interview with you and
16:17people were like, hold on, is she dating Sam? Because you
16:19said you were just dating someone from the pods.
16:21Oh my God. People still think I'm
16:23with Sam. No.
16:25But he's in your friendship group, right? Yeah.
16:27So how is he doing
16:29now? Because I know he also had it pretty
16:31hard. He had it tough. He
16:33really did. And we were there for
16:35each other because
16:37he didn't have himself because he was posting that
16:39I was with him. But it's funny because I was sat at home
16:41laughing. We thought it was the funniest of
16:43things. But people still think I'm with
16:45him to this day. It's hilarious.
16:47He's good.
16:49Sam is a good person.
16:51He's been there for me as a friend
16:53from start to finish.
16:55Sam had his own journey that
16:57I would never get involved in. He knows how
16:59I feel about how we went about things
17:01and he knows that.
17:03He's really good friends with me,
17:05Jake, Charlie, Richie.
17:07I just wanted to check because obviously it's so
17:09difficult. Like you
17:11said, when you come out of these shows
17:13people are really harsh, especially online
17:15and it's not good mentally.
17:17It's worrying.
17:19I just wanted to see how he was doing.
17:21He's fine. I call him
17:23every day. Jake calls him every day to check up on him.
17:27It just blows my mind with
17:29people on social media. I had this
17:31mum message me the most disgusting
17:33message and I was like
17:35this is insane.
17:39How could anyone even adopt you?
17:41You shouldn't even wake up tomorrow.
17:43This is a mum and her profile
17:45was on show. Normally they don't have a profile
17:47and it's just like a robot
17:49whatever.
17:51People really do get invested.
17:53People get invested.
17:55I just remind myself, they're just
17:57invested in this character
17:59and that's what they're doing. At the end of the day,
18:01Freddy's a very good looking guy
18:03and you're going to get people protecting him for that.
18:05There has to be the villain and unfortunately
18:07that was me.
18:09Which is fine.
18:11I generally think it's just because
18:13Freddy is stunning.
18:15People are like
18:17they will do anything to protect
18:19this guy.
18:21It is unfortunate for you that you ended up going for
18:23the guy who everyone
18:25has just gone crazy
18:27for.
18:29Now you're on the receiving end.
18:33He is a very attractive
18:35male. He knows that.
18:37That's why I was so surprised in the reveal.
18:39I was like oh my god.
18:41I hyped him up
18:43every day.
18:45You didn't go for looks?
18:47I literally went for his person.
18:49Honestly in the pod, he said in an interview
18:51half the time he was talking about cheese in the pod.
18:53We did.
18:55We spoke about
18:57pigeons and really weird things
18:59and we just got on.
19:01So obviously when I saw him I was like
19:03wow, this pod thing is amazing.
19:05But yeah, obviously that's
19:07not real life. The real life is
19:09when you're living together in the outside world.
19:11And things are good with you and Jake.
19:13Oh my god, yeah.
19:15Like I said, our first date was on
19:17towers. It was like lashing
19:19with rain and we just laughed.
19:21I'm happy.
19:23I'm happy that things are
19:25working out.
19:27Be easy on yourself.
19:29Try not to read the internet
19:31too much.
19:33I really don't. Like I said at the start I did
19:35and now I'm learning that this is just
19:37a phase.
19:39It's fine and people can think
19:41what they want.
19:43I get it.
19:45You're smiling. I am.
19:47I'm always smiling.
19:49Thank you so much
19:51for today.
19:53I'm sure we'll be seeing some more of you.
19:55And we'll have an update
19:57at some point on you and Jake.
19:59The next steps.
20:01Who knows. Maybe soon.
20:05Wonderful.