EXCLUSIVE: ‘Love Is Blind’ star Alex Brown was ready to propose. Why he didn’t

Alex Brown is planning to tune in to Season 8 of “Love Is Blind,” but he’s admittedly nervous to watch the action unfold on the small screen after living it firsthand last year.

“I might be in bed just crying alone when I watch it. I don’t know yet,” the commercial real estate broker said while speaking to TODAY.com ahead of the premiere.

It’s understandable why the 29-year-old is cautiously awaiting his TV debut. After all, it’s not every day that you watch yourself navigate a love triangle. But that’s exactly what Brown encountered when he entered the “Love Is Blind” dating pods.

Madison Errichiello, one of 32 Minneapolis singles on the latest season of “Love Is Blind, was torn between Brown and another contestant, Mason Horacek.

While drawn to Errichiello, Brown was also wary of an engagement given their experiences with conflict. Errichiello admitted that she had an avoidant attachment style and often “dissociates” when faced with a challenge. Brown, who said he was more anxiously attached, acknowledged Errichiello’s approach was a “trigger” for him since it reminded him of past relationships and “could lead to some issues.”

The two finally split up over Errichiello’s reaction to what happened between her and Horacek. After first committing to her, he decided to pursue a connection with another woman, Meg Fink (who turned him down). Despite wanting to be with Brown, Errichiello was offended that Horacek was so quick to backtrack from his initial sentiment. Then, when she told Brown how she was feeling, he said he understood “both perspectives,” which seemed to escalate Errichiello’s annoyance. 

After she seemed to retreat emotionally, the topic of avoidance came up again and Brown expressed his concern that they had two very different communication styles. Ultimately, he decided to walk away from the relationship.

Thanks to love triangles like Brown’s, this season spent a particularly long time in the pod stage — six full episodes. At this point in the season, five couples are together. Two, like Brown and Errichiello, split in the pods.

Below, Brown analyzes his drawn-out breakup with Errichiello, their love triangle and more.

When you and Madison broke up, did you go into that conversation planning to end things? Or did the course of the discussion steer you in that direction?

I went into that final date truly 50/50, not knowing if I was going to propose or end things. It was a really big moment when all that went down. At that point, I still had hope that I was going to propose in the next couple hours. It really shook both of us, I think, when we had that disagreement. It was definitely a tough moment for me. 

What went into your decision to end things with Madison?

I think (Madison) and I were clearly on different pages in a couple different ways. I haven’t seen the episodes yet, but what had been discussed several times is attachment styles.

I think her and I are different attachment styles. I think it just is very apparent as the show goes on and as we progressed in the dates.

I think she has different ways of dealing with conflict than I do, and again, that’s totally fine. There’s nothing right or wrong with either way, but I think we just realized that we are both on very different pages and that communication wasn’t going to be easy.

There just wasn’t enough time at that point to figure out if that communication gap was going to be an issue or if we could overcome it or not. And I think it was just too much in the moment for us to move forward. 

How do attachment styles typically guide your dating experience? 

I guess I try to stay along the same principles of finding someone that matches my attachment style or is as secure as possible. I’ve worked so hard in so many years to build myself up to a point where I feel like I’m in a secure attachment style. I know the effort that that took and I want to find someone that has also put in the effort. 

I think I just look for those signs that they’re not gonna fight me or run away or all the things that I used to do and that people that I’ve been with have done in the past. I just want to be in a healthy relationship as much as possible. 

Do you have any regrets about how things unfolded with Madison or were you confident in your decision to end things?

I was confident in the decision. If we could go back and do things again, I think it would have unfolded the same way. I’m glad that we got all of the issues out on the table the way we did so we could make that decision early on instead of moving forward and proposing and then going on the trip and then living together. I think it would have been a lot messier if that were to happen.

After Madison ended things with Mason, she was frustrated that you didn’t want to take sides and that you were understanding of Mason’s perspective. Do you think you were too understanding in that moment or are you happy you stayed neutral?

I’m always going to have empathy for others no matter what the situation is, so I’m definitely glad that I stuck to my guns and had empathy. Maybe that wasn’t the right move in the situation. Maybe it was. But I think from my perspective, it was the right move. 

I just honestly, sincerely felt bad for Mason because I saw him 10 minutes before that crying into my arms. Basically, he’s sitting there heartbroken. And then it’s hard to walk into the date (with Madison) and have someone just really talk negatively about him. 

So that it was hard for me and I just wanted to give him some of the benefit of the doubt while also trying to understand her perspective as well. Maybe I didn’t do a good job. Maybe I did. I haven’t seen the show yet, so I don’t really remember. It’s been a year now.

What does your ideal partner look like? 

I think my ideal partner would be someone who is very open-minded, someone who is adventurous, someone who’s very kind and will stay by my side and be kind and be there for me and have some fun adventures together. 

What did you learn about yourself from appearing on ‘Love Is Blind’?

I feel like I really understand how to get deeper with someone and to kind of forget about the appearances and the more surface level things. It allows me to get deeper with people and not really focus on those things anymore. So that’s been a really big impact on my life. From friends to family, I’ve been able to get a lot closer to people and feel more vulnerable.