Photo by
Trae Patton/NBC
Last week
Mike Spiro and Samantha Woods became the first couple to be named the winners
of Love in the Wild. In a recent
conference call they confirmed that they are still together after the show and
talked about why they bonded so intensely on the series.
The Bachelor meets The Amazing Race competition show thrust couples into extreme tasks
in the Costa Rican jungle. Mike explained how those trials were somewhat
similar to the ones people face in real life relationships. “It’s interesting
because you faced a lot of the same challenges in a regular day to day
relationship, ‘Hey you made the wrong turn’ or ‘Hey you don’t know that it’s
[10:00].’ Like it was the same things you argue about as a normal couple out in
day to day life. The only difference being on the show is that it’s that much
more stressful because it’s now a race element on top of all that. So yes, cuts
to the core and really defines what kind of person you are [until you] tend to
be in a relationship.”
Samantha
added, “I felt like I really got to learn very quickly how he would deal with
very high stress situations and things that would actually happen in everyday
life outside of the jungle. And so we were really able to connect on that level
very early on.”
Spiro
described the intensity of the process, saying, “It’s like dating on steroids
because you’re spending every single waking moment with that person and you’re
competing on these adventures with that person. It’s a way to really cut to the
core of who that person is and how they’re going to function in a normal
relationship. So yes, it definitely was kind of a slingshot to get to this
point.”
Mike put it
into every day terms. “You think about it like a normal dating process, you’ll
go on a date and maybe see each other a couple days later, go on another date,
maybe there’s a few days in-between. So it’s just spread out over a longer
period of time. Here it’s every day you’re completely saturated with the
presence of that one person and you’ve got physically and mentally challenging
adventures that you’re going on.”
And
Samantha revealed that it forced some of a couples more embarrassing moments to
the forefront more quickly. “He saw me without makeup on the first night that
we hung out. That was just the nature of being there and being in a live-in
situation. That’s not something you would really do on the first night that
you’re dating someone.”
Spiro
agreed that there no opportunity for pretense on the show. “A lot of times when
you’re dating maybe some people put on a front, they try to impress the other
person. You just don’t have time for that [on these] adventures. You’re trying
to win and you’re trying to get it going.” Samantha chimed in, “Mud and all.”
In Mike’s
mind that level of intimacy pushed some competitors too far. He recalled, “You
just kind of take the dirt and the grime and you present yourself. And if they
don’t like it then I think that’s why a lot of people quit.”
But Mike
and Samantha toughed it out and made it to the finish line, winning a trip
around the world and a chance at true love. They admitted that they are
currently exploring a long distance relationship, and have gone so far as to
meet each other’s folks even though they were supposed to keep their
relationship a secret.
Spiro confessed, “I wouldn’t say we broke the rules. I’d say we bent the rules a little bit. But we made sure that NBC was aware of everything we were doing. We kept them in touch. It’s just too hard when you come out of Costa Rica and you’ve found this great new person and you want to start spending time with them to get to know them further and you’ve got these contract limitations. So NBC was pretty accommodating with that respect, and we’re able to make it through the between the lines in the contract.”
Now that they’re obligation-free, Mike and Samantha are on
their own. Hopefully Love in the Wild
will have a higher success rate than The
Bachelor and they’ll live happily ever after.
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