How Racism Played A Part In Tyler's Experience On Love Is Blind

Each season of Love Is Blind is guaranteed to have its share of drama between the couples. Now that the dating reality TV series is in its seventh season, fans have seen all sorts of confessions that have resulted in chaos among the cast members, and this season was no exception.

One couple that has seemed particularly strong this season is Tyler and Ashley, but even they couldn't escape their share of tension. A huge bombshell was dropped after the couple had already moved in together when Tyler revealed to Ashley that he actually had three biological children whom he hadn't told her about up until that point.

Unsurprisingly, Tyler's confession took a huge toll on Ashley's trust in him, but eventually the two were able to work through it. More recently, Tyler has opened up about why he chose to delay his confession for so long, and how the Love Is Blind process made him hesitant to share certain aspects of his personal life.

Tyler Says He Has No Regrets About His Choices On The Show

When Tyler finally chose to tell Ashley about having biological children, the two had already gotten engaged, gone off to Mexico with the rest of the couples in the cast, and moved back to DC to share an apartment together. The two were just weeks away from their wedding, and thus Ashley was shocked that Tyler would have hidden such an enormous secret for so long.

At first, Ashley appeared hurt by Tyler holding on to his secret, noting that she thought of their communication with one another as their "superpower," and that, if he actually wasn't willing to disclose these things to her, she feared for the strength of their relationship. Tyler explained that he had wanted to tell her earlier on, but that he was afraid of his confession scaring her off while they were still dating in the pods.

To his credit, Tyler realized his timing for the bombshell was poor, and as such he didn't expect Ashley to move past it immediately. Instead, he told her that he wanted to give her time to come to terms with the news:

I’m not asking for forgiveness; I’m just asking for a chance. I would love to marry you. I do want a family with you. I’ll get you whatever you need to feel comfortable and safe. At the end of the day, like I said, I respect you and I want you to be happy.

In the end, Ashley was able to accept Tyler's confession, and the two have since moved forward. Since then, Tyler has shared with E! News that he doesn't regret anything about the way he handled his time on Love Is Blind, noting that he would "not really change anything" even if he could go back.

Instead, the cast member noted that he was more interested in living in the present and moving forward in his relationship. As there are still two more episodes of this season remaining, we have yet to know whether Tyler and Ashley actually make it all the way to the altar and go through with their marriage, but no doubt fans are rooting for the couple to do so.

Tyler Explained That The Fear Of Racism Affected Some Of His Decisions

In a confession that may be surprising to some viewers, Tyler told E! News that he was actually glad he delayed telling Ashley some information about himself until after the pods. For one, he was careful not to reveal any details about his appearance, noting that if he had, he worried that racial prejudice could come into play about how the person on the other side of the wall might think of him.

In particular, Tyler spoke about how there were certain stereotypes about light-skinned Black people that he hoped to avoid by not talking about how he looked in the pods:

I tried to keep away from it, because that was the big issue. I’ve been judged based off being light-skinned. Being cheaters and liars—all these things that you get with being light-skinned. So, I tried to keep away from physical appearance and just judge me for who I am, not what I look like.

Clearly, Tyler not only wanted to honor the rules of the Love Is Blind experiment, but he also wanted to avoid any unfair judgments or associations that could've been made about him if he'd revealed things about his appearance earlier than he was meant to.

It seems that Tyler's tactic of being authentic and genuine has paid off so far, for he and Ashley remain engaged in all of the episodes that have currently aired. For her part, Ashley also admitted that she was happy about the way things had gone down in filming, and that she didn't harbor any regrets about her experience, either.

"I said what I said. I did what I did," she explained. "I wouldn't change a thing." She went on to add that she was understanding of the hiccup with Tyler, sharing that she believed that every single person was "evolving and changing" and that she wanted to show him grace.

Moving forward, fans will get to see if Tyler and Ashley's relationship can go the distance. Already two other couples from the season have chosen to end their engagements, so the stakes are higher than ever. In the most recent episode, Ashley selected her wedding dress, so for now it seems the two are still on the right track.

The next episode of the season is set to air on Wednesday, October 23rd, with the final episode to follow a week later on October 30th. Once the weddings have concluded, however, that doesn't mean it'll be the last of the couples that we ever get to see. Instead, it was just announced last week that there will also be a cast member reunion coming to Netflix that fans will also be able to look forward to.