Courtesy Giannina Gibelli/Netflix
Audio By Carbonatix
The new Denver-based season of Love is Blind was the show’s least successful season to date, resulting in no marriages for the first time ever. But Giannina Gibelli doesn’t blame the Mile High City.
Gibelli starred in season one of the Netflix reality show, which was filmed in Atlanta. For the last three years, she’s lived in Denver with her fiancé, Blake Horstmann, a Colorado native known for his appearances on The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise.
Although her Love is Blind engagement didn’t pan out, Gibelli argues the experimental dating show really can produce happy, loving marriages. Unfortunately, in Denver’s case, the repeated ghosting incidents early on in the season “really messed up a lot of connections,” she says.
“That’s why ultimately nothing worked out, which is a shame,” Gibelli tells Westword. “That’s just so disrespectful and I didn’t appreciate that. …If [the show] is something that you want to do to get famous or just to date, then you’re taking someone’s spot who really wants to find their husband or wife.”
Gibelli will serve as the emcee of the season nine reunion watch party at Empower Field on Wednesday, October 29. The influencer event, hosted by Netflix and Verizon, will feature Q&As with a panel of Denver cast members.
Despite the ghostings, Gibelli praises many of the Denver contestants for their behavior on the show. She names Kalybriah, Ali and Madison as a few of her favorites, and Patrick as the primary standout: “We must protect Patrick at all costs,” she says. “That man, I wish him the happiest happily ever after.”
The previously unknown Denver residents have been thrust into the national spotlight since season nine premiered on October 1, garnering them tens of thousands of social media followers…and plenty of online criticism.
Gibelli’s advice? Don’t think too much about the negative viewer reactions — or the positive ones.
“If you give so much importance to the positive feedback, you’re going to give just as much importance to the negative. Try to stick to your own truth. You know exactly what happened behind the cameras,” she explains. “This experience provides so much growth and exposure into dating and who you are and how you love and what you want out of life. Take advantage of that and do not dwell on the comments, DMs and edits.”
Gibelli received her fair share of flak when Love is Blind’s first season aired in February 2020.
She had among the most memorable journeys on the show; from dual-proposing to Damian Powers, to critiquing their sex life on camera, and ultimately running away in her wedding dress after Powers said “no” at the altar. And the drama didn’t end there: though they didn’t marry, the couple was still together at the reunion, where Powers brought a woman from Too Hot to Handle as his plus-one.
“You can’t write half this stuff,” Gibelli says of the show. “It was Earth-shattering, mind-blowing, freeing. …It took me a long time to heal from it, but it was awesome. My experience was borderline psychedelic, and I was fully sober the entire time. That’s how much the experiment really worked on me.”
Regardless of the chaos she went through, Gibelli says she has no regrets about her time on Love is Blind.
“I’ve always answered ‘no’ to this question, and that ‘no’ is so much bigger now,” she says. “Everything led me to this point. It was the best, craziest, worst thing that could have happened to me, and I owe my life to it.”
Gibelli’s appearance on Love is Blind led to her being cast on the reality competition show All Star Shore. She met and started dating fellow contestant Horstmann while filming in 2021. The pair welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Heath, in 2024. Their wedding is scheduled for next summer.
While she and Horstmann didn’t find each other on Love is Blind or The Bachelorette, Gibelli defends dating shows, comparing them to dating apps: “It’s just a different way to meet somebody. It can work, but they don’t always work.”
Would she recommend signing up for Love is Blind?
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Gibelli asks. “You’ve literally seen it all at this point.”
Episodes one through twelve of Love is Blind: Denver are available now on Netflix. The reunion episode will be released at 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 29.
