Mason Horacek Knows He Did Love Is Blind All Wrong

Mason, Madison, Megan, Molly … people whose names start with an M were not lucky in love this season of Love Is Blind, huh? Now, Mason Horacek wasn’t the only guy juggling a couple relationships in the pods, but he was the only one we saw go home alone. The cinematographer/Joe Alwyn look-alike/Halloween costume connoisseur told Madison Errichiello he was committed to her. But after she broke up with him — without so much as touching the cream pie he sent over — he walked back his statement. In the men’s lounge and later, on his next date with his other connection, Meg Fink, he said that he knew it hadn’t felt right when he said it. But the damage was done. Despite the fact that Horacek shared Fink’s interest in alien conspiracy theories and he’d given her nervous “butt tingles,” she couldn’t trust that she was more than his backup. Horacek, who spoke to Vulture right before season eight premiered on Netflix, is sticking to his story.

I know you haven’t seen the episodes yet. How are you feeling ahead of the drop? 
A little nervous. I mean … I know what happened, but it’s nervewracking, having the ability to relive it and watch yourself.

Viewers are going to see you asking sexually charged questions in the pods with both Meg and Madison. It feels like there were a lot of innuendos made. 
[Dryly] Fan-tastic.

Does that feel accurate to how you approach dating, or are you surprised to hear it comes up a lot in the edit?  
I can’t believe that’s gonna be on there. That’s how I am, though. I mean, if I’m comfortable with someone, and they’re comfortable with me, I’m willing to go all in on that kind of stuff.

Between Meg and Madison, who is closer to the type of person you usually date? 
Madison is definitely more of the type of girl I’m usually ending up with.

And what is that type?
Someone who I’m just not as compatible with as I’d like to be.

Was Alex, who was also dating Madison, one of your close friends in the pods? 
For sure. Alex is a really good guy, so he got close with a lot of people there. He’s just such a happy-go-lucky person, so it was pretty easy to be friends with him. But I was close with everyone in the pods. It was a crazy experience, going through it with everyone, so it was nice to have some guys who are on the same level as you.

How did it feel to reflect on some of the conversations you had with him, knowing now that he was aware at the time that Madison was planning to break up with you?
I hadn’t really thought about it. We’ve always been there for each other in the pods, and the whole time we were there, we were pretty hush-hush about who we were seeing. Most of the time when we were giving each other advice, we had no idea we were probably setting up our friend to be dating one of our girlfriends.

Do you wish you had gotten a heads-up?
No, I don’t think Alex did anything wrong. We were all just trying to figure it out. I don’t think there was any real right or wrong.

When you told Madison you were committed to her, you said you didn’t feel any pressure to say it and you’d had time to think about it. To me, you seemed pretty happy for the rest of that date. Can you understand why viewers might think you only walked back that declaration because you wanted to keep Meg as a backup? 
Out of context, I don’t expect people to know what I went through. I know I said I didn’t feel pressure — I did. I definitely didn’t thrive in that environment. The cameras played a role in it. But the part that really had me suffering was I’ve never been into two girls or dated two girls at the same time. I mean, I’m such a pleaser. If someone’s gonna push me a certain way, I’ll break and just give in and give the response I think they want. Seeing two girls at the same time and really having feelings for them kind of messed me up. I knew it was a big thing to say at the moment, and I just said it, and then I just went with it, and then I felt stuck. That wasn’t fair to Meg, obviously.

Because even when you said it, you still felt that Meg was a viable option? 
Yeah. I mean, obviously, Meg was the clear person for me. Right when I said it, I just knew, Oh my God, you’re sacrificing Meg by saying that. Why? Why did you say that? And it just sucked. I was in a situation where I felt like I should give something more, and that’s what I did. And at the same time, I did not want to lose Meg because we were so compatible. It was tough because I was still trying to figure it out while I was in there. When I said it, I was still not sure. I made a commitment that I shouldn’t have made so early on.

Well, before you went into that date, you mentioned in the men’s lounge that you were seeing your number one. But it sounds like you’re saying now that you didn’t actually have a clear number one in your head at that point?
So throughout the time, I was telling people, like, I don’t really have a number one. I have a number one-a and a number one-b. And yeah, going into that day, I definitely did not have a number one. I don’t know if that was used on the show or not, but at that time, I was still trying to figure it out.

You seem pretty sure now that Meg is the person you were more compatible with. Do you remember when you realized that? 
I mean … [laughs] pretty much any and all dates. It was just so much easier. We didn’t need any of the prompts when we were talking. We never got to the prompts. We were just chatting. She said some things that I just couldn’t believe, because no one else knows. Looking back, it was painfully obvious that we were super, super compatible.

I wish people could know me and know that I’m not the best at navigating a situation like this. I wish I had stuck with my gut, focused a little bit more, and not just jumped to conclusions and said what I said.

Madison suggested you were being a little elusive about how you actually felt in order to try to keep two good things going at once, but she was also dating two people. Did you ever feel like she was doing that to you? 
Not as much. When Madison and I first started dating, it was very apparent to me that she was really into me, and was saying things that made me confident in our connection. Looking back, it’s like, yeah, maybe it was pretty strong at first, and then … you know. But I obviously never had any doubt that our connection was there. It’s just tough to navigate in there.

What do you like so much about the movie Her? It came up a couple times in the pods. 
I mean, Spike Jonze is just a god in my mind. He grew up a skater and became a director. It’s every skater’s dream to get up from there. But that movie represents the pods really well, because the whole concept is you’re talking to a voice in your head, an AI robot in an earpiece. That’s in a sense what we were doing, just talking to a wall and acting like there’s a voice in our head. Getting to know that person for who they are as opposed to what they look like, or seeing them around you. It was pretty fascinating to compare that to the actual experience. But I think the outcome of that is, no matter what, you should be able to love yourself. Because if that voice goes away, then, at the end of the day, what do you have? It’s a pretty important message, and it kind of relates to this, too.

Was love for yourself something you were struggling with in the pods?
I don’t think there was ever any issue with that. Just when it comes to love from other people, I get a little more confused.

If you had to pick a movie to represent each of your pod relationships, what would you choose and why? 
Meg is Moulin Rouge. Just like the perfect love story that should have been, but ends in tragedy. That’s pretty accurate. Man, I guess I don’t have a specific movie for Madison, but the fact that she’s my type, who I usually go for … it would definitely be one that I’ve seen over and over and over, so some kind of a rerun.

I do remember you saying that in relationships, you’re normally the one who’s not willing to break up, and that your exes break up with you because they fall in love with someone else. Did the way things played out in the pods give you déjà vu? 
Yeah. I mean, I’m such a hopeless romantic that I will stay even if I’m not getting the best hand dealt to me with my partner. I’ve had situations like that in the past, where I just don’t want things to change. I feel like I blame myself a lot of the time, like, I’m the problem, I need to do better. Even though that’s not the case. As to why I stuck around, I liked two girls. That’s really what it was. It’s just me trying to make two people happy, which was, you know, obviously not the point of the show. But I guess people will be entertained, so hooray.

Related

• Love Is Blind Season-Premiere Recap: Only Have Eyes for Two