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“Indian Matchmaking” season two has been making headlines and enthralling viewers. Season one fan favorite Nadia Jagessar made a return in season two, along with Aparna Shewakramani. In the first season, Nadia had made a connection with Vinay Chadha, and viewers were rooting for them to last. However, after a misunderstanding between the couple, Nadia decided to break it off. After Nadia was unable to make another connection in season two, viewers were interested in why her relationship with Vinay didn’t work out.
We spoke with Vinay Chadha to hear about his experience on the show.
1. You were on Season 1 of Indian Matchmaking – why did you decide to sign up for the show?
The honest truth was that my friend found an ad on Instagram saying Netflix was looking for single South Asians to be part of a docu-series and sent it over to me. She said, “Vin you should do this!” I opened the application and it was short and sweet so I filled out the 5 questions about my attached picture and the rest was history.
At that time we had no clue if this was legit or not but I always like to be open-minded, so I thought “why not” wouldn’t this be a great way to meet If it does work out?
2. How was your experience filming Season 1?
I think I have been asked this question almost as much as the alleged “ghosting” but the truth is I was only filmed with a crew once on our first date. The rest of the time we had to go pros and recorded our own confessionals. I think that’s where editing came into play but that’s a different topic.
They did actually ask me to film our break-up a month after Nadia stopped speaking to me and I politely declined as the first and only breakup was painful enough and I did not want to “act it out” for cameras. Unfortunately for me, that’s where and when they decided to film the fake scene with Nadia and her friends at a dessert shop which I only found out about while watching the show on Netflix with the rest of the world!
3. Are there any obvious filming differences that you saw now as a viewer for Season 2?
This is a hard question for me to answer as I previously mentioned I was only filmed once and then highly edited but I did wish they incorporated a more diverse audience such as same-sex or different religions. As a viewer, knowing what I know now, I always like to assume some skepticism and know there is editing involved. In fact, something most people don’t know is I was with Aparna and Jay at the coffee shop being filmed, and sadly for me, I was edited out.
4. You’ve said in previous interviews that the editing in Season 1, in regards to your romantic storyline with Nadia, was edited in a way that might not have made you look the best. What happened?
The truth is as I always have said it. The relationship was real and pure at first. I fell hard for her and during the 2 months, we dated I cared for her deeply. We did have ups and downs, some were my fault and some were hers. I never once ditched her though. The only instance that it could have been seen that way was a different event that was never shown where she wanted me to meet her after a friend’s wedding in Brooklyn around 12am. I ambitiously said I would but certain family instances occurred that night and I let her know I couldn’t make it. I could see it disappointed her and as a result, I tried to win her confidence in me back by sending large amounts of nestle bunch a crunch (her favorite movie snack), and a stuffed doll. I wanted to show her that even in disappointing times I still do value her but sometimes circumstances beyond your control occur.
Sadly, she wasn’t very receptive at first and things were rocky from then on. When I got heat exhaustion I texted her at 8 am the day we were supposed to meet at the movies to let her know I could not make it. I wanted to let her know early so as to not make the same “mistake” by late canceling like the previous time. She didn’t take this well or even ask how I felt. When I later tried to meet up because I got an IV she wanted nothing to do with me and never spoke to me again.
5. Nadia’s journey in Season 2 received much criticism, to the point where she’s even had to turn off comments on her Instagram. Did you watch Season 2, and what were your opinions?
I did watch season 2 and I know reality TV can edit a lot. The one thing I will say is to take everything with a grain of salt but the one piece of advice I’d encourage for her and others is that it’s important to be self-aware and empathetic toward others.
Bullying is never okay on social media and when I saw her recent reel about the difference between reality TV and reality, I thought where was this 2 years ago when I got death threats and bullied to the point of a deep depression that took me months to get out of. I can empathize with how she feels now being bullied and even though no one has hurt me the way she has, I did reach out to her and let her know I’d be there if she was feeling upset because that’s the right thing to do! I only wish she would have done the same when I begged her two years ago but you can’t change the past so I’d rather set an example for the future!
6. Would you do a dating reality show again? Why or why not?
This is a very intriguing question too. Knowing that I was misportayed and bullied for 2 years, somehow my answer still is yes!
I would love the world to see me for me and get a redemption story. I have always wanted to influence and inspire others, especially the youth, and would love to show the world who I really am and make an impactful difference in as many lives as possible!!
