Pop-Culturalist.com

Sebastián Fassi and Lloyd Jones, renowned international athletes, are also among the eligible bachelors on the captivating new reality show, Love Undercover.

Love Undercover is a modern-day fairytale meets buddy comedy about an elite group of international soccer stars who come to the United States on a secret quest for true love. We’ll follow them on an epic journey filled with drama, heartbreak and self-discovery. Can they win over the ladies without their fame and fortune? Will they manage to keep their true identities a secret? And will any of them fall for an American princess before inviting them back to their home countries and testing their relationships on the global stage. For these men, finding love is the #1 goal.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Sebastián and Lloyd about Love Undercover, keep their secret identities, finding love, and more.

PC: Sebastian, the soccer season is so intense, and you barely have an off-season. What was it about Love Undercover that excited you and made you want to use that limited time off and be part of this project?
Sebastián: It’s hard to say no when they offer you the chance to go to America and meet eighteen American girls on a dating show. But it’s the whole setup behind the show and the message behind it that I hope audiences can take away. That’s what caught my attention because this is a social experiment.

We’re trying to find love in the most difficult way. We’re stripping away an essence of who we are. They’re seeing our hearts and who we really are. That’s what made me open up my eyes. I saw this amazing opportunity to be a part of this. I’ve said this a few times today, but it was a life-changing experience for me. Being a part of something like this caught my attention from day one.

PC: Lloyd, at the start of this experience, you were all given secret identities, and you can tell that you’re a really honest guy because it’s written all over your face when the women ask what your occupation was. Did you realize that it would be that hard to keep that secret? Outside of yourself, which of the guys did you think was most likely to blow their cover and why?
Lloyd: Probably me. [laughs] As the show went on, I would say Ryan [Babel] 1,000,000%. But for me, I just didn’t want to blow it for any of the other guys because if I got caught or if I slipped up and said something about someone else, it was more about that than anything else. I’m loyal to my brothers.

PC: Sebastian, you all had thirty days to find love, and that’s not a lot of time. I appreciate how forward you were about whether or not you felt that instant connection with the different women. What were the signs that you were looking for to see if somebody was a match?
Sebastián: When you know you have unlimited time, you actually get to know a girl. That changes a bit in this situation. I was looking for a girl that I liked physically first because I would like to be with someone that’s attractive to me because I know that I don’t have that much time to get to know her. Like you said, we only had thirty days. You can know a girl for four years and not really know them fully yet. So the girls that I went out with first were the ones that I was physically attracted to. As it went on, I went with the girl that I thought I had a connection with and that I identified myself with, and then checking boxes to see if we were a match.

PC: Lloyd, this is such an interesting social experiment where you’re all trying to find love outside of your fame and careers. There’s a lot of unexpected vulnerability and self-discovery through this process. What did you learn about yourself going through this experience? What was the most surprising part for you?
Lloyd: I would say being more vulnerable to girls because in my personal life, I’m not that open about my feelings when it comes to love or whatever it may be. I was also a bit indecisive on the show, so seeing the girls and not really knowing how it was affecting them. You’re not only hurting yourself, you’re hurting other people as well when you’re doing that. So I tried to be more open and honest as the show went on. That was the most challenging thing for me.

PC: Great answer. Sebastian, in a similar vein, having gone through this experience, what did you learn about yourself? What’s more difficult: competing on the field or in love, and why?
Sebastián: I’ll say 100% in love. On the field, it’s something that we do every day. We’re practicing every day. You build your confidence through that because it’s a constant repetition to evolve. In love, you’re learning something new every single day because every single girl is different—their personality, their looks, how they behave, how they talk, their education. There are a lot of key factors. The most difficult part was talking to so many of them as fun as it sounds for somebody on the outside. When you are actually trying to fall in love, it’s not easy to go out on three, five, six, ten dates with different women because you lose track.

It happened to me a few times that I was talking to a girl and she’s like, “You haven’t told me that.” It was someone else I told. That was really hard, but it was an honest mistake. That’s what makes things really interesting because you actually had to focus on each date to get to know the girl and remember what you said to each.

PC: Lloyd, you touched upon this already, but there’s an immense brotherhood that formed between all of you. How helpful was it having these guys in this once-in-a-lifetime experience?
Lloyd: It was amazing. I feel like everyone brought something different as well. Ryan and Jamie [O’Hara] are a bit more experienced than myself and Seb. Then we have Marco [Fabián]. These guys are superstars. It helped massively. If you ever needed advice where Seb may be going through something, he may go to one of the guys. There was no jealousy there. It was amazing from start to finish.

Make sure to keep up with Sebastián (Twitter/Instagram) and Lloyd (Instagram). Stream Love Undercover on Peacock today.