What This Influencer Learned About God from Time on Dating Show
By Movieguide® Contributor
Corrina Roppo is finally spilling all the tea about her experience on DATED & RELATED and how she’s transformed as a believer since.
“I wasn’t afraid to be on a secular dating show because the dating world I was around was secular to me,” Roppo explained in a recent podcast interview. “It was no different. When you go into the villa, you don’t get to have your phone or journal or pens or anything but they let me take my Bible.”
DATED & RELATED sees “Pairs of siblings see each other’s love lives up close and personal as they search for ‘the one’ together. Will they act as the ultimate wingman to help you find love? Or scupper your plans?”
On the show, Roppo and a guy she was dating broke things off when their values didn’t align because Roppo was saving herself for marriage.
The young dancer and vocalist always talks about her faith and values at the beginning of a relationship.
“In dating, right, that’s like the first thing that I talk about because it’s such a big part of my life and that also I thought it was funny watching DATED & RELATED because it seemed as though it wasn’t talked about until the very, end but I brought that up always,” she said.
Saving herself for marriage is “something that I’ll speak boldly about because it’s a serious thing, and…I don’t mind if a relationship doesn’t work out because it’s the wrong one,” she said. “The right relationship will work out, and so when I was speaking it to him and just making it clear that I was saving myself from marriage, and if this doesn’t align with you, that’s okay, like I respect you as a person, but this isn’t right, and I was so relieved at the conversation. Like, from my perspective, it went well, and it was such a respectful and mutual breakup.”
Before Roppo had the strong relationship with Christ that she has now, she had lower standards for who she would date.
“Back then…I was like does he believe and is he attractive? Like, that was it. And it’s so much different now because God has taught me how to guard my heart, and now I’m like okay, ‘Are you a man of God? Do I trust where you would lead me?’ and then ‘Do I find you attractive?’ because that’s also important.”
While Roppo had Bible studies with her brother on the show and talked about her faith, she still sometimes wishes she did things differently.
“I often will look back on DATED & RELATED and think I could have done so much more,” she explained. “I could have been a better version of myself for the people around me. I could have spoken more about God and had these conversations, but you don’t have to be perfect to relay the message of Jesus. He can use you exactly as you are in the state that you’re in in the relationship that you have with Him at that moment to be a light.”
“There’s such a freedom in knowing who you are in the Lord, like, who God calls you to be,” she continued, “because when the show first came out and I would get hate comments, it really affected me, too, because I’m like wait, they’re misunderstanding me. Wait, that’s not how I intended this to come across, like, how can I explain myself?”
Once she embraced the truth and stopped caring what others thought, the comments didn’t affect her anymore.
“I’ve learned that the things that affect me, the hate comments only affect me if I say I believe them,” she said, “and having to root yourself in what the Lord says about you right changes everything. Now, if I get a hate comment it means nothing to me because that’s not my value. I don’t look at that and think like, ‘Oh, they’re right.’”
“It all goes back to knowing the truth of what the word of God says. Whether it’s about your identity or the things that He says are and aren’t good for us.”
Roppo grew up with an understanding of God, but it wasn’t deep. At age 18, she decided to discover who God is and got plugged into a church.
“I was on the worship team. I got baptized when I was 19 and heard God speak to me for the first time, and it was so beautiful. Like, I thought I knew Jesus until those moments, and I was like wait, I was missing out so much on my relationship with Him and knowing who He truly is and that was just the start of it. Like, I feel like even at that point, there was so much growth that had to happen, and I think I really completely surrendered my life to God and started living for him probably like two years ago.”
Right now, while Roppo isn’t in a relationship, she takes time to learn and grow spiritually and invests in the people around her. She continues to do things that “inspire and motivate” her through her faith.
“In this season, I’m just like taking in everything. Taking in the moment, taking in where I am. Like even right now, this thing is beautiful but really being genuine with the people around me because honestly you guys, like the people in your circle they’re not always in your circle and I’ve learned that over the last couple years,” she said.
“Like, life changes so quickly so fast, and being so genuine with the relationships around you and not only like how can these fill me but like how can you fill them? How can you create a community where you are while you’re waiting for all of these things to happen?”
Though she wants to be in a relationship, she’s waiting patiently for the right person to come along.
She recently posted a video of herself on Instagram and said, “God will bring the right person at the right time?.”
Movieguide also reported on BACHELOR contestant Madison Prewitt, who stuck to her values while on the show:
“I would say that two of the biggest things that I learned from my time on the show is just how to stay true to yourself, no matter what environment or situation that you’re in,” Prewett said. “I think we live in a world where a lot of people if you don’t know who you are, others will try and tell you who you are. It’s really important for you to be rooted and grounded and stay true no matter what’s thrown your way. I had that tested to the highest degree [on the show].”
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