'Love is Blind' star Emma 'surprised' by 'blurred' arm in cast photo

KiMi Robinson, USA TODAYThu, February 26, 2026 at 9:58 PM UTC

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Spoiler alert! We are discussing details from Episodes 10-11 of Netflix's "Love is Blind" Season 10 (now streaming).

"Love is Blind" might be all about falling for someone "sight unseen," but you can't get anything past the Netflix show's viewers.

Speaking with USA TODAY on the third drop of episodes, released Wednesday, Feb. 25, Emma Betsinger confirmed that, like some social media users, she and her friends noticed that her appearance was retouched in her full-body cast photo, which was first released in January.

Her left arm has "physical scarring," as she explained on the show, due to at least 10 surgeries she underwent before age 7 to remove birthmarks "that had a very high chance of melanoma." And she agrees that her limb appears smoothed over in the promotional photo.

"The first [photo] I saw was just my headshot. And I actually didn't realize anything," she tells USA TODAY. "But then my friends would text me, like, 'They kind of blurred out your arm.' I was like, 'Did they?"

Emma Betsinger is a cast member on Season 10 of "Love is Blind," which gathered singles from across Ohio.

Upon further inspection, she says, "Yeah, I did notice it. I think for the first one with my picture, I was like, 'Oh, maybe they need to blur everything.' But yeah, when I saw the full body, it was like no, they definitely blurred it a little bit."

Emma "was definitely really surprised," she confesses, "especially because it is a part of my body and a part who I am."

She adds, "But yeah, I'm not sure if there was a why or a reason based off of just production, photos, all of that stuff." USA TODAY has reached out to the show's publicists for comment.

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You're not alone. Emma was also surprised by how much her surgeries, adoption came up

Something else she calls "the biggest surprise"? How much of a main character she was in the pods, with the attention mainly focused on her early medical issues, her background as a transnational adoptee and her hesitations regarding bearing and raising children.

"There's a lot of couples that they were following, but I feel in the pods, it was definitely a me-focused six episodes," she says. "What was shown with others was the connections, the silliness, and you can definitely still see my sarcastic [and] goofy personality, but it definitely was this [focus] into my surgery, my adoption."

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There was a lot more to her 10-day experience in the pods. Emma feels like the tearful conversations about these heavier topics "was just one day and 1% of what actually happened."

"I was like, 'Was I this emotional? Did I talk a lot about this?" she says. "So it definitely felt like this focal point of: 'She needs to heal. She's trauma dumping.'" This kind of "feedback," she adds, is something that she's "coming to terms with."

That said, she's heard out the well-meaning social media users who she says are "helping in different ways." They've sent her encouragement and resources for genetic testing, which she's discussed as a way to understand the genes she might pass on to a child.

Emma Betsinger talks with her suitors in the pods on Season 10, Episode 1, of "Love is Blind."

She would "love to get genetically tested," Emma says, but "over the past year I have not gotten around to really double clicking in and diving into that."

Even the haters might have a point, she jokes. "The people that [say], 'You need therapy.' I'm like, 'You're right!' I think everyone benefits from therapy."

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Emma says Mike wasn't always 'nagging me about children'

Though the show makes it seem like all that she and her "Love is Blind" fiancé Mike Gibney talk about is whether she'd agree to have children with him, Emma promises their relationship "wasn't just him nagging me about children."

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Emma Betsinger and Mike Gibney meet her family on Season 10, Episode 9, of "Love is Blind."

Maybe that's because the kids issue "was really our only hiccup," she says. "Other than that, everything was great, and there wasn't a lot of drama."

However, it was a big enough "hiccup" that Mike brought it up as the two stood at the altar. Episode 11 ended on a cliffhanger, leaving viewers wondering whether he would say "yes" to Emma.

Though she can't discuss the outcome until the reunion releases on March 11, Emma reflects on how she felt during filming: "We had a lot of fun on our dates. He made me feel so safe, and we had so much fun together. It felt like we were strong partners for each other."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Love is Blind' Emma speaks out on her cast photo's 'blurred' arm

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