Enix’s romance with Season 7 contestant Ryan Miller started after she “friended” him on Facebook after spotting him “chatting” with a cast member from Ohio that she had earlier befriended.
He contacted her in August and she is now planning to move to Michigan to be closer to him.
“He’s a great guy,” Enix said. “I am glad he went on the show because who knows if I would have found him.”
Enix said Miller caught her eye the moment he stepped out of the limo at “The Bachelorette” mansion.
“He was just dressed in this gray suit. That absolutely melted me,” she said. “I literally fell in love with him (watching him) on the show.”
Miller, a construction estimator from Novi, Mich., was eliminated from the show during the second episode of Season 7, which aired May to August, 2011.
Because of his participation in the show, Miller was barred from accessing his social media accounts until the last show from his season aired.
“Within the first week of being back on Facebook, I basically had 500 friend requests from girls between 18 and 35,” the 28-year-old said by phone.
He said Enix’s profile picture, taken during a Rascal Flatts country music concert in 100-degree heat, caught his eye.
“You could just tell she had a big personality,” he said. “I clicked on it (her profile) and quickly found out this was a beautiful girl.”
Online chats and messages lead to phone calls. He was so comfortable with Enix that he invited her in August to spend the weekend with his family in a Michigan cabin.
“I could just tell we had similar personalities and similar interests,” Miller said. “She wasn’t just a pretty face.”
From her profile Miller learned Enix, a career service representative for Lincoln College of Technology in Dayton, had volunteered three times at an orphanage in Benin in Africa. Miller’s father serves on the board of an organization that does evangelical and relief work in Africa.
“It was interesting enough that I would take a leap of faith with her,” he said. “She’s a state away and I was absolutely 100 percent sure I wanted to meet her.”
The pair had a date the night before the Miller family cabin trip and the attraction deepened.
Miller said he also had his eye on a woman from Columbus who had contacted him on Facebook.
He said that from the moment he met Enix, “there was zero interest in meeting this other girl.”
Coworkers nominated Miller for the show that has 25 bachelors competing for the love of one bachelorette. Although hoping to find love, he kept everything in perspective from the start.
“The actual chance of finding love on a show would be slim to none, but the experience would be once-in-a-lifetime,” Miller said.
Instead of finding love on the show, Miller said he found it with Enix.
The couple has spent nearly every weekend together since that first meeting and hope to marry.
“There is no doubt in my mind,” Miller said. “The intention is that eventually I will ask the famous question.”
He encourages others who meet online to take it slow.
“It took a decent amount of messages and phone calls for us to say we wanted to meet in person,” he said. “Everyone is not as lucky as we are.”
Enix said she is fortunate.
The recent graduate of Southeastern University, a Christian college in Lakeland, Fla., said she was considering trying out for the show this year.
“God had other plans,” she said. “I didn’t have to go to a casting call to find my love.”
Contact this reporter at arobinson @DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the Author
