Love may or may not be blind, but numbers don't lie.
And that's why viewers were slightly skeptical when they tuned into season five of Love Is Blind to see a 25-year-old in the pods, proclaiming he was ready to settle down. But not all twentysomethings who sign on to take part in Netflix's reality dating experiment are Milton Johnson.
While he may be the youngest guy in the pod squad, the petroleum engineer with a penchant for microscopes and moustaches has proven to be one of the more mature members of this season's cast. But it took time for 30-year-old Lydia Gonzalez, 30, to come to terms with his age, even after they had an immediate spark thanks to their mutual love for rocks. (Yes, really.)
"Oh my god, Milton, you're younger than my brother!" Lydia exclaimed during their first conversation, going on to tell the camera, "He's too young for me."
However, there was an undeniable connection between the unlikely pair, with Milton ultimately proposing to Lydia. And now they are one of just two couples left in the experiment heading into the Oct. 13 finale.
"It's okay for them to be cautious of a younger person," Milton told E! News in an exclusive interview about the initial concerns over his age. "I think if you look at, there are younger people who may not have always portrayed themselves in the best light."
However, Milton continued, "My accomplishments and the things that I strive to do, speak much further and more volumes to who I am as a person than just my age."
A prime example of Milton's emotional maturity was his reaction—or lack of one, rather—when it was revealed that Lydia had previously dated Uche Okoroha, one of the men he had developed a friendship with in the early stages of the experiment. While Lydia and Uche's romantic history ultimately led Aaliyah Cosby to leave the show early after developing a connection with lawyer Uche, it was virtually a non-factor for Milton.
And that didn't change even after the former couple had a heated argument during a cast reunion BBQ.
"My perception is the exact same as it was then, it hasn't shifted," Milton said. "If you're asking for my perception of their relationship, that may be a better question for one of them because they dated prior to me. So I couldn't comment on it."
Milton never considered ending his engagement over the revelation, explaining why he felt an immediate attraction to his future fiancé.
"The first thing that I remembered about Lydia was her accent actually," Milton recalled. "I was just curious and I made a joke. She was like, 'I'm from Puerto Rico,' and I said, 'Oh, nice, so you look like Cardi B?' Come to find out that Cardi B is not from Puerto Rico." (Come on, Milton, she's from the Bronx!)
Blunder aside, Milton found he was able to go deeper with Lydia, explaining, "in the past, I used my humor to get me a majority of the way there."
While they enjoyed each other's playfulness, Milton said "our values were so aligned," and the fact that Lydia worked in a similar industry—she's a geologist—was a huge bonus.
"It's nice for her to understand the difficulty of the work-life balance and balancing a relationship with an operational job," Milton explained, "what's needed of me by industry and of a relationship as well. It just felt right."
But does that mean he will say yes at the altar?
While we wait to see if Milton and Lydia get married in the finale—dropping Oct. 13—we're looking back at all of the previous Love Is Blind couples.
Love Is Blind is streaming on Netflix.