Sandy Says Nick's Personality "Instantly Flipped" Filming The Ultimatum
"I did think that was an act for the cameras."
Spoiler alert: This post discusses events from the first six episodes of The Ultimatum Season 3.
The Ultimatum is hard on everyone, but Season 3 was especially tough on Sandy Gallagher and Nick Tramontin. When Nick’s trial wife Vanessa Hattaway prematurely left the experiment, he became hyper-fixated on Sandy’s bond with her trial husband J.R. Warren. It got to the point where Nick was bombarding Sandy with “hundreds” of text messages and unexpected visits while they were supposed to be apart. Sandy says this intensely emotional side of Nick was a total 180 from how he had behaved before filming the series.
“Nick and I's relationship was quite literally the opposite of what we see on the show prior to coming there, which is crazy,” Sandy tells Elite Daily. “He was very disconnected from me. My friends were actually surprised that he was the one giving me the ultimatum, because I was always the one crying for his attention and wanting more from him as a partner. He never showed up for me.”
But as soon as The Ultimatum began, that suddenly changed. “Once we started this experience, he instantly flipped,” Sandy says. “I actually thought it was disingenuous at first. I did think that was an act for the cameras. Looking back now, I know it was genuine and he was really struggling. But it was such a drastic shift from one extreme to another. What I was experiencing before going to the show was the extreme side of the neglect. And then this was the whole other extreme.”
Nick’s emotions were sent into overdrive after Vanessa suddenly exited the show, and he was left alone for weeks to stew. Sandy says she considered leaving with Nick at that time, but felt she was in an impossible position.
“I don't know if this is a mistake or a regret, but in that moment I realized that if Nick and I also leave, then this whole thing is pretty much done. There's literally going to be no show, no experience,” Sandy says. “Unselfishly, I was kind of sticking it all out. But I’m not going to lie, I didn’t know what the hell to do.”
When it was approaching the time for Sandy to get back with Nick, fellow contestant Mariah Zernik (who had also been abandoned by her trial spouse) warned Sandy that Nick’s behavior had grown concerning in the trial weeks. Sandy says she was specifically referring to some things that were not shown in the final edit.
“I knew exactly what she was talking about,” Sandy says. “She was trying to challenge him to work on certain things. She was giving him books to read, exercises to do, and she let me know that he didn't do any of them.”
Nick’s resistance to work on himself in that time didn’t come as a surprise to Sandy. “I've seen it all throughout our relationship,” she says. “He uses painting as a way to escape. And I love his art. But he uses escapism in a lot of other ways to cope. And I was experiencing that with him calling me hundreds of times. It just was very out of line and unhealthy.”
