Six Feet, Six Figures, Six Pack—and Why Bello Became the Prize on Ready to Love

For generations, women were raised on a spiritual and cultural framework that shaped how love and marriage were understood.

Scripture itself reinforced the hierarchy: “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 18:22).

The language was intentional. Men pursued. Women were discovered. Partnership was framed as alignment rather than competition, and a wife was not something to be contended over, but something to be found.

Today’s dating landscape tells a very different story—one that suggests we are operating under an entirely new theology, shaped less by scripture and more by scarcity.

Each season, Ready to Love presents itself as a social experiment, assembling equal numbers of men and women who declare themselves ready for commitment and inviting viewers to observe how intention plays out in practice. Yet as the series unfolds, a familiar pattern emerges. While the numbers may begin evenly, desire rarely remains so. Instead, it narrows and concentrates, funneling toward a very specific type of man—one who meets what has quietly become the modern standard of desirability: six feet tall, six-figure income, and a visibly fit physique.

The now-normalized 6-6-6 standard is not rooted in vanity alone. It reflects a deeper longing for security in a time when stability feels increasingly fragile. Women are navigating emotional labor, financial independence, and social expectation simultaneously, and wanting a partner who appears ready is neither unreasonable nor misguided. The issue arises when readiness is defined so narrowly that scarcity becomes inevitable, because scarcity always reshapes power.

This season, that dynamic crystallizes around Bello. Tall, articulate, charismatic, and affluent, Bello is a real estate developer who owns a REIT geared towards economic empowerment for his community. He carries himself with the confidence of a man accustomed to being taken seriously. (and on top of all that, he has a British accent that makes him sound sophisticated and cultured regardless of the conversation.) 

Bello represents not just attraction, but assurance—emotional, financial, and social. As the season approaches its conclusion, two women remain in proximity to him: Lauren and Dominique. What viewers are encouraged to read as rivalry is, in truth, something far more revealing about modern dating economics.

Lauren and Dominique are often positioned as opposites, but what distinguishes them is not competition so much as the different ways feminine power is embodied. Lauren moves through the world with composed, statuesque elegance that feels effortless and assured. Her beauty is visual and immediate, the kind that commands attention through poise rather than performance. She represents a modern ideal of desirability rooted in polish, independence, and self-containment.

Dominique, by contrast, operates on a more visceral frequency. Her appeal extends beyond appearance into energy, carrying a sensual, vixen-like presence that feels innate rather than curated. There is a strong feminine force to her that quietly affirms masculinity without surrendering her own authority. It is the kind of sex appeal that does not chase validation, but instead offers affirmation, stroking a man’s ego simply through proximity and emotional attunement. Men do not just see Dominique; they feel her.

That distinction matters because attraction is not solely visual—it is experiential. While Lauren’s presence reflects contemporary ideals of beauty and autonomy, Dominique’s energy aligns more closely with a traditional, even biblical expression of femininity—one rooted in magnetism rather than measurement, influence rather than performance. Scripture often frames feminine power not as loud or competitive, but as embodied and assured, capable of drawing rather than chasing. In a dating culture increasingly shaped by metrics and milestones, Dominique’s presence feels almost countercultural.

Yet neither woman is diminished by comparison. Both are accomplished, emotionally available, and fully formed. The tension viewers perceive between them is not born of insecurity, but of structure. When only one man embodies the collective ideal of readiness—financially, physically, and emotionally—different expressions of womanhood inevitably converge toward the same outcome. What appears to be rivalry is, in reality, a symptom of scarcity.

Earlier in the season, Stephen—a teacher—was eliminated despite being tall, fit, and emotionally grounded. What he lacked was not character, connection, or potential, but comparable financial capital. In a dating environment that prioritizes completion over growth, men who are still building are often treated as risks rather than partners. The shift is subtle but profound: instead of asking who someone could grow with, the question becomes who already has it all.

As a result, men who meet the 6-6-6 standard inherit leverage without necessarily seeking it. They are afforded time, patience, and optionality, while women—despite being told they are the prize—find themselves navigating competition shaped by imbalance rather than desire. Scarcity compresses choice, accelerates attachment, and reframes dating as a contest rather than a collaboration.

What Ready to Love ultimately exposes is not a failure of individual behavior, but a broader cultural distortion. There may be no shortage of men or women, but there is a pronounced shortage of men who meet every socially reinforced marker of desirability at once. In that environment, the prize inevitably shifts. Men like Bello are not elevated because women lack value, but because scarcity has rewritten the rules.

Scripture never promised perfection—only partnership. Yet modern dating has quietly replaced covenant with criteria, subtly revising Proverbs to suggest that favor belongs not to the man who finds a wife, but to the man who checks every box. Until abundance is reintroduced into how readiness is defined, the prize will continue to move, and love will remain less about discovery and more about survival.

Ready to Love airs Fridays at 8 p.m. EST on OWN, offering viewers not just entertainment, but an unfiltered mirror into the beliefs shaping modern relationships. What it reflects may be uncomfortable, but it is undeniably honest.