Rob and Sophie are both major hotties who instantly fell for each other.
They do have a lot in common, even though they grew up in different countries with very different economic realities.
As Sophie prepares to trade in her London flat for Rob’s no-bathroom studio apartment, she has something to tell him.
Coming out won’t change anything for them, though, right?
Rob Warne and Sophie Sierra
23-year-old Brit Sophie is not shy about her upbringing. She grew up in an affluent family. And she’s very honest about her family money’s source — her grandfather worked hard, at a time when hard work alone was enough to build wealth without extraordinary luck, and she and her parents continue to benefit. Sophie works as a model, because she’s almost unbelievably gorgeous. She likes that this work allows her to move from place to place.
But life hasn’t always been easy
Sophie is biracial, as her father is Black. Growing up, she faced a lot of racism, particularly when she lived in Spain without anyone else who was Black nearby. Extremely famously, Spain violently expelled its primary Black population in the late 1400s — right before launching the Inquisition. So, while Black people have been in Europe since before the advent of Christianity, Spain is not exactly a beacon of diversity. And let’s be honest — you don’t need to be in Spain to face racism. So, now a young adult, Sophie kept an eye out for other folks who could relate.
So Sophie followed accounts that shared pics of biracial models
One of those models was Rob, a good-looking guy from Los Angeles. He is 32, he is also biracial, and Sophie says that he’s the only guy from these accounts whom she actually followed. (She’s stronger than I am; Hot People Aggregator accounts will double your following count if you’re not careful) Sophie eventually reached out to him … and things took off from there.
Meet Rob
32-year-old Rob comes from a less affluent background than Sophie. She does feel that they have a lot in common. Money changes so many things, but racism is extremely widespread. Meanwhile, we meet Rob, who is quick to introduce himself as a guy who … prioritizes his partner’s hotness. Look, maybe he listed a lot of other qualities that he loves about Sophie. Maybe editors excluded all of that. But it sure sounds like Sophie being the hottest girl he’s ever been with is really important to him. Rob prides himself on this hottie-for-hottie romance.
To be clear, they did talk a lot
But apparently, very early on, Rob sent Sophie a video call out of the blue. She wonders if this is normal in America — it is not — but, even though she was getting this random call by someone she’d barely greeted online, Sophie answered. That call would then last eight hours. They really hit it off and got along. This turned into the beginning of their love story.
They met in person
Eventually, Sophie came to Los Angeles and began living with Rob for about two months. Unfortunately, things in the long term aren’t that easy, so Sophie had to leave. However, she says that she suggested the K-1 visa as a solution. Which more or less worked out that she was the one who proposed. Oh, she also made a comment about him having a “pea head” that was too small for his buff body. That said, Sophie gushes about how much she loves him on camera, remarking that it’s “cringe” how much she adores him. That’s cute!
But …
Rob worries that Sophie has “rich girl tendencies.” Maybe she does. Or maybe he lives in a one-room studio apartment that has a possible bug infestation and no bathroom. Maybe both. He doesn’t feel like she has a realistic idea of the world, and we don’t know enough about them to say if he’s right or not. Meanwhile, Sophie has seen his apartment before. She’s not sure how to pack for the small space, and she’d rather hold it than trek across a courtyard in the middle of the night to use what’s essentially an outhouse with plumbing. Fair!
How’s “Rob the Knob?”
Sophie’s mother, Claire, is very close to her daughter. She is not a fan of Rob. Knob is a British euphemism for penis, which truly makes the morphology of British dongs sound much more dismal than it likely is. One hopes. Anyway, though dongs are generally fun and popular things, Claire does not call him Rob the Knob out of affection. She sees him as both stupid and grumpy. Sophie wants her mom and Rob to get along, because they will — through her — become family.
Sophie IS anxious about Rob’s home
She’s been urging him to move out. In Sophie’s mind, he’s not understanding how seriously she wants to live in a fully functional home. But she asks her mom to not call him — she doesn’t want anything to ‘scare him off” before the wedding.
Rob meets up with his friend, Tor’i
Tor’i’s name’s pronunciation is “Tor Eye,” by the way. He’s helping Rob work out choreography for a 20-second dance that he plans to use to greet Sophie at the airport. Tor’i thinks that Sophie seems like a nice girl, but “she’s young” (true) and “she’s doing a lot of things that make me think that she’s not really here for Rob.” He claims that he saw her on a dating app (Bumble) during her last visit. Rob says that he knows, that she uses Bumble to look for friends, and has done this in multiple places as someone who’s lived in different countries — including Mexico. But Tor’i says that there are “red flags all over.”
Sophie meets up with Maya
Maya met and initially liked Rob, but a rough patch between him and Sophie caused Maya’s attitude to sour. Rob had been talking to a girl online during COVID-19 travel restrictions, but Sophie hopes that Maya has forgiven him. Maya hopes that Sophie knows what she’s doing, and that Rob has cleaned up his act.
There is one thing that Rob doesn’t know about Sophie
She hasn’t come out to him as bisexual. In fact, no one really knows. She comes out to her friend Maya over dinner. To viewers who very relatably sometimes forget that straight people exist, this is no surprise, but she wonders how Rob will react. Sometimes, people get weird about very normal things. Sophie doesn’t just blurt out her sexuality to people, because she doesn’t consider it their business, but she does want to tell Rob. Sophie doesn’t plan to explore sex with a woman unless it’s something that Rob is one day okay with. That’s a whole side of herself that she’s setting aside out of love for Rob.