Naples' Lexi Paloma stars in Paramount+ pansexual dating series 'Love Allways'
Lexi Paloma admits it got overwhelming at times: Thirteen men and women, all competing to be her one “special person” on the new TV dating show “Love Allways.”
And amid all that drama and hyped-up emotions, the 20-year-old Paloma still had college homework to do.
It got to be a bit much, the former Naples woman says. That’s why she had what she jokingly calls a “full mental breakdown” in episode two of the Paramount+ reality series ― tears and all.
“I had two college finals due that night,” she says. “And it was also the third day of filming. And I was sooo overwhelmed (laughs).”
Thankfully, things have calmed down since then. The TV series premiered June 2, but she says it was filmed in April and May 2022 in a sprawling Los Angeles house later bought by rapper Bad Bunny.
Now all Paloma has to do is relax and watch everything unfold.
“It’s almost like having my journal on a TV show,” she says. “But at the time, I was really just soaking in everything. …
“Just being in a huge house with a crew of over 100 people … I was like, ‘Wow, everyone is here and they’re all working on this and giving it their all.’ I mean, it was euphoric, in a way. I was very grateful.”
Another reason she’s grateful: “Love Allways” offers a rare dating show with a pansexual spin. Paloma identifies as pansexual and dates both men and women.
For her, gender doesn’t matter at all. It’s the person.
“I can’t lie,” she says. “It’s a little hard to watch yourself, like, break down on a TV screen or just have emotions on a TV screen. ...
"But besides that, I’m really grateful for the opportunity to show some pansexual representation.”
Here’s more about Paloma and “Love Allways,” which streams on Paramount+ and YouTube.
‘Love Allways’ star Lexi Paloma grew up in Naples, Florida
Paloma was born in Durham, North Carolina, and moved to Naples in July 2003 when she was 10 months old, says her Naples dad, Trent Holt. She graduated from Gulf Coast High, the same Collier County school where Holt teaches history.
Paloma ― who now lives in Los Angeles ― often acts and models when she’s not studying at Los Angeles’ Loyola Marymount University. But she got her start performing in Southwest Florida at Gulfshore Playhouse, Sugden Theatre, The Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs and elsewhere.
“I’ve been acting since I was 4 years old,” she says.
Now she’s getting the most national exposure of her young career on “Love Allways,” and she hopes that leads to even more acting and modeling jobs.
Watching at home in Naples, her dad says it can be weird seeing his daughter’s face on the TV screen. Sometimes he gets emotional talking about the show.
“I’ll get upset and start crying talking about it,” Holt says. “Because I’m so proud of her, you know?”
How Paloma got cast on ‘Love Allways’
“It’s kind of crazy how it all came about,” Holt says about his daughter’s TV debut. “It just came out of nowhere.”
Producers for the show saw Paloma’s LGBTQ content on social media and reached out to her through a message on TikTok, she says. That led to a video audition, then a few more videos and phone calls.
Eventually, she got the part in about February 2022, she says. And to her surprise, she wasn’t just one of the men and women competing on the show: She was the “bachelorette” they’d all be trying to woo during various dates and challenges.
The show’s producers did have to make one tweak to the concept, though. They originally wanted to call Paloma bisexual, but she pointed out she was actually pansexual.
“They were very amicable,” she says, “and willing to re-write the script and say, ‘Oh, Lexi’s pansexual.’”
The difference between bisexual and pansexual
Paloma sees “Love Allways” as a great way to get more pansexual viewpoints on TV. And it’s also a teachable moment for people who don’t know the difference between bisexuality and pansexuality.
Her sexuality is front and center on the show. In the first episode, she describes herself as a “Hispanic pansexual female” who’s missing a spark in her dating life.
The difference between bisexuality and pansexuality comes down to gender, Paloma says.
“Bisexual people feel emotional love and connection in terms of gender,” she says. “It’s male or female. And to me, pansexual can be attracted (to) and fall in love with anyone regardless of their sexual orientation or gender ― so a transgender individual or a nonbinary individual.
“For me, I really don’t see a person for their gender or their orientation.”
Similar TV shows have been done before, she says, but “Love Allways” is the first she knows about that features her age group and this specific criteria. “So I’m really grateful that I had the opportunity to do it.”
Filming ‘Love Allways’ in Los Angeles
The show was filmed over April and May 2022, Paloma says. She stayed in a guest house on the grounds, separate from the rest of the show’s cast who had the run of the sprawling main house.
The show involves the contestants ― called “daters” ― going on dates with Paloma in and around the house. They also compete in various challenges.
At the end of each episode, Paloma consults with her dating coaches and eliminates or “unmatches” one of the daters.
That last part wasn’t easy.
“Oh my gosh, it was so stressful!” she says. “I don’t think I realized how stressful that would be. …
“These are real people that I’ve been hanging out with for almost a month. So definitely it gets down to the wire (laughs). I end up kind of losing it for a couple of eliminations. I definitely cry a lot.”
Oh, the drama
There’s a lot of drama on “Love Allways,” of course. It’s reality TV.
The cameras were always rolling, and the microphones were always hot, she says. So they picked up every single thing, no matter how sneaky people thought they were being.
“I could not have expected what went down in this show,” Paloma says. “Like, a majority of the drama that happens was NOT scripted. And there was even more drama that happened that didn’t even make it on the show.”
Even Paloma didn’t know what would happen each day. She says she’d get briefed a mere 20 minutes before their dates and other activities.
“A lot of the dates were very extravagant,” she says. “Just wait ‘til the last episode.
“Some of the dates that we go on ― I was like, ‘Wow, this is like an experience that I’m gonna remember forever.’ It was incredible.”
For Paloma’s dad, a lot of what he’s seeing on the show now feels like reruns. Paloma and Holt are really close, and she was often calling him in Naples for emotional support during the show's filming.
“So I have a very different point of view then most people that watch it,” Holt says, “Because I can remember, ‘Oh, I remember her telling me about that girl! Or that guy!’ …
“She was sharing with me what was going on ― as much as she could without giving herself away.”
Can you really find true love on reality TV?
“Love Allways” pitches the show as Paloma’s search for true love. But she says she went in there with realistic expectations.
“It’s really hard when there’s 13 people and you get to interact with them for two hours out of a 24-hour day ― if even that,” she says. “Nobody can hope to sincerely make a romantic, emotional connection with someone after knowing them for three days or even two weeks or even a month. I feel like those things can sometimes take a lot longer.”
Still, Paloma says she tried to be open and sincere with everyone there. And she’s stayed friends with a lot of the daters, more than a year after the show wrapped filming.
“More than anything, I wanted to give every person on the show a fair chance and really at least try to form a connection with every person on the show,” she says. “I wanted to be very sincere and genuine and take everything for what it was.”
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What’s next for Lexi Paloma?
Paloma’s still in college. She recently transferred from American University in Washington, D.C., to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
She’s double-majoring in foreign policy and public relations, and hopes to eventually work in the PR field when she graduates in a year or two.
She’s also continuing to pursue an acting and modeling career. “Love Allways” has already opened more opportunities for that, she says.
It wasn’t easy continuing to do her college coursework while filming the show, she says, but she powered through.
“I’m glad that I stayed in school,” she says, “and I was able to finish the semester.”
Learn more about Lexi Paloma at instagram.com/lollyzlexi (or type @lollyzkexi).
How to watch 'Love Allways'
“Love Allways” streams every week on the Paramount+ app and AwesomenessTV, the YouTube channel for show producers Awesomeness Unscripted & Digital Franchise Studio.
There will be 10 episodes in all, according to a May news release.
For more about Paramount+, visit paramountplus.com.
— Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. For news tips or other entertainment-related matters, call him at 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him at crunnells@gannett.com. You can also connect with him on Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), Twitter (@charlesrunnells) and Instagram (@crunnells1).
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: 'Love Allways' on Paramount+: Get to know Lexi Paloma of Naples
