The following is a cast guide for the OWN program “Ready To Love” and its spin-offs.
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Season 5 Cast Members
| Network(s) | OWN |
| Created or Developed By- | Will Packer |
| First Aired | 10/15/2021 |
Groups
- The Brown Girl Squad (5.9): Comprised of Kamil, Zadia, and Mumen.
Elimination Order
| Episode (Episode 1 is Casting Special) | Bottom 2 | Eliminated |
|---|---|---|
| 2 (Men and Women Choose) | Lamont and Corey
Tisia and Libba |
Lamont & Libba |
| 3 (Women Choose) | Corey and Corrington | Corrington |
| 4 (Men Choose) | Tisia and Kheri | Kheri |
| 5 (Women Choose) – Two New Singles Added | Corey and Tyrone | Corey and Tyrone – Double Elimination |
| 6 (Men Choose) – Get To Know Someone Not In Your Top | Kamil and Courtney | Courtney |
| 7 (Women Choose) – Meeting The Friends | Cornelius and Shawn | Shawn |
| 8 (Men Choose) – Meet The Exes | Tisia and Sabrina | Tisia |
| 9 (Women Choose) – Group Vacation | Cornelius and Nai’im | Cliff Hanger |
| 10 (Men Choose) | Mumen and Zadia | By Decision: Cornelius, Zadia
Self-Elimination: Kamil, Nai’im |
| 11 (Women Choose) – Meet The Family (Men Meet The Ladies’) | No Elimination By Decision | Self-Elimination: Shiloh |
| 12 (Final Choices) – Meet The Family (Ladies Meet The Men’s) | N/A | By Decision: Walter
Self-Elimination: Sabrina |
| Final Couples | Sidney and Phil
Frank and Mumen Donta and Aisha |
|
| Couples Post-Reunion Show | Phil and Sidney | |
Frank Mills
Frank is 35 years old, is a beverage brand owner (Daring Kombucha Cocktails), and his last relationship lasted 4 and a half years.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- When Was The Last Relationship (5.7): 3 years ago
- 1st Generation (5.11): Frank is the first in his family born on American soil and they are originally from the Korle Gonno, Korle Bu area, near Accra, in Ghana.
Quotes & Gifs
Corey
Corey is a 40-year-old gym owner and body transformation expert who boasts going on over 100 dates in the past 12 months, thanks to his copy-paste online dating routine. However, while he is good on the first date, the second date is a struggle.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Red Flags (5.1): He doesn’t like when women check their cell phones, get verbally disrespectful, or let themselves go.
- Eliminated Episode 5
Quotes & Gifs
Phil
Phil is a 37-year-old entrepreneur whose focus is consulting for government agencies, alongside running his own marketing and public relationships company. His last relationship was 2 and a half years and ended due to her not being ready for the next step. Currently, he has been single for a year and a half, and just lost his mother a few years ago. Also, he has no kids.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- From (5.7): Queens, NY
- My Best Friend (5.10): His mother was his best friend, and she died 4 years ago
Quotes & Gifs
Shiloh
Shiloh is a 33-year-old intimacy coach whose last relationship ended, 2 years ago, for she found out the man was married.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- What’s Your Job Title Again? (5.2): She is a technical program analyst and life coach, with a focus on intimacy coaching
- Ethnic Mix (5.2): She is half Trinidadian and half Mexican
- Childhood Trauma (5.2): Notes she has abandonment issues due to her parents’ divorce which took over 3 years and transformed her affectionate childhood into a tumultuous one.
- Love Language (5.3): Physical Touch
- Love Language (5.4): Words of Affirmation and discrete PDA
- Elimination (5.11): Self-eliminates
Quotes & Gifs
Courtney
Courtney is a 30-year-old marketing consultant who has one child but is no longer with the child’s father due to him not accepting they aren’t who they were when they met 5 years ago.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Love Language (5.3): Physical Touch
- Eliminated: Episode 6
Quotes & Gifs
Kamil Hazel
Kamil is a 42-year-old teacher who has taught within the performing arts field for 13 years. But, while accomplished in her professional life, her personal life has been sketchy. For example, she has been engaged at least 3 times but ended each engagement. The reason? Well, she doesn’t reveal that but it seems she has a pattern of ending the relationship when it gets to be a bit much.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Education & Experience (5.2): Is working on her doctorate and directed plays and musicals in the past
- Degrees (5.4): Has two masters and a bachelors
- Minister In The Family (5.3): Grandfather is a minister
- Mommy Dearest (5.6): She has a son
- Self-Eliminated: Episode 10
- Multiple Personalities (5.13): Notes she has two alternative personalities. One is Shay-Shay, who is a firecracker, and then Olivia, who is the emotional one.
Quotes & Gifs
Cornelius Bryant
Cornelius is a 39-year-old electrical engineer who would describe himself as a country boy and whose last relationship was about a year ago. But, he is ready to love and wants to get married and have a long-lasting relationship like his parents, who have been together 38 years. And between his faith in God and abstinence, he is hoping to be worthy of the right woman.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Specific Field (5.2): Aircrafts
- Origins (5.2): He’s from Kansas
- Love Language (5.3): Gift giving
- Eliminated: Episode 10
Quotes & Gifs
Mumen Ngenge
Mumen is a 36-year-old singer/songwriter who is very big on spirituality and wants a God-fearing man who will take initiative and practice abstinence until marriage.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Love Language (5.3): Acts of Service are her love language
- Relationship With Father (5.4): Is strained
- Family Planning (5.8): With her not necessarily being close to her family, she hopes to, with her partner, have 3 kids and form that kind of bond between them.
- Family Background (5.11): Her dad’s family is from West Africa, specifically Cameroon
- Number Of Kids Desired (1.12): 3
Quotes & Gifs
Aisha Finch
Aisha is a 38-year-old hair salon owner whose previous relationship was a marriage that lasted 11 years until he cheated on her. Together, they have two kids, one boy, and one girl, and Aisha is hoping to meet someone a little bit sensitive, maybe a touch of shy.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- How Long Divorced (5.2): 3 to 4 years
- Marriage (5.3): Was married from 19 to 31
- Age of Children (5.4): Are 13 and 15
- Origins (5.5): She is from the Bronx
- Middle Child (5.5): She is the third of eight children
- Astrological Sign (5.5): She is a gemini
- Hobbies (5.6): Loves to cook, with lobster being her favorite dish
Quotes & Gifs
I tell him all the time to stretch because when you let them stretch, then you see how far they wander. You’re gonna see if that rubber band gonna pop back, or you’ll see if that rubber band gonna snap and pop.
— Aisha (5.7)
Walter Maxwell Jones
The self-proclaimed reformed thug is an entrepreneur and 46 years of age, who is a widow. He was with a woman for 9 years, back when he was a thug and not necessarily a gentleman, and by the time he got her life together, and she graduated college, they were married a year and a half, and then she died.
How? Well, she had a cyst on her ovary, about the size of a grapefruit, and the surgery didn’t go well.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Origins (5.1): He is originally from Maryland
- Do You Want Kids (5.2): Walter does
- When Did She Die (5.2): His ex-wife died when she was 28
- Aftermath (5.6): After his wife’s passing, he reverted to his wild 19-year-old ways for a while.
- Love Language (5.2): Touch
- Mommy’s Favorite (5.2): Walter took care of his mom the last three years of her life and she even died in his arms.
- Faith (5.3): Is spiritual, not religious
- Relationship With Father (5.4): His father left when he was 2, and is Filipino. He tried to reconnect with a 6-page letter, but that didn’t work out
- Raised By (5.6): Grandmother, cousin, sister, and mom
- Education (5.7): Went to Morgan State on a full scholarship, with a focus on Electrical Engineering
- Age Preference (5.11): Generally Walter dates younger women but he notes with Sabrina, she is about the age his wife would have been if she lived.
Quotes & Gifs
Zadia Murphy
When it comes to Zadia, banter is her love language and the 35-year-old personal trainer’s whole family loves it, and just generally talking s***.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Love Language (5.8): Quality Time and Physical Touch
- Eliminated: Episode 10
Quotes & Gifs
Sabrina
The mother of an 8-year-old daughter, 48-year-old fashion designer, Sabrina, is just trying to find a man, a good man, who isn’t already married and has a pleasurably sized penis to spend life with.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Origins (5.2): Was born in Seoul, Korea
- Caretaker (5.2): She helps to take care of her 80-year-old parents and doesn’t really have an outlet since she is a single mom doing a lot on her own and while her mother helps to take care of her dad, it’s a lot.
- Private Dancer (5.9): She was a dancer for 10 years
- Reasoning (5.10): Between being bullied while growing up, combined with having to figure out a way to make money at 18/19, that’s why she did it.
Quotes & Gifs
[…] don’t rush into anything just because somebody said the right things to you at the right time.
— Sabrina (5.10)
Donta Smith
Donta is a deputy superintendent and at 38, he has 3 children by 3 different women. In his spare time, he likes to hike, meditate, avoids clubs, and lives a vegan lifestyle. Also, he is originally from Chicago and his last relationship ended due to it being long distance.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Children Diversity (5.6): He has two girls and one boy.
- Love Language (5.8): Depending on the person, his love language is physical touch
Quotes & Gifs
Carrington Barbour
The 33-year-old marking firm CEO, Carrington, is trying to end his string of situationships and find himself something real. His last relationship was 6 years old and produced his daughter, and it seems his career as a nightlife entrepreneur/ restaurateur has made dating difficult. But, he sees himself as a chameleon who likes an alpha woman that knows how to switch it up just like him.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Relationship History (5.3): Has never been in a relationship
- Eliminated: Episode 3
Quotes & Gifs
Tyrone Wilson
Tyrone is a 44-year-old cyber security CEO who has been single for 3 years and is a military man (with his career starting right out of high school). He comes to Ready To Love with a few issues due to seeing his mother cheat on his dad over the course of his parents’ 20-year relationship.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Places He Has Been Stationed (5.2): Include Korea, and he speaks some
- Post-Military (5.3): He has PTSD and Anxiety (which has led to two hospitalizations)
- Tours (5.3): Was deployed twice
- Eliminated: Episode 5
Quotes & Gifs
Lamont Wilkins
44-year-old Lamont works in cyber security and was married when he was 22, until his wife cheated. When not working, you can find him at an open mic night due to his love of spoken word.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Eliminated: Episode 2
- How Long Was He Single? (5.2): 7 years
Quotes & Gifs
Kheri Carter
Kheri is a 38-year-old interior designer who got married at 21 and was divorced by the end of her 22nd year. Since then, she has mostly found good time or hangout buddy-type relationships which is unfortunate for her since she is an all-in kind of woman. The type who will give you wifey privileges while she is your girlfriend.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Eliminated: Episode 4
Quotes & Gifs
Libba
A 44-year-old professor of marketing, Libba has been unhappily married for a good part of her life and wants to experience love the way she knows it should be with a man who loves God. However, it has been tough since dating in DC is competitive and she doesn’t have a big ol’ booty. She does like to cook though.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Eliminated: Episode 2
- Marriage background (5.2): She got married at 19 and divorced 20 years later
Quotes & Gifs
Nai’im
Na’im is a 40-year-old programmer whose ex was in the military, and he notes he likes his women fit, highly melanated, who wear out their natural hair and put on very little makeup. Being from the Caribbean is also a notable plus for him.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Eliminated: Episode 10
Quotes & Gifs
Tisia
Tisia is a 33-year-old tech startup founder who likes masculine, bearded men who are medium ugly, since she doesn’t like the work it takes to deal with a fine guy. But, with that said, she wants a provider, alpha male type who wants kids and a family, and is going to spoil her.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5
- Marriage? Kids (5.2): No previous marriage and no kids
- Education (5.4): Got her Masters at 22
- Background (5.6): Her parents are from Mississippi, but she was raised in Chicago
- Eliminated: Episode 8
Quotes & Gifs
Shawn
Shawn is a 44-year-old creative and journalist whose last relationship was pre-pandemic.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5/ Episode 5 “Sink or Swim”
- Origins (5.6): He grew up in Macon, Georgia and is Baptist
- Eliminated (5.7)
Quotes & Gifs
Sidney
Sidney is a 33-year-old entrepreneur from southern New Jersey.
Additional Information
- Introduced In Season 5/ Episode 5 “Sink or Swim”
- You Got Your Passport? (5.8): Lived in Japan for two years
- Where Your Parents From? (5.8): Her dad is from Brooklyn
Quotes & Gifs
Tanika Ray
Stepping in for Nephew Tommy, due to him catching COVID, Tanika handles hosting duties for the reunion special.
Additional Information
- Introduced In: Season 5/ Episode 13 “DC Reunion Special: Part 1”
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You mad? Why? Can you answer my question? ?
Why?
Does everyone on ready to love wear veneers? They all have perfectly straight white teeth.
Does everyone on ready to love have veneers? Every last one of them seem to have perfect teeth.
I’m mad you said that lol
Can “Ready to love” consider a BBW (big and beautiful), version? I know you have to have a variety of ladies in your pool. However, I felt it was unfair for full figured sisters like Tessa, who almost got eliminated early, because she just wasn’t the majority of the men’s “type”. You’re either attracted to plus size or you’re not. In the end, they may reconsider their position, but those types usually end up not lasting or having a brother wanting to change a sister. BTW, thanks for changing your format from what you had in season 1. Having 12 women competing for just 4 men, had me livid. WTF?!
I totally agree with Crystal about Arron, he should not have even been on the show Period!
Just wondering if OWN TV and Will Packer Productions conducted background checks (criminal, civil) on the cast of Ready to Love. An internet search revealed one of the females has a criminal record and the occupation of one the males is questionable. Both were in the Cabin episode. Were these people properly vetted?
Hello, I’d like to say I really liked the Series Ready to love watching the show really represents the reality of what it’s like to get to know someone on a different level which was real for me, I can’t wait until the next season. One more thing Arron was full of mess from the beginning I don’t know how he made it to the end.