Blake claimed he’s ‘broke’ on Love Is Blind, but he’s one of the richest cast members

Blake from Love Is Blind season 11 has claimed he’s “broke” on the show, but a look at his career history suggests he might be doing a lot better than he lets on. So, let’s try and get to the bottom of how much he’s really worth.

Money was a sticking point between Blake and Erika throughout their relationship. Erika told Tudum she’d been watching for financial “patterns and traits” like “what credit cards are they using? Are they paying with cash?” When it came to possibly buying a home together in St. Thomas, she said she “couldn’t foot the bill all on my own because I already have a mortgage,” and needed to know if they both had “the ability to split 50/50 rent or buy a property.”

But before he became a yacht captain, Blake spent years working on Wall Street. His LinkedIn has since been deleted, but it seems his whole career history has been picked up by the Success AI website.

He started his career at PwC

Blake’s first job in business came in 2006, when he spent five months as an intern at PwC’s Entrepreneurial Services Center, evaluating business plans and balance sheets. Big Four internships are usually paid between $15 and $25 an hour, so that placement would probably have earned him around $10,000 to $18,000.

In 2011, he did another internship at investment firm Windham Capital Group, researching potential investors for hedge fund managers. As a much smaller firm, it was likely low-paid at best.

Then he moved into finance full-time

Later in 2011, Blake joined Capital Hedge, which provides investment research and databases to hedge funds and private equity firms. He started as an investor research analyst, a role that would typically pay around $40,000 to $60,000 a year. Within six months, he was promoted to senior sales executive, which could have taken his pay to anywhere from $60,000 to over $100,000 with commission.

His biggest pay packet likely came at Meridian Capital, where he worked as an associate from March 2013 to July 2016, helping clients secure financing to buy and develop commercial real estate, from office blocks to hotels. According to Wall Street Oasis, analysts at the company earn an average of $83,525 a year in total pay, and the company-wide median is $70,000 including bonus. As an associate, Blake would probably have been on roughly $70,000 to $120,000 a year.

He also launched his own vodka brand

After leaving Wall Street, Blake launched Misadventure & Co. in Vista, California in 2016. He describes it as the “world’s first carbon positive distillery based in Vista, Ca. We up-cycle unsold baked goods from local bakeries and turn them into a multi award winning Vodka.”

This could be where the “broke” comment comes from. Founders of small distilleries often pay themselves very little in the early years and put their own savings into the business. On the other hand, if he still owns a stake in an award-winning brand, it could be worth a fair amount.

He’s now a yacht captain

Blake eventually got his licence and now works as a yacht captain for Sailing Collective, which sees him sailing all over the world. According to his Instagram, he’s currently in Kyrgyzstan.

Yacht captains earn around $84,988 a year on average, but pay depends a lot on the size of the boat. Captains of smaller yachts under 30 metres are usually paid around €5,000 to €6,000 a month before tips, and as Sailing Collective runs smaller sailing trips, Blake may be paid per trip or per season.

So how rich is Blake actually?

Blake’s net worth is estimated around $646,000, using the formula from the book The Millionaire Next Door. With over a decade in finance and business behind him, he’s unlikely to be broke in the way most people would mean it.

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