After more than a month of speculation within Bachelor Nation, “The Bachelorette” Season 28 finalist Maria Gorgas has confirmed rumors that she has turned down “The Bachelorette.”
Gorgas, a 29-year-old executive assistant from Ontario, Canada, who was introduced as one of 32 women vying for Joey Graziadei's heart earlier this year, sat down with Alex Cooper of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast Wednesday episode To open up about her love life and her experience on “The Bachelor.”
“I was offered the role. It was mine until I said it wasn't,” she said. “It became so overwhelming that I had to step back.”
“I wasn’t prepared,” Gorgas added.
Cooper revealed that last month, Gorgas was supposed to appear on the podcast to promote her announcement as the next “Bachelorette.”
USA TODAY has reached out to ABC for comment.
Every year, producers and studio executives talk to several potential candidates — usually contestants from the last season — who might become the next “Bachelorette” or “Bachelorette” lead.
On March 25, after Graziadei's engagement to Kelsey Anderson was revealed in the “Bachelor” finale, the series was announced Jin Tran, a 26-year-old physician assistant student from Miami, Florida, will be the next “Bachelorette” lead. She will be the first Asian American to take on the role in the show's 22-year history.
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Maria Gorgas Says She 'Wasn't Mentally Prepared for 'The Bachelorette'
Gorgas spoke in detail about why moving forward with “The Bachelorette” was not in her best interest.
“When everyone around me was so supportive of me being in this situation and everyone wanted that for me, I took a moment. I said, 'Why am I not happy? Why am I not excited about this?' She said. “It took me realizing this wasn't my time, (and) I was like, 'Guys, with all due respect, I need to say no. I need to take a step back.' “I wasn't in the right place to do it.”
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Gorgas noted that doing the show wouldn't be better for her mental health, especially since she had difficulty filming the Graziadei season.
“What people saw on their screens was only half of what I went through at home,” she said, referring to the controversies she had with a few other contestants. “I was very anxious throughout the whole thing.”
“It's very isolating to be out there. And I had to give up my phone (and) my freedom — not my freedom, but having to be alone in it, I wasn't comfortable. I wasn't sane,” she continued. “I'm ready for that.”
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However, the reality TV star couldn't be happier with Tran being the next champion on the show.
“Jane, though, was the perfect choice,” Gorgas told Cooper. “She's the most perfect Bachelorette in my eyes. I couldn't think of anyone better to do it with. She was completely up for it, and that was enough for me to kind of say, 'Yes, this is not my time.'”
As for her future on the series, it seems that for now, fans shouldn't expect to see her on another “Bachelor” show anytime soon.
She's “very single” but there's no “paradise” in her future, a reference to ABC's summer spinoff “Bachelor in Paradise.”
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