Bad news, Bachelor Pad-watching romantics, if the show hasn’t beaten that spirit out of you already: Ames Brown and Jackie Gordon, who left together and in love on last night’s episode, are no longer together. “It was wonderful while it lasted,” though it lasted only a couple weeks, said Ames today in their post-show conference call, adding that he does not regret leaving the show with Jackie, who was eliminated. As Bachelor fans, of course we’re used to things not working out, but still! It seemed like those two were smitten enough to last for at least a couple months, not weeks!
And we weren’t the only ones saddened to learn directly from the source that the Pad‘s cutest lovebirds called it quits shortly after declaring in their exit interview that they’d “won” the show by finding love. Gia Allemand, who chose to exit the show after she became fed up with the betrayals and mindgames, was also on the call, and the breakup came as shocking news to her, too: “You two just, like, told me there’s no Santa Claus! If it was wonderful while it lasted, what the heck?” she demanded of her former castmates, adding, ” There’s no reason for you not to be together!”
Jackie and Ames went on to discuss other Bachelor Pad elements than their breakup — though they talked a lot about that, too — and Gia had lots to say about this season’s drama, including what she thinks of the people who made her life hardest in the Pad: Graham Bunn, Jake Pavelka, Kasey Kahl and Vienna Girardi.
Read on for highlights from their conference call:
Highlights from Gia:
On her ex-friendship with Graham:
I was extremely shocked at what Graham did to me. Graham is like Jake to me, so I couldn’t believe that he would sit there with me for — you guys only saw a few minutes but it was hours of talking, catching up, like planning this and like being “Oh it’s going to be great, we’re going to kick out the power couples, we’re going to get out the drama, we’re going to get out all this madness and it’s going to be good and everyone’s going to have this great shot.” We’ve been really good friends, we live in New York together, and then he goes and does that to me. I just lost a friend on this national TV show. I was heartbroken. I had nothing else there. I knew Jake was going to go home. There was nothing else for me to be there for. The money wasn’t worth it. If you have no friends there and people are being all fake and everyone’s hurting each other, why do you want to be part of something like that?
Why she left:
Being on the show last year and knowing what to expect, and being on this show this year and not have one person be honest except for Jackie — like, the only people I could trust were Jackie, Ames, and Jake. And just having, like, someone like Graham who I thought was my really good friend do something like that just put me over the edge.
On her regrets:
The one regret I have leaving, I wish I would’ve — before I left — spoke my mind a little more and told people what they’re doing is wrong in every way. I wish I would’ve tried to make more of an impact on showing people that you can play this game in an adult, strategic, and morally right way. I wish I would’ve been more vocal about that before leaving.
On Bachelor Pad season 2 versus season 1:
This time was like 100 times crazier than last year. Last year was like, everyone was strategizing, but people were strategizing in a normal way. You knew who you could trust and who you couldn’t trust and you knew what sides there were and you knew what advantage you had. This time people were saying they’re your friends, people you think were your friends were going behind your back talking bad about you. It was just every bad quality that you can think of was in that house.
On what she thinks of Jake now:
I think Jake’s whole point of going on that show was to do something good and to be a bigger and better person. And as much as I didn’t agree with him giving her the rose, I understand that that rose, to him, it just meant to him “I’m sorry for whatever. Can we be friends in this house? Can you stop telling everyone to hate me?” ‘Cause at that point, not one person in that house liked Jake or gave him a chance because Vienna had rallied people up for weeks before this game, before this show, and got everyone to think Jake was this monster. So he just wanted to give something to break this fight between [them]. His strategy didn’t work. He’s genuinely one of the best people I have ever had the opportunity to meet in my life and I’m proud to say I’m his friend.
On Kasey and Vienna:
Kasey, I’ve always had a big heart for Kasey and I’ve always respected Kasey and love Kasey. I think that he is a good person. I feel bad that we don’t have the relationship that we once had. As for me and Vienna, we did talk in the house a little bit. I never received an apology from her but I did know that I had to live in a house with this girl and I didn’t want to be enemies with her. We were adults to one another. She didn’t yell at me. She did make me feel uncomfortable a lot of the time. She did make Jake feel uncomfortable, which makes me feel uncomfortable. I wouldn’t call Vienna my friend by any means, but I wouldn’t call her my enemy. If I saw her I’d say hello, but that’s the extent of what her and I will ever be. […] I think Kasey and Vienna just didn’t care much about people’s feelings and were more into winning than anything else and I think that’s where they went wrong.
How she feels that everyone’s refusing to vote off the power couples, again:
It’s crazy. People, like, have so much fear of leaving that they put their fate in the hands of the two people that are most vocal.
Highlights from Jackie:
On her breakup with Ames (oh no!):
I, personally, was definitely shocked that it ended as it did. I was certainly not expecting that. I thought that this had the potential [for] forever, so, you know. But in every relationship nothing’s maybe exactly perfect. […] Things happen. You know, I’m not gonna say I didn’t have my share of heartbreak, I certainly did. Sorry, Ames. I have cried it out a lot. It’s been hard. But, you know, you live and you learn and, you know, I’m glad that I loved. […] I was certainly surprised by it. It kind of came out of nowhere, at least for me. As far as I knew for a while things were great. I just saw it lasting much, much longer than it did. But, you know, it takes two. So I guess he didn’t and you know it was hard. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you find love — especially on a show like that where it’s so unusual — and it leaves you. It’s hard.
On finding love at first sight with Ames:
Yeah, for me it usually doesn’t happen so fast. Certainly I believe it was love at first sight, for me anyways. It’s possible — and it’s even possible in the Bachelor Pad house, remarkably. I shocked myself in my ability to fall so quickly. But Ames is a wonderful person and he made me feel very, very comfortable.
How she felt when Ames left the show with her:
I was pretty surprised that Ames eliminated himself to accompany me in the limo. It was a pleasant surprise. He had not told me that he was going to do that, so it was a very sweet moment.
On what she thinks of Jake:
In the beginning I admit that I was skeptical. Vienna made a very strong case against him and I just felt, as another woman, I tend to believe what a woman says of her man, initially. But once I got to know him — and I did get to know him very well from our date, we had a long time together alone — I realized his intentions are pure, they are good, he is there for the right reasons, he wants to make amends with Vienna and put this past him and move on. And I respect him for making as much of an effort as he did to make those feelings known to both Kasey and Vienna. So, as for feelings for Jake? Who’s to say? I don’t know if things would’ve been different if situations or different people had been on the show or hadn’t been. But I think he’s highly attractive inside and out.
On what she thinks of Melissa:
You know, I respect Melissa. She acts on how she feels and she’s very honest and up front about her emotions. … I actually feel sorry for her that she got caught up in the situations that she did get caught up in. I know it’s unfortunate [what happened on] our season of The Bachelor with Raichel and I know that she regrets that. And also the time with Blake, I think that that was kind of out of her control. She let her heart lead and she’s a very emotional girl. I’m sure it’s hard for her to experience this and watch it later. But I think she’s a good girl.
Highlights from Ames:
On his breakup with Jackie (sounds like he did the dumping):
Well, we had a great time on the show and it was love over money in the competition and so on, and we’re not still dating but we enjoyed every moment we had together. […] We had an amazing time while we were together and just after a little while, split up. Nothing too exotic.
How long after the show did they break up?
A couple weeks, maybe? But it was wonderful while it lasted.
On what he thinks of Blake:
Well, one thing Blake did do in the episode from last night is he did honor his friendship to me and to Jackie and voted to keep Jackie with us on the show. So I say we’re pretty much indebted to him. But no, he had outstanding character on the season of The Bachelorette I was in.
On his surprising, romantic voluntarily exit with Jackie when she got eliminated:
It was pretty spur-of-the-moment, but I never really had any doubt and knew what I had to do. If there was any look of confusion on my face it was just how to physically engineer getting into the limo because there are certain rules around rose ceremonies. But it was definitely the best thing I did at Bachelor Pad, and certainly the most rewarding, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
And the best triple highlight of the interview:
What was your favorite moment from the filming of the show?
Ames: Well for me it would be, of course, the exit with Jackie.
Jackie: For me it would be probably the exit too…
Gia: For me it was probably going home! I was just happy to get out of there
Bachelor Pad: The only reality competition series where the contestants agree, it’s better to lose and get the hell out of there.
(Images courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Meghan hails from Walla Walla, WA, the proud home of the world’s best sweet onions and Adam West, the original Batman. An avid grammarian and over-analyzer, you can usually find her thinking too hard about plot devices in favorites like The Office, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and How I Met Your Mother. In her spare time, Meghan enjoys drawing, shopping, trying to be funny (and often failing), and not understanding the whole Twilight thing. She’s got a BA in English and Studio Art from Whitman College, which makes her a professional arguer, daydreamer, and doodler.
