New Bachelorette Jillian Harris Was Producer's Third Choice
Jillian Harris
Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss says he approached both Melissa Rycroft and Molly Malaney to be the next Bachelorette before Jillian Harris, the third-place finisher on the Bachelor, was finally given the honor.
When Mesnick proposed to Rycroft three months ago, Fleiss began courting Malaney, he said Wednesday.
"I said, 'Oh, well, I think Molly's fantastically telegenic and sweet; she'd make a great Bachelorette,'" he said. "I was on the phone with her for maybe two-and-a-half weeks trying to talk her into doing that."
He went so far as to let her abandon her confidentiality agreement about what happened on The Bachelor so she could tell friends and family that she was thinking about becoming the Bachelorette.
"And so she talked to them and they were all supportive of it, at least her friends were, I know that — and she was just starting to come around to the idea of being the new Bachelorette when this thing happened with Jason," Fleiss said.
What happened with Mesnick, of course, is that he dumped Rycroft and began dating Malaney instead. At this point, Fleiss began pursuing Rycroft, but she wanted to leave her reality days behind.
In a statement Wednesday, Rycroft said she's happy as a bachelorette with a little b.
"I'm back in Dallas, pursuing the teaching thing, and attempting to get my life back to normal (if it was ever really normal to begin with)," she wrote. "I don't regret anything that happened over the past few months; because I know I wouldn't be where I am today had none of it happened. I have, however, decided to move on from my reality television days, and get some sense of normalcy back to my life."
Get the latest scoop on the TV Guide Network with Hollywood 411 host and The Bachelor host Chris Harrison on Wednesday, 9 pm ET/PT.
What do you think? Will Jillian be a good Bachelorette?
