Following last night's finale, we chat to Megan about her relationship with Jake and making it work in the real world.
Congrats on making it to the end of the show. You must be pretty glad that the whole thing is over!
Oh my god, so glad!
How different did you find the whole Bachelor in Paradise experience compared to the Bachelor?
It was completely different. On the Bachelor, I obviously left the show halfway through, it was just very competitive and you didn’t have the space to be able to do everything you wanted. Whereas with Bach in Paradise, you would get up and go for a kayak or a stand-up paddleboard and you could hang out with whoever you wanted whenever you wanted, it was kind of cool.
You were already were chatting to Jake outside of the show, right?
I met him once before like a year before the show at an event, but at that time I was in a relationship. We had a good chat and we got along really well as friends and then we did sort of stay in contact a little bit, but I hadn’t actually seen him since that day, you know a year before.
Going onto the show, did you have Jake in mind? Did you think things would work out the way they did?
Oh, definitely not. But I was excited to see him because he was one of the only people I had actually met.
Like a friendly face?
Yeah, totally. I was like I would love Jake to be here and it would be nice to hang out, basically. But it was definitely more of a friend thing and I definitely did not think it would work out like it did.
You seemed weary of the fact that he sort of had a reputation and he had that thing with Florence…
Oh, definitely.
Did he surprise you?
Yeah, I think you know, I sort of obviously entered into a lot of drama and I was like 'what is going on'. I thought I has this really good date with somebody and now this. So it took me quite a long time and obviously I went on a date with Thomas as well.I think there were quite a lot of hurdles and it was seeing the way he dealt with those situations - it was very mature. That definitely changed my opinion of him.
Talk us through your decision not to stay for the commitment ceremony, did you always have it in mind that you wanted to leave before the end?
No definitely not, I think it was just more the fact that I wasn’t ready to make a commitment to him. Some of the other couples, like Sam and Tara, since the beginning they were just hanging out, things were going really smoothly, same as Ali and Grant. Kiara and Jarrod were a little bit up and down, but I just felt for Jake and I there were so many different hurdles and really it had only been a week since my date with Thomas.
It just didn’t really feel right to me to go to this ceremony and commit to each other because I know I wasn’t 100% and I wanted to take it to the outside world and see if it could actually work.
After leaving the show, what happened next? Did you leave it up in the air or were you always staying together?
We left it open you know, so we started talking straight away, and then it was just me coming to visit him basically. And then we did fall in love on our own terms.
Oh, so you are in love? Amazing. Do you think you guys are through those commitment issues now?
Yeah, surprisingly it has worked well. We've spent more time together than apart actually. We are flying to Thailand tonight, he's coming along with me on one of my trips, which will be really good.
And as far as the other couples go, were you shocked to find out that Sam was going to propose to Tara?
I mean, Tara and I shared a room, so we talked about it a little bit, that he might propose and Jake and Sam they were hanging out so, we knew it was going to happen.
Tara knew it was going to happen?
She didn’t know but she hoped that it would. They were in love and she hoped that he would but I don’t think they had discussed it, you know but it was very beautiful to watch.
So cute. And Ali has been announced as the next Bachelorette, were you surprised that things didn’t work out with her and Grant?
I was surprised, I mean Alley and I are quite good friends, so I kind of knew as things happened. But it was really disappointing because I just thought they were so gorgeous together. But you know, things happen for a reason and look at her now, she's the next Bachelorette and I think she will be fantastic, that will be awesome.
What kind of guy could you see her being with?
Gosh, I would actually have no idea what her type is. Grant is the only person I have sort of seen her with. I think for her it is really important for her to have good chemistry with someone straight away. So I think she will be looking for that.
