Last night’s episode of The Bachelor saw another dramatic cocktail party and another Bachelor contestant leave the house in dramatic style.
After being spooked by the results from her lie-detector test on the previous group date, Tenille Favios and Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins had a heart-to-heart where they came to the realisation that they wouldn’t be able to make a go of their relationship under the pressure-cooker Bachelor environment.
Tenille then made the decision to leave before the night’s rose ceremony.
We chatted to Tenille about her decision to leave, the emotional roller-coaster inside the mansion and whether or not she would put herself through reality TV again.
How are you feeling after watching last night’s show and your dramatic departure?
I’m feeling good now, watching myself and how emotional I was – and how emotional Nick was – was hard for me. I did shed a little tear last night. But I’m in a good place now.
Can you talk us through your thought process, leaving off the back of the lie detector test and how you came to your decision to leave?
When you watch the Bachelor it looks so easy to fall in love but when you get in there, it’s a really hard situation, you’re spending limited time with this person and they’re wanting you to open up about feelings and its actually so crazy. We had that conversation about Steve and the lie detector and I had this penny drop moment where I just realised to myself.. When Nick came to me and said I don’t think I have time to break through these barriers, that was the moment my heart sank and I was thinking with my gut and I realised that he doesn’t. And I respect why he doesn’t, but you know for me I would have liked to have heard, ‘lets try and break through these barriers’, and even though I did have those barriers, I would have liked to see where it could go. But that doesn’t fall in line with the show, and they want someone who is pouring their heart out and head over heels and that just wasn’t me.
Nick seemed genuinely crushed when you left, were you surprised by that? Did it make you regret your decision at all?
Look I felt really bad watching it, but it’s also nice to see because it just means that what I was feeling for him was reciprocated. But I don’t regret leaving and I’m sure he doesn’t regret the decision either, we were such on the same page, and we knew there was something there but in that situation, it just wasn’t going to come to fruition. It’s almost better that we left it where it was and no one got really hurt and we’ll be really great friends after this.
Did you find the whole process harder than you thought it would be?
Yeah definitely, you expect it going in, we’ve all seen previous seasons and we expect the drama and this and that but when you get in there… I’m the person to just kill them with kindness and that in itself makes you a target, you feel like drama won’t follow you but it does, it tracks you down no matter what corner of the house you’re hiding in. But it’s all part of it and that’s what we sign up for. But the rest of my experience was lovely and I don’t regret any of it.
Speaking of the drama, a lot has been said of editing, do you feel like it has accurately portrayed your time on the show or were you quite surprised at watching the season play out?
The editing is accurate to a degree, it’s our bodies and it’s us speaking. I mean, I will say though, things we’ve said are clipped, I might be commenting on one thing and then next thing you know it’s being attached to something else that happened. But all in all it’s pretty legit. I wasn’t upset with the way I was edited, I just wish there was more focus on the pleasant stuff. There were so many funny moments with Nick and I, so many chats but you just never see that and next minute were having a D&M and I’m crying. It’s only a fraction of what happened in the house.
Speaking of your interactions with the girls, and in particular, Romy and that cocktail party where you got quite upset. She said that was fight was edited to appear that it was just her and hoped you would clear that up?
I’m confused by what she means by clearing it up, because what you see is what happened. Obviously, they can’t show every single part of what happened, it took place over about two hours. She’s right in that she wasn’t the only one that took issue with the situation, but the thing to remember is that just because you are feeling that way doesn’t mean you need to come at me like that and handle it like that.
A lot of serious topics have been raised on this season including bullying and mental health, and you clearly struggled in the house with some of the situations, what support did you receive after you broke down and have you received any since leaving?
We always had access to a psychologist in the house and that was always available to us just before the show, during the show and it’s still available to us now if we need it.
You saw Shannon there upset last night, she was so supportive to me when all that stuff went down, and we really were each other’s rock, we were just trying to make the house as pleasant as we could and get through.
And you did see the producers following me on camera [after the cocktail party last week] and we can discuss whether that was right or wrong, but at the end of the day she was there for me and she did talk me through it and she did help me make the decision to stay in there, so they were supportive.
With all this talk of bullying and mean girls, what was it like off the cameras living in the house day-to-day with all the girls?
What you see on the cameras is what you get, they [Romy, Cat and Alisha] were making people feel the way they were when you watch it. You’re watching it and thinking that’s quite nasty and we were feeling it tenfold. We’re away from friends and family and someone is saying these things and doing these things to you, but I will give them this, it’s not like they were following us around 247 and tormenting us and poking us with sticks or anything like that. It was a big house, you could find your own space, and hang out with others. We would just try and segregate ourselves, you’re not always going to get along with everyone in life which is fine. And I mean of course there were little arguments BTS that you didn’t see and that we’d had prior to that one you saw, all of that stuff just build up and then something like what happened at the cocktail party is bound to happened.
Who were you closest with on the show?
I got along with every single one of the girls – that wasn’t the three of them – but that said I did civilly get along with them and could live with them. But all of the girls were just so lovely and genuine and beautiful and always there for you. I’m still really close with Shannon and Vanessa, I chat with them frequently and also Aleksandra and Christina when they were in there.
Brittany and Sophie and Cass all reached out after last night’s episode and said you held yourself so wonderfully which was so nice, there’s so much support.
What was your favourite moment from the show?
It would have to be my single date – it was overshadowed by all the drama. But that date was perfect, I couldn’t have faulted it. We got on so well, we laughed the while day long, and I would have loved to have spent more time with him.
Is there anything about Nick that we don’t know or that would surprise us?
No, not that I can think. He’s absolutely what you see is what you get and that’s the best thing about him!
Who do you think will win?
I change my mind every episode! I have no idea – but I watch the episodes and see some amazing connections. I mean Brittany on a whole seems to have the best compatibility, they’re really well suited in who they are and where they want to go in their life right now so I’d probably go with her.
Would you do reality TV again – Bachelor In Paradise perhaps?
Yeah I’d definitely consider it. If you’d asked me when I first got out of the house I probably would have said god no! But then you move on from it, and it’s all water under the bridge and you can focus on the positives of the experience. And you miss it – you miss the crew and miss the girls… But yeah I would, you learn from the experience – and there are things I would do differently but absolutely I’d give it a shot.
