She thought she was doing Jimmy Nicholson a favour when she warned him about Jay Lal allegedly saying she wanted the runner-up position to further her career. But alas, Tahnee Leeson was sent packing when the Bachelor was forced to choose between the two women.
In an exclusive chat with WHO, Tahnee confesses that everything she said was “100 per cent true” plus, where she and Jay stand now the show’s done and dusted.
We have to ask, what exactly did you overhear about Jay and was it different to what was shown on the show?
Everything I relayed to Jimmy that evening was 100 per cent true, I didn’t lie. There are a few things that you saw play out that made me question the reasons why she was there. My integrity is extremely important to me, and having that questioned was very upsetting. You didn’t get to see mine and Jimmy’s conversation in its entirety but it wasn’t my intention to throw Jay under the bus, I always wanted to focus on my connection with him but I also have a lot of respect for Jimmy, so when he asked me if I thought of anyone who was pulling the wool over his eyes, I knew I needed to be upfront with him and tell him what I had heard. He deserved to know.
Did you feel like Jimmy had let you down when he chose Jay over you or was it more a case of ‘that’s just the way it is’?
To be fair it was a bit of both. I was surprised I was leaving because I spoke to Jimmy after the confrontation with Jay and at the end he gave me an element of reassurance. But I think he left that conversation and reflected on it and was like ‘At the end of the day I’ve got stronger feelings for Jay than Tahnee and I don’t want Tahnee to be in this situation anymore’. I expressed to him that being in the mansion around so many women vying for the same guy is hard so I think he wanted to get me out of there to be fair.
How do you feel now after watching the episode back?
I was kind of preparing myself for that episode because I knew that that departure would be quite dramatic. I certainly didn’t want to pit myself up against one of the “frontrunners” – that was not my goal at all and I would never want to take away from somebody else’s relationship. There’s no bad blood on my end toward Jay anymore. Admittedly it was pretty hard to watch, it’s just something that I have to go through unfortunately.
A lot of the other contestants have talked about how tough it is in the mansion.
It’s hard being in there and constantly comparing your own connection to the other girls. I’m actually glad I left when I did because I feel if I was there for longer, that environment would’ve been very hard for me to be in so I’m very glad I left when I did in hindsight.
There was a lot of drama for you towards the end but how did you find your experience as a whole?
As a whole I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I had so much fun, I have made amazing friends and I got to experience things that a lot of people don’t get to do.
Looking back, do you have any regrets?
I’m really happy with how I was. I hate living with regrets but my only sort-of regret is just how guarded I was initially. I do feel that put me a step behind the other women and it’s not the environment to be putting other people ahead of yourself. I hate talking over people but initially there were so many women there so that’s what you sort of had to do. If I were to rewind and start it all again that’s the only thing I would do differently. When it’s the early days you only have a couple of minutes with him so making a good first impression is absolutely vital.
I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason so I think I was there for a reason but I didn’t end up with Jimmy for a reason. I’m just waiting for whatever happens next in my life.
So would you do another reality TV dating show?
I would never say never – the whole process I enjoyed so yeah I would!
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