All For Love: Q&A With Bachelorette Ali
Posted May 24, 2010 10:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
In the last season of The Bachelor, 25-year-old Ali Fedotowsky chose her career over love – a decision she now says she regretted immediately.
But as the new Bachelorette, Ali has decided to put it all on the line in the hopes of finding new love with one of 25 suitors who’ll be courting her. CityNews was invited to participate in a media call with Ali leading up to the new season, which premieres Monday night at 9pmET/10pmPT. Here are some of the highlights from that call:
Q: Did being rejected by Jake when you tried to come back weigh heavily on you in a sense that you were scared to be rejected by these guys?
A: I don’t think my phone call with Jake brought up that insecurity in me. Did I have a fear of rejection on this show? I absolutely did. And I think that’s because I’ve been heartbroken in the past, not just from my relationship with Jake but a lot of relationships I had before even being on The Bachelor. I think my big fear was that I knew that I was excusing each guy because I wanted them to continue with me. And I didn’t necessarily know that because they were accepting a rose, it meant that they actually wanted to be with me. So, yes, I questioned that a lot along the way, and I was scared.
Q: Being from the advertising world, how important were first impressions from these guys?
A: That’s a good question. You know, actually, no. I was going in thinking that the first impressions were not going to really mean anything to me, honestly, because I’ve always been the type of girl that when I go for a guy, it’s because he has told me a story that’s really interesting or made me laugh by telling a joke. Well, maybe not a joke but a little bit of a conversation before I decide whether or not I’m interested in him. I was so nervous that first night that I don’t even know that I remembered a lot of the first impressions, never mind them weighing that much. So, it doesn’t weigh that heavily.
Q: Did you speak to any of the former Bachelorettes or even Jake (before this season)? If so did they give you any advice or you kind of talked about being the one handing out the roses as opposed to getting them.
A: I haven’t spoken to Jake at all, actually, but I think there’s a good chance that I may be running into him and his fiancée, Vienna, soon so I hope to talk to them about my journey a little bit. But I did talk to Jillian Harris beforehand and she really wanted this to be my experience and she just wanted to wish me good luck. And her advice was basically to make sure I had a lot of travel hairspray on hand while we were on the road. She just wanted to wish me luck and she was really sweet about saying, ‘I’m so glad that you’re the next Bachelorette,’ and things like that, and that’s really good to hear from her. I haven’t actually met her in person, but I hope to in the future.
Q: Initially, you were the most popular bachelorette (last season). You were everybody’s number one choice until you got hardcore on Vienna. Are we going to see some of that hardcore Ali this season?
A: Oh, man. I’ll say it again. I cannot apologize enough for my behaviour then. I lost my cool, and I am glad that I was able to see that on the show because I wonder a lot about myself and how I should treat others. And, no, I don’t think that I will be treating others badly this season. But we’ll see a little bit of the bold side of me coming out. And if someone does something that I don’t think is so great, I’ll let them know. I haven’t seen all the episodes, but I’m very proud of the way I handled situations this season. And I think I would do it all the same way again if I had to.
Q: Do you think you’re ready to have a child? And if so, did that come into play when you were picking guys who might also be ready to get some right away?
A: OK, let me clear this up. So there’s some article that I’ve seen out there, people suggesting that I want children right away. And, no, that is not the case. I did say to Chris Harrison that if he asked me where I wanted to be in five years, and I say – I said, “I’d like to be pregnant in five years,” meaning that when I’m 30, I would like to be pregnant with my first child. So am I ready for kids now? Absolutely not. I still have a career I want to build and things that I need to accomplish before I’m ready to start a family and I think the guys probably felt the same way this season. I definitely never made it seem like I wanted to have kids right away and I don’t think they did either.
Q: There are three Canadian guys on the show this season. Have you had a chance to come up to Canada, and if you ended up choosing one of them would you consider moving to another country for love?
A: I have not actually been to Canada, and I’d love to. My dad was actually born in Montreal, so I should visit. And for love? Absolutely, I would move to another country; no question. There’s one thing that – I mean, not only did I realize from last season, that I would never choose a job over family and love; I realized I’d never let any decision be swayed over my decision to put love first. Nothing. Nothing could stop that. So I would absolutely move. Who knows? I could be a Canadian resident soon!
Q: Thousands of men applied on your season of The Bachelorette. Were you happy with the 25 guys that they picked for you?
A: Wow, that many applied? Why? No, I’m kidding. I’m so happy with the 25 guys that I got this season. One thing I said to the producers coming in is I do not want the male model who can’t put two sentences together. I want smart, interesting guys that are going to keep me excited about the relationship and who they are and what they bring to the table, and that’s exactly what I got. And I’m so happy with all of them. And I want to thank, I guess, each and every one of them for coming and being there because they made the experience really great for me.
Q: Based on your experience on The Bachelor, are there things that Jake did that you wouldn’t want to end up doing this season of The Bachelorette?
A: You know, I guess the only thing, really – I mean, I’ve totally respected Jake and all the decisions he made. I think the only thing that was really different for me was, Jake had a really big heart and he had felt that he had fallen in love with more than one person. And for me, I don’t feel like my heart is capable of loving more than one person. So, going in, I sort of made a promise to myself that, I really just wanted to make sure that I didn’t share those type of feelings unless I was sharing it with one person and I was completely positive that that was the person for me.
Q: What’s something that viewers may be surprised to know about you that may come out on this season?
A: I have the same insecurities that every other girl has. I consider myself a confident independent woman and there are so many things about myself that I’m proud of and feel good about; but I still have those insecurities that if I love someone, are they going to love me back. And I’ve been in a lot of relationships where I have put my heart out there and I have been completely in love and that person didn’t love me back. So, that was a fear of mine and I think that weighed heavily on my heart this season.
Q: I know you can’t tell us how it ends but going into this, were you confident that this could be it and you could find the one?
A: I was so confident going into this that I could find my husband on the show. I would not have done this show otherwise. When I was first approached to be The Bachelorette, I actually had a lot of concerns. I was so happy in my career, my job; and I love being in San Francisco and I just didn’t know if it was the right choice. And I had a conversation with my best friends that I’m living with now, and they said to me, you know, “If you find your husband on this show, nothing else matters.” And that’s when I knew being on the show was the right choice. And I was absolutely confident from night one that my husband was going to be in that room and I’d like to think I kept that confidence.
The Bachelorette premieres at 9pmET/10pmMT on Monday, May 24, returning to its regularly scheduled time of 8pmET/9pmMT on Monday, May 31. Full episodes can be seen a day later on Citytv.com.
Join me on the Bachelorette Live Chat each week on Citytv.com, and don’t forget to make your picks each week in the Fantasy Pool! Also, become a fan of the Bachelorette Facebook page.
