In Southampton, Rachel Truehart says she left 'The Bachelor' with heart intact
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SOUTHAMPTON - Sitting in the kitchen of her parents' home on Lead Mine Road, Rachel Truehart looked nearly as glamorous as she did when she stepped out of a limousine in a jaw-dropping red dress on the season premiere of "The Bachelor."
"I think that was the most nervous I have ever been in my whole life," Truehart said of her first moments on television, when she walked from the car to meet Benjamin Flajnik, the bachelor she would eventually fall for.
Truehart, 27, was eliminated from the show on the Feb. 13 episode after becoming one of the final six women vying for Flajnik's affection. When the first episode aired on ABC on Jan. 2, 25 women were hoping for the love of Flajnik, a 28-year-old winemaker from Sonoma, Calif.
On Wednesday, the bubbly New Yorker made her first visit to her hometown of Southampton since she was cut from the show, recalling the fun and the heartbreak she experienced while shooting the reality show for five weeks in September and October.
She was nominated to be a contestant by a relative over a year ago, just after she had ended a relationship. To be chosen to be one of the 25, she took part in numerous "intense" interviews with the show's producers. "You're sitting in front of all the producers, telling them why you're still single," she said, laughing. "And that's a question no one likes to answer, especially in front of a room full of people."
Truehart said she was hopeful and "open to the possibility" of finding love on "The Bachelor," but she also just wanted to do the show because "it was something I would never do in a million years."
"I just looked at it as a life experience, and at the right time in my life," she said. "I was ready to leave my job, I was single and there was nothing holding me back." Before the show, Truehart worked as a fashion sales representative.
Even though ultimately she did not find love, Truehart said she is glad she took a chance. During the five weeks of shooting, she said, she had a blast traveling around North America, staying in posh hotels and enjoying beautiful vistas with the women she befriended.
"I made incredible friends, we just had an amazing time goofing around and having fun," she said. "It's too bad they couldn't show more of that side of things."
She said that while the group was traveling, they had to lie to the curious people who asked questions about why 18 beautiful women were traveling together. "We came up with stories about who we were, like we said we were a volleyball team," Truehart said, smiling at the memory.
"At first, it kind of felt like a game because I got along with all the girls and was just having fun and enjoying the group dates," she said of the first days of the show. "Some of the girls already had crushes on Ben, but I really just wanted to see if we had any connection, to see if he was someone that I would date."
She was "pleasantly surprised" that she really liked him. "I think it was in San Francisco that I felt like we really clicked," she said. "That's when I knew I had feelings for him, I had butterflies when I saw him and I was excited when we got to have our first kiss."
She said kissing in front of cameras and crew members was not as weird as she had anticipated. "It was less awkward than trying to have a conversation in front of the cameras," she said. "You feel like you are expected to pour your heart out to a guy you barely know, and that was especially hard for me."
When the pair went on a one-on-one date in Park City, Utah, Truehart admitted to Flajnik that she had had problems in past relationships because she was not always open about her feelings.
On the same date, the cameras captured moments of silence between the pair when they were picnicking. Truehart said the date was not as awkward as it may have seemed, but she said overall the show accurately captured her relationship with Flajnik.
"I was really happy with how I came off on the show as a whole," she said. "I think I was one of the nice girls, but then, the show plays up a lot of the girls' personalities. And it's such an intense situation, all these girls trying to date one guy, so people act different than they normally would."
When she was eliminated in episode 7, Truehart said, she was "emotional." But in the end she felt like it was the right time to leave. "Rejection always hurts. Plus, I was leaving all the friends I'd made and we'd had fun," she said. "But at the same time I was really excited to get back to my old life."
Once home, she said, her life went back to normal pretty quickly. "It wasn't a life-changing experience. Maybe I learned a little more about myself," she said.
One thing that was new after the show was getting recognized in New York City. "I'd be out at dinner or at a bar and people will come up and want pictures," she said. "That's not something that you get every day."
Truehart is still unemployed, but said she is enjoying a little free time and "figuring out what I want to do next."
But the question on everyone's mind is: Is she dating anyone? "I've been going on dates, but not really dating any one person," she said.
Right now, she is looking forward to Friday's shooting of a special planned to air March 5 after the end of the show, called "The Bachelor: Women Tell All."
"I'm really excited to see all the girls again," she said. "And we're hoping they might show more of the behind-the-scenes stuff, like some of the goofy stuff we did when we were bored in the hotels."
Even though she did not find love this time around, Truehart said she would consider another dating reality television show. "But I wouldn't want to be the Bachelorette," she said. "I can't imagine dating that many people at once."
Truehart received her bachelor's degree in marketing and psychology from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island in 2006. She graduated from Hampshire Regional High School in Westhampton in 2002.
Rebecca Everett can be reached at reverett@gazettenet.com.
