by Gina Scarpa

 

This season, on The Bachelor, viewers witnessed the heartache of both Jake Pavelka and Ali Fedotowsky when she abruptly left the show in order to save her job. Having made it far in the competition, and already sharing a hometown date with Jake, Ali found out that she would have to choose between love or her career because she had taken too much time off from her job. After agonizing over it, Ali finally decided to leave Jake and put herself first. Feeling she made the wrong decision, she called him soon after to ask to come back but he felt that he had already moved on and it was too late. Today, Ali spoke to reporters in a press conference call about that heartbreaking decision and how she feels today about Jake.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Looking back on it, do you still feel  you made the right decision to leave Jake for your career?

A. Ali: I feel like feelings are so gray. They're not really black and white in terms of looking back on things. There are times that I do regret it. Throughout my adult life, I have consistently put my career first and not my love life and maybe that's why I'm single. It really depends. What I can say is if I had to choose between love and work again, I might choose love. I really need to start focusing on that more.

 

 

Q. What was the issue with Vienna because we didn't really get to see a lot of what she had done to you?
A. Ali: I don't really wanna get into details. Just in general, it was said over and over on the show that Vienna says things before she speaks sometimes. I think she did that a lot and maybe it was because she felt that if she said something about someone about the house, maybe people would listen more. I think it started that way. She apologized and maybe what you didn't see was me saying, "Okay you're apologizing but prove it." My heart goes out to Vienna right now because she's being slammed in the media. She's a decent person but I think she's a little bit young. I have no ill will towards her moving forward.

 

Q. What could Jake have said to you that night that would have made you stay?
A. Ali: I don't think I was really expecting Jake to say anything in particular to make me stay. It's more when you're going through a tough time, you'll call your best friend and talk through it with them. It was like I really needed someone to talk to and he was the closest person to me there. I was hoping he would listen and help me work it out myself.

 

Q. When did you realize that work was going to become an issue?
A. Ali: I didn't know about it at my hometown date. I found out right after. We have a little bit of downtime. I was able to call my manager with one of the producers supervising. I knew we'd have to finalize the leave of absence paperwork and they said, "Okay, you haven't been here for a year." I thought maybe there would be an exception. After I left the show and went back to work, they ended up granting me the leave of absence afterwards. My company realized, "Wow this is really important to her, she's really invested in this."

 

Q. What would you say if Jake came to you and said that he wanted to be with you right now, with no cameras? It would just be you and Jake.
A. Ali: That's a really tough one. It was hard. Immediately after the call, I was really hurt. I thought that I would be coming back but I understood why he didn't want me back. I understood why he was hurt in the first place. I think that Jake is really happy so I don't know that I can imagine, in my mind, him coming back. If he did, I would think about it. I really care for him but it would have to start with coffee. I don't know how quickly we could move forward.

 

Q. Jake said he'll always love you. Do you feel the same?
A. Ali: My heart broke when I heard that. I do think I'll always have love for him. I miss him. I miss him now. I wish him the best.

 

Q. What do you think of the buzz that says you'll be the next Bachelorette? Would you do it?
A. Ali: I'm flattered and I feel great that people think that ABC would consider me for such a wonderful opportunity. I would definitely have to think about it. I had to make a tough choice to leave the show because of work. I think I'd be faced with that decision again if I was offered so I'd have to think about it.

 

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.

 

(Image courtesy of ABC)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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