Maria Georgas signed on to become the next Bachelorette, backing out after the role was “set in stone.”
“I was offered the role. It was mine until I said it wasn’t,” Maria, 29, confirmed during her “Call Her Daddy” podcast appearance on Wednesday, May 1. “It became very overwhelming to the point where I had to decline.”
Maria explained that she’s “been trying my hardest to stay silent” about what happened with the Bachelorette role as an effort to support Jenn Tran, but wanted to “be honest” going forward. She told Alex Cooper that she was “doing fittings” for the show before backing out.
“It was set in stone. I was in it,” Maria continued. “When everyone around me was so supportive of me being in this position and everyone wanted this for me, I took a second. I’m like, why am I not happy? Why am I not excited about this? It took me realizing that it’s just not my time where I was like, respectfully, I need to decline. I need to take a step back.”
The reality star said she was “not in the right headspace” to be The Bachelorette star.
“I know the extensive process it was to be on the show. So having a bunch of guys do the exact same thing — and they’re there for me — I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time,” Maria added. “It was hard for me to kind of jump right back into it, honestly.”
Maria became a fan-favorite member of Bachelor Nation during Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor, which came to an end earlier this year. She made it to the final four and was eliminated following hometown dates. Once the season came to an end, fans expected Maria to nab the Bachelorette title, but it went to Jenn instead.
During Wednesday’s podcast episode, “ Cooper revealed that Georgas was scheduled to make an appearance on the podcast in March to announce Maria as the Bachelorette.
“Everyone was so excited, and I know what this season could have been like, and it would’ve been great,” Maria said. “I just was not ready.”
She said that the show’s producers were “so supportive” of her decision, and made sure that Maria put her mental health first.
“What people saw on their screens was only the half of what I went through in the house. Did I have time off before it aired? Yes. But again, everything was so — I was so anxious throughout the whole thing,” she explained. “I get it, it would have been my own show, it would have been me having more control over things. But again, it’s so isolating being in there. And I would have to give up my phone — not my freedom, but having to be alone in that, I wasn’t comfortable. I wasn’t just mentally prepared for it.”
Maria also clapped back at Wells Adams who claimed she had “expectations” about being the Bachelorette during a March episode of his “Your Favorite Things” podcast.
“I wanted so badly to shut that s–t down. But again, I just didn’t think it was my time or my place,” she said. “At the end of the day, I have to do what’s best for me. It was so disheartening to hear someone who knows this process, knows what they put us through — not what they put us through — but knows how intense it is. You have to be fully committed, [he] knows how mentally draining and physically draining this could be to say something like that … you don’t know me.”
Maria made it clear that she “just wanted to come back home, back to reality” and “take time off” from her whirlwind fame.
“I think people saw that and recognized that I wasn’t posting as much, and I was not speaking on things,” Maria concluded. “As much as I wanted my time off, I also wanted Jenn to have her moment, and she is the most perfect Bachelorette in my eyes. I couldn’t think of anyone better to do this. She was so ready for it, and that was enough for me to say, yeah, it’s not my time.”
Jenn’s season of The Bachelorette is currently filming and is expected to premiere on ABC in July.
