Continuing his apology publicity tour, Jason Mesnick insists he never cheated on The Bachelor winner Melissa Rycroft with runner-up Molly Malaney before he publicly dumped the former for the latter on the “After the Final Rose” special.
It’s not easy being “the most hated man in America right now,” or so Jason said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this morning, where he offered this to fans:
“I think what I want to do is to apologize to everybody out there. All the fans of the show because thank you for watching, but this was my real life.”
“It was the hardest thing I’ve had to do,” Jason said of the controversial switcheroo.
“I made some big mistakes and that’s what I wanted to sit here and talk about today – the mistakes I made. But in the end I found my true love.”
He also expressed regret over telling Melissa Rycroft on camera about Molly (Melissa said Jason lied about her yesterday in her own interview on Ellen).
“I completely regret doing that,” Mesnick said with seeming sincerity and Molly Malaney by his side. “I regretted it every single day since that happened.”
“I will regret it every day for the rest of my life. The producers obviously really wanted me to do it on the show, but I take responsibility for my actions.”
Follow the jump for more reactions from Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney, and a video of their interview with Ellen DeGeneres …
Despite Melissa Rycroft’s speculation that Jason Mesnick had been talking to Molly again prior to humiliating her on TV, he swears he hadn’t, saying asking for Molly back was “one of the scariest things that I’ve had to do.”
Then there’s Molly Malaney herself, in the tough situation of feeling sorry for Melissa, but genuinely happy for herself with the guy she ended up landing.
“You know, there were moments where I sympathized with Melissa for sure,” she said. “I was heartbroken by this guy, too. So I know what she was going through.”
“But I do give him a lot of credit for doing what he did,” the 24-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Mich., added. Because he is standing up for what is best for him. I think if there is any time to be selfish, it’s when love is involved.”
They’re not getting married anytime soon, but she says she’s moving to Seattle at some point. The two happy and taking life a day at a time, and trying to get America to stop the hate one talk show and People magazine cover at time.
Check out the video of Jason and Molly on The Ellen DeGeneres Show below (with Melissa’s interview on the same show the previous day below that):
