Reid Rosenthal, the third runner-up on The Bachelorette who shocked viewers after returning to the show, getting down on one knee and proposing to Jillian Harris on Monday’s season finale – is still hurting over his rejections.
“I thought I was the best guy with her,” he said. “I knew I wanted to spend tomorrow [with her]. I wasn’t 100 percent sure we were going to get married in six months or a year, but I knew she was someone I wanted to spend a lot of time with.”
“I actually thought that my relationship with Jillian was 50 times better than the other guys. I thought it was my job to come back and get her.”
Reid Rosenthal adds that if he had admitted his love for Jillian earlier, she would have eliminated Kiptyn Locke in the penultimate episode, not him.
“At this point, I had strong feelings for her, but like I said at the [After the Final Rose] taping, everything happens for a reason,” says Rosenthal. “That helps me have some closure right there. Everything works the way it is supposed to work out.”
Ready to date again “pretty soon – immediately,” Reid Rosenthal admits that his recent modicum of celebrity has certainly been a hit with the ladies.
“It’s insane! I thought it was just in Philly but now I’m out in L.A. and I was hanging out by the pool minding my own business and every single person came up to me and wanted to take pictures with me,” a bewildered Reid recalls.
“When people come up, they are like, ‘We feel so bad.’ Two months have gone by now, so I’m a little more detached than when I first got back.”
As for Jillian Harris, Rosenthal says he has nothing but the best of wishes for her and Ed Swiderski: “If she’s happy, I’m happy for her,” he says.
Lastly, Reid, who was able to return the ring he bought for Harris, is not sure if he’d like to be the next Bachelor, should that opportunity arise.
“The upside is that you have 25 girls coming after you, which can never be a bad thing. I trust the process at this point even if it is a little unnatural and you have to get to know somebody faster than you typically would,” he said.
“The downside is it is a ton of work. With real estate being so busy now, it’d be hard for me to figure out how to keep my business and do that.”
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