Maria Georgas Backed Out of Being the Bachelorette at the Last Minute, She Confirms

John Fleenor

Some are born dramatic. Some achieve drama. And some reality stars have drama thrust upon them, such as The Bachelor’s Maria Georgas, the season 28 fan-favorite contestant, who just confirmed that she would have been the Bachelorette season 21 lead if she hadn’t turned it down at the last second. If there’s one thing we've learned about Maria, it’s that she is always going to keep it 100.

After Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor wrapped up, Jenn Tran was announced as the franchise’s next leading lady during the After the Final Rose special. The choice took some viewers by surprise, as many were predicting that either Georgas or Daisy Kent would take the Bachelorette torch. It turns out that Bachelor Nation’s instincts were right on point because Maria Georgas said on Call Her Daddy that she was this close to being announced as the next Bachelorette before backing out.

“I was offered the role. It was mine,” Georgas said on the podcast. “To the point where I was doing fittings. Like, it was set in stone.” But, Georgas continued, she realized that while everyone around her was supportive and happy for her, she wasn’t having fun. “I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time. It was hard for me to kind of jump right back into it, honestly.” Georgas said she was “anxious” the entire time she was filming The Bachelor, which she described as an “isolating” experience. “I wasn't mentally prepared for it,” she said.

The desire to “get back to reality” is part of the reason why, Georgas explained, she tried to take a step back from social media and the public eye after turning down being The Bachelorette. The other reason, she told host Alex Cooper, was to let Tran have her time to shine. “I also wanted Jenn to have her moment,” Georgas said. “She is the most perfect Bachelorette in my eyes. I couldn’t think of anyone better to do this and she was so ready for it. And that was enough for me to kind of say, ‘Yeah, it’s not my time.’”

Originally Appeared on Glamour