Maria Georgas on Call Her Daddy: Biggest Bachelor Revelations
Maria Georgas, Joey Graziadei. Disney (2)
Maria Georgas revealed what you didn’t see on Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor — and offered a major update on her dating life — while appearing on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.
Maria, 29, became a fan-favorite Bachelor Nation member during her stint on the ABC reality show, which is something that she “had dreams” about.
“I always wanted to be on the show,” she told podcast host Alex Cooper during the Wednesday, April 1, episode. “I was like, ‘I’m going to be on the show one day.’ I would always buy things in hopes [of getting on].”
However, after filming the show, Maria didn’t know “how it was going to play out” on TV.
While some roses stand the test of time, others wilt before the Neil Lane engagement ring can be resized. The Bachelor premiered on ABC in March 2002 with Alex Michel dubbed the world’s most eligible Bachelor. More than 20 women competed for his heart and one of the most successful reality TV franchises was born. […]
“In the house, I felt like I was so wrongfully accused of things and people were just taking me the wrong way,” she said. “The fact that it was an honest edit, I can say, and showed exactly who I am.”
Maria found herself at odds with Sydney Gordon throughout the season. Sydney, 28, accused Maria of downplaying fellow contestant Madina Alam’s insecurities about her age, which caused a blowout between the women. After Sydney called Maria a bully, the two were chosen to go on a two-on-one date together. Joey, also 28, eliminated Sydney and kept Maria in the running. She made it to his final four and got sent home following hometowns.
After her elimination, Bachelor fans were convinced that Maria would become the next Bachelorette — a role which she turned down.
Keep scrolling for the biggest bombshells from Maria’s “Call Her Daddy” interview:
The Nick Viall Connection
Maria admitted she and Viall, 43, had a surprising connection that stemmed back to 2017, the same year he was the lead of The Bachelor.
“Nothing has ever happened between Nick and I, but it’s always been a friendship,” she declared. “He helped me through breakups. He was a good friend to me at points, and it was great. But I remember, and I never really understood it until actually being on the show, he had said to me, ‘I can see you being the villain.’ He’s like, ‘You’re going to go on. You’re going to be the villain.’ And I was like, why me?”
She added: “I didn’t go in there and try to piss people off. But I remember him saying, ‘People are going to come after you no matter what. I can just see it. You’re going to be the villain.’ It was just funny because after I finished filming, there [were] rumors about me being a villain.”
Her Feud With Sydney
During her conversation about her past with Nick, Maria theorized that their connection could have played a role in the Sydney drama. (Nick is friends with Ashley Iaconetti, who is also friends with Sydney.)
“I remember someone sent me a photo of Nick and Sydney together,” she recalled. “Part of me was like, ‘Was this all planned?’ Because I knew I was innocent, hand to God. So, when this all started happening, and then imagine dealing with that in the house and then coming out and seeing that she’s friends with Nick, I was like, ‘There’s something conspiring.’”
She added: “I was like, ‘There’s something weird about all this.’ Because it was too close to home.”
What the Show Didn’t Air
Further discussing the Sydney drama, Maria claimed that the two made amends before the bullying accusations were thrown.
Courtesy of Maria Georgas/Instagram Maria Georgas has been making waves since she first stepped out of the limo during season 28 of The Bachelor. When Joey Graziadei was introduced to Maria, she gave him a miniature Canadian flag in honor of her home country. Maria grew up in Ontario, Canada. Her parents separated when she […]
“She hugged me before the group date and she was like, ‘Maria, I just want to say again, I’m sorry for taking something out of context.’ It wasn’t shown,” she recalled. “We hugged it out. We were good. Later on that night is when she was like, ‘I feel bullied by you.’ You hugged me earlier that day. … It was crazy. But again, because I know she is a good person, deep down, I think that again, in this environment, it just brought out the worst.”
There’s no bad blood between the two women now. Maria called Sydney “an amazing woman.”
Discovering Her Ex Cheating — and Befriending the Other Woman
Maria recalled a past eight-month relationship, which included three months of cohabitation. While the timeline of their short-lived romance was a little off, the point of the story was that Maria discovered her ex cheating.
She had a “weird feeling” and lied to the security guard that worked at the front desk of her apartment building, telling him that her purse went missing. Instead, Maria uncovered her boyfriend “having girls show up at his place at 3 a.m. while I was gone.” Adding to the drama, Maria eventually became friends with the girl — and kissed her during a night out.
“We hit it off. Love her. Sweetest f–king girl,” Maria said. “To this day, I am not upset with her. Actually, I’m great friends with her.”
Her Relationship With Joey
Maria said she honestly wasn’t sure whether things with Joey would have lasted in the real world.
“As friends, we were so funny together. We liked the same movies, had the same banter, and obviously we liked each other,” she said, praising him and fiancée Kelsey Anderson. “I don’t know if I could have given him exactly what he wanted all the time. I don’t know. But I think that we were great friends.”
Her Relationships Now
The ABC star said she’s “so single” right now after reflecting on her Bachelor experience.
“At hometowns, this is where I fully dropped my walls, and then I got sent home and I was like, ‘OK, this is why I protect myself,’” she said. “I’ve become accustomed to being disappointed by men — and this has nothing to do with Joey when I talk like this, he was just doing his part in the show, and he had more strong feelings for other women. That’s fine, but I just feel like when I turn to protecting myself where I’m almost self-sabotaging.”
Turning Down ‘The Bachelorette’ Lead Offer
Marisa admitted the Bachelorette role was “mine until I said it wasn’t.” After things became “overwhelming,” she turned down the gig.
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“It was set in stone. I was in it,” she explained. “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.’”
Maria went on to say she was “not in the right headspace” to become the Bachelorette and clapped back at Wells Adams, who claimed otherwise. During an episode of his “Your Favorite Things” podcast last month, the Bachelor in Paradise bartender claimed Maria had “expectations” about being the lead.
“I wanted so badly to shut that s–t down,” she shared. “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.”
