Former ‘Bachelor’ Star Recalls Red Flags & Stomping: ‘I’m Glad He Didn’t Choose Me’

Getty An aerial view from a drone shows a red flag flying over North Avenue Beach in Chicago, Illinois.

“The Bachelor” viewers are accustomed to seeing drama from the ladies in every season, but production usually shows the leads on the outskirts of the chaos. A former contestant just shared tidbits from her experience several years ago, and she shared some intriguing insight. Tenley Molzahn was the runner-up in season 14 with Jake Pavelka, and she readily admits now it was for the best she did not receive his final rose.

Here’s what you need to know:

Molzahn Was Stunned By Pavelka’s Actions

As ABC News detailed in March 2010, Pavelka made the shocking decision at his final rose ceremony to choose Vienna Girardi over Molzahn. In the June 22 episode of the “She’s All Bach” podcast, Molzahn revisits that time in her life. She received Pavelka’s first impression rose, and she “totally thought it would be me” receiving his proposal at the end. “I just thought he and I were the most aligned, I thought we had a really strong relationship.” She never expected Girardi would be the one receiving that rose. In fact, she admitted, she thought Pavelka must have followed a similar path as Brad Womack in his first run of “The Bachelor,” where he rejected both of the final two ladies. Molzahn even spent a couple of months after returning home hoping or even expecting Pavelka would reach out looking to reunite.

The podcast hosts asked Molzahn what she thought when she watched the notorious interview between Pavelka and Girardi after their messy split. One moment that got everybody talking was when Pavelka angrily told Girardi, “Please stop interrupting me” in a tone that prompted her to immediately break down crying. A few seconds later, she interjected again, and “The Bachelor” responded by noting, “And again, I got interrupted” as tensions ran high. At this point in the interview, Girardi said she was done and walked off. Of that nationally televised moment, Molzahn said she “was just like, well, thank you Lord for having a different path for me.”

She’s Glad Now She Didn’t Receive His Final Rose

In retrospect, Molzahn is “glad he didn’t choose me cause it just seems like obviously, that was not a healthy relationship, and that would have been something I would not have done well in.” She noted she was “very naïve and pretty innocent,” in those days, and she now knows she had a lot of “growing up that I still had to do in my life.” Given that, being with Pavelka during that phase of her life would have been “the worst relationship for me to be in.”

Molzahn was asked if she saw any red flags from Pavelka as they were filming “The Bachelor.” She explained that when she watched the interview with Pavelka and Girardi, a lot of red flags from her time filming became apparent to her. She noted, “I did see the way that he kind of stomped around in front of producers,” although to her, he was always kind, sweet, and respectful. Molzahn recalled the time filming “The Bachelor” in St. Lucia, in particular, when Pavelka “pouted” and “stomped his feet” over issues with production.

These days, Molzahn is very happy with how her life has turned out. She’s married and has a 2-year-old daughter, Rell, whom she describes as being her “whole world.” While Molzahn understandably content with where she is in her life now, these revelations about her time with Pavelka on “The Bachelor” provide some intriguing insights into the journey she’s had over the past decade or so.