Playing the field? Bachelor alum Bekah Martinez was very upfront with her boyfriends about her plans to join the ABC reality series.
In an Instagram Q&A, Martinez answered a fan’s question about whether she thought she’d “be on The Bachelor.” She quipped that she used to tease her former flames about wanting to join the show — while they were still dating.
“I literally said I was going on The Bachelor one day for YEARS before I went to the casting call,” Martinez, 24, wrote back. “I used to joke with my exes that I’d go on the show while still dating them and intentionally play the villain and be the ‘wrong reasons’ girl.”
Martinez’s wish came true when she was cast on season 22 of The Bachelor, where she competed for Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s heart. She ended in fifth place, and the race car driver picked Becca Kufrin at first. He then broke up with Kufrin, 29, to pursue a relationship with his runner-up Lauren Burnham. The pair wed in Hawaii in January and welcomed daughter Alessi Ren in May.
In May 2018, the California native opened up to Glamour about the lengths she went to prepare for the show, especially acquiring her wardrobe and beauty needs. At the time, she revealed that she “was so broke” post-show and she “returned everything that still had tags on.”
“I got really lucky because the mom of the family I was nannying for at the time is in the fashion industry, so she sent me to a couple showrooms where I was able to get samples of different dresses to borrow for the show,” Martinez said. “I was able to borrow about 12 different dresses and a bunch of casual wear from some brands. After the show I had to collect everything and bring it back to the showroom — they were their samples for models and photo shoots and stuff like that.”
Martinez added that she “probably spent about $700 or $800” on finding adequate shoes for the competition.
Though she didn’t win over Luyendyk in the end, she found love with boyfriend Grayston Leonard. The couple welcomed daughter Ruth Ray in February.
Martinez exclusively told Us Weekly that she “would be fine with five or six” more kids after having Ruth.
“Maybe just five,” she noted to Us at the Love After Lockup event with We TV and OK! on August 13. “But for now, we want to keep it just [Ruth] for a couple of years. We can travel with her really easily, so we want to stick with her and then go for the rest.”
