Even if fan favorite (and new Bachelorette) Ali Fedotowsky hadn't left the show to save her job, Bachelor Jake Pavelka says he is confident he still would have popped the question to Vienna Girardi.
Pavelka, 32, said on ABC's Good Morning America that he is "sure" that things wouldn't have played out differently if Fedotowsky, 25, had stayed.
Girardi, 23, admitted "it was difficult to see him with Ali" on the show. "He had a connection with Ali."
She said she always viewed Fedotowsky and the other women as competition — including Rozlyn Papa, who was booted from the show after having an alleged physical relationship with a male producer.
Girardi said she saw the two "cuddling on the couch together," and it was "extremely awkward."
But she said she never told Pavelka because "I never wanted to go to him and say something bad about the other women." She said her experience on the show was like a "roller coaster."
Asked if it was a relief to be with Pavelka in the end, she replied: "Yeah, it is."
