Things could have gone very differently for Kaitlyn Bristowe. The Bachelor and Bachelorette alum revealed in the second episode of her new podcast, Off the Vine, that she originally tried out for Juan Pablo Galavis’ season 18 of the ABC dating series in 2014.
The 31-year-old said that she was going through a sad breakup, and her friend Bri Cook encouraged her to make an audition tape. “It was for Juan Pablo’s season,” Bristowe said. “Can you imagine? My whole life would be so different. And mentally I was not prepared at all to be in a relationship.”
Bristowe and Cook reminisced about the video they filmed in downtown Vancouver, B.C., in which Bristowe talked about bringing the former soccer player, 35, to see Canada’s “grassy fields” on a date. “No wonder they didn’t call me,” the reality star joked.
Cook reassured her that it was simply bad timing. “They didn’t call you because they didn’t see it in time,” she said. “They didn’t look at it because we didn’t realize at that point they totally already cast that season. They weren’t even going to look at it because they already had their cast. That’s why they called you, like, a year later.”
The dance instructor was later selected for season 19 starring Iowa farmer Chris Soules, and she placed third. “I thought they saved me for Chris Soules’ season because I talked about grassy fields,” Bristowe joked.
The brunette beauty went on to become the season 11 Bachelorette in 2015 and got engaged to Shawn Booth on the final episode. The couple are still happily engaged and live in Nashville.