It’s been more than a decade since Melissa Rycroft appeared on — and won — The Bachelor, but thanks to Netflix, Bachelor Nation has been revisiting Jason Mesnick’s journey to find love.
“Oh my God, I’m so embarrassed that my 25-year-old self is documented on TV,” Rycroft, now 36, told Us Weekly exclusively while discussing her partnership with UnderstandingAIT.com, a new website designed to help people learn more about their allergies and discover treatment options, including allergy immunotherapy.
While the former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader accepted a proposal from Mesnick, now 43, during season 13 of The Bachelor, he changed his mind shortly after the finale and wanted to pursue a relationship with runner-up Molly Malaney. According to Rycroft, she didn’t watch the show when it originally aired in 2009 — and hasn’t tuned in since it starting streaming on Netflix last month.
“I didn’t watch it the first time around. And now it’s been what, 11 years? I don’t really need to go back because it’s so far away,” she explained. “However, of course, I’m getting sent screenshots, and memes, and stuff that people are now watching and finding. I had, like, the poof in my hair. I was wearing tank tops and scarves, it was a mess. There was no YouTube to show us how to contour, or do makeup. … I mean, it’s just an embarrassing time that was documented that people are getting to relive it again.”
While Mesnick went on to marry Malaney in 2010, Rycroft reconnected with ex Tye Strickland after she returned from filming. The couple, who tied the knot in December 2009, share three kids: Ava, 8, Beckett, 5, and Cayson, 3.
“You know what’s funny is my daughter, she’s eight, so she kind of knows a lot of the stuff that I’ve done,” Rycroft told Us. “[But] she has no clue about The Bachelor, and I’m terrified of the day that she’s going to find out. I just need it to be off Netflix by then. So then she has no access to it, and she can’t see it. … I do not want my daughter to have access to me in a hot tub with anybody. Especially anybody that’s not her daddy.”
Strickland, meanwhile, did watch the season when it was airing.
“Tye watched it the first time around, which was his mistake,” she quipped. “So he has those images ingrained in him forever.”
