'Bachelor in Paradise' bachelor Andrew Spencer: I never led Jessenia Cruz on, we were in constant communication

Bachelor in Paradise bachelor Andrew Spencer has claimed he never led Jessenia Cruz on and had been nothing but truthful and transparent with her during filming.


Andrew's first love interest on Bachelor in Paradise's eighth season was Teddi Wright, and he gushed about how he could see a future with her -- but then Teddi abruptly dumped Andrew and left the show.

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Andrew proceeded to test the dating waters with Brittany Galvin, Jessenia, and Ency Abedin, but he ultimately quit Paradise because he felt a big piece of his heart was still with Teddi.

On the latest episode of the "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" podcast, Andrew was put on the spot and asked if there was any miscommunication with Jessenia throughout the season.


"She was obviously way more into you than you were into her," podcast co-host Bryan Abasolo pointed out. "I don't want to use the words 'led on,' but she seemed like she thought you guys were on the same page. Were you in constant communication?"

Andrew enthusiastically replied, "Oh, always man!"

And when Bryan asked Andrew if he let Jessenia know where he stood at all times, Andrew responded, "Absolutely."

Andrew continued, "Here's the thing about being an athlete. The one thing you talk about is, 'The eye in the sky never lies.' It's always on-camera, and so the truth will always come out if they choose to show it."

"So every encounter we had," the pro football player recalled of Jessenia, "I had one night where I was like, 'I'm going to give it everything I've got. I'm going to show her and I'm going to give her the appreciation for her being patient with me.'"


Andrew therefore said he planned a date with Jessenia in which they did "the coconut smooching thing."

"So that was really fun; we had a good night! And, you know, I expressed to her, 'Thank you for being patient with me. I'm still moving along very slow,'" Andrew claimed.

"That's what I told her. And then the next day, the [Rodney Mathews] thing happened because that was the Rose Ceremony. I was like, 'I didn't plan for these things to happen, they just did.'"

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Andrew claimed he had even told Jessenia on the day of Ency's arrival that he was ready to leave.


"I had no idea Ency was coming down here. These events, I didn't plan for... And the Ency thing, I was like, 'Oh wow, I feel something here, let me explore it [because] I'm here right now. I might as well.' So that's just kind of how it went," Andrew recalled.

But Andrew's connection with Ency didn't surpass what he had felt with Teddi either.

Andrew revealed on the podcast that when Teddi dumped him in the first few days of Paradise, it felt like "a real-life breakup" and he had trouble recovering from it.

Andrew also assured Bryan and his podcast co-host Mike Johnson that he had been honest with Jessenia about that.

"[I would] sit there and sulk... No one got a chance to see that. No one wants to put on the screen me sulking... and not being very social," Andrew said.


"I went through all of the emotions of a breakup, and there were bad days for me and good days. I said to all of the women I was involved with, 'Hey, I'm not all the way there yet... I'm going to give you everything I've got; it's just not a lot right now.'"

Andrew said he decided to stay following Teddi's exit because his guy friends convinced him to keep trying for love and never give up. Andrew also recognized being on Bachelor in Paradise was a great opportunity that may never come around again.

Given Andrew's heart wasn't totally invested in Paradise or Jessenia, he admitted that he was "walking on eggshells" for a while.

After all, Andrew said he had been raised to be respectful to women and he didn't want to hurt anybody.

"We are good men," Andrew noted, adding how Paradise often felt like a lose-lose situation for the men when they were trying to do the right thing or follow their heart.


Jessenia's take on her relationship with Andrew, however, seems to be different.

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Earlier this month, Jessenia suggested on social media her relationship with Andrew was more serious than what Bachelor in Paradise had shown up to that point.

On Bachelor in Paradise's November 14 episode, Andrew went on a date with Ency and then broke up with Jessenia once he returned to the beach.

Although Jessenia played it cool, she felt totally defeated and broke down into tears. She said she was really starting to like Andrew and thought they had built a great foundation for a relationship.

While the episode was airing, a fan tweeted, "Jessenia I'm sorry, but we didn't get to see ANY footage of you and Andrew, so we have no idea what your relationship was like #BachelorInParadise."


Jessenia replied to the tweet, "Which is why I won't blame the viewers if they don't get it."

The former Texas beauty queen added, "Providing zero context or backstory for y'all truly makes this entire scenario so random. It is what it is."

And then on the latest episode of Bachelor in Paradise, fans watched Jessenia question Andrew's intentions and whether he truly went on the show looking for love. She accused him of being on a boys' vacation, but Andrew swore that he always remained hopeful he could meet his person on the show.

"I could not get to a point where I felt anything crazy [with you]," Andrew told Jessenia before he left Paradise. "I'm here for the right intentions."

Jessenia also chose to leave the show, and she cried in her final words about how she always picks "the wrong guys" -- ones who aren't ready or don't know what they want.

And Andrew said he was upset because he had lost what could've been a "powerful" love with Teddi in the first several days of filming the show.


RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski