Bachelor in Paradise bachelorette Jessenia Cruz has revealed whether she tried to win Andrew Spencer back after he left her for Ency Abedin on the show's eighth season.
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Jessenia and Andrew began dating during "The Split" twist on Bachelor in Paradise, but very little of their relationship was shown on television.
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"He was always very expressive, saying he felt good about where we were going, and this and that. So I always felt secure in it. So when Ency arrived so close to the end of Paradise and he decided to go on the date, that definitely was a surprise to me," Jessenia said on the latest episode of the "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast.
But Andrew ultimately quit the show because he said he wasn't over his first love interest in Paradise, Teddi Wright, and he told Jessenia at the Sadie Hawkins dance that he needed clarity from that brutal dumping he had experienced within the first several days of the show.
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Looking back on that "pretty emotional" conversation at the Sadie Hawkins dance, Jessenia said she felt that was her only opportunity to express her feelings and hash things out with Andrew before leaving the show herself.
"I didn't want to leave anything open-ended by the time I left Paradise," Jessenia explained on the podcast, adding that the talk needed to happen and she "didn't have any problems" with Ency leading up to that point.
In fact, Jessenia said of Ency, "I didn't know her... She came on the beach and wanted to find love and she had the right to do that. I pulled [Andrew] for the conversation, but in no way was it me trying to slight Ency."
Jessenia went on to clarify her motive for speaking to Andrew that night, which essentially took him away from the party and having a good time.
"I wasn't trying to get Andrew back," Jessenia insisted.
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"It was very much, 'We need to talk and be serious.' That conversation was absolutely intended to be so much shorter than it was, which is why it got to a point where we were, like, talking in circles."
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Jessenia pointed out how Ency's interruptions made the conversation longer than it needed to be.
"Every time Ency would interrupt us, I would be frazzled because I so surprised," Jessenia recalled.
"I was like, 'Okay, why does she keep interrupting us? I'm trying to get it over with, because I want to leave.' It just wasn't going anywhere because we kept getting interrupted."
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Ency visibly got upset because she thought Andrew was giving Jessenia reassurance and validation instead of spending time with her when, in reality, Andrew was just trying to end things with Jessenia for good and move forward on a positive note.
"I absolutely appreciate Andrew for being honest with her and saying, 'This is nothing, it's fine. I just need to finish this conversation, give me a moment,'" Jessenia said.
"I think at that point, when you get that reassurance from your partner, you should feel like, 'Okay, I'm going to trust them and they're going to do their thing and I'll be right here for them.'"
But Jessenia suggested Ency's two or three interruptions didn't make her look good, and Andrew broke up with Ency as well that night, saying how he didn't like how Ency had handled the situation.
"I was just trying to get somewhere and it [was] not landing. At the end of that conversation, I remember thinking, 'This went nowhere, but okay!'" Jessenia said with a laugh.
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But at the end of the day, Jessenia concluded, "I got my clarity and he got his clarity too."
Jessenia also revealed to Joe Amabile, Natasha Parker and Tia Booth on the podcast how she spoke with Andrew after filming Paradise.
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"I remember giving it a few weeks because it's such a funky transition from being locked down in filming to going back home. I spoke with some mutual friends and asked, 'How is he doing?' And I remember thinking, 'I would actually love to reach out to him,'" Jessenia shared.
"Because I didn't want our first conversation to be at the reunion, just to be totally honest. I love Andrew as a person, and I wanted us to have that conversation of, 'Hey, how are you? This is where my head was at.'"
Bachelor in Paradise's reunion filmed on November 4 and will air on Tuesday night, November 22 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
"I said my piece, he's doing fine -- and we'll see what happens," teased the Season 25 The Bachelor alum.
On last week's 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.
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Andrew revealed how he had contacted Teddi after filming Bachelor in Paradise, and he discussed whether he thinks they could have a future together during a recent appearance on the "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" podcast co-hosted by Bryan Abasolo and Mike Johnson.
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