Big Brother: All-Stars houseguest Tyler Crispen initially didn't want to compete on the new season and got very emotional when he was invited back, according to his girlfriend and fellow Big Brother alum Angela Rummans.
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Angela said Tyler wasn't onboard with the idea of leaving her for an entire summer when he was approached to join the Big Brother: All-Stars cast, according to Angela's video interview with Us Weekly.
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"It's crazy because it hit him all at once, and for me, it didn't really register for a while. It was funny. It was right before my birthday that he got the introductory call, and he came in with balloons and flowers for me and handed it to me and just started bawling, and I'm like, 'What's wrong?'" Angela, 28, recalled to Us.
"And he goes, 'Um, they called me about All-Stars and I don't want to go.' He started bawling, but I think it hit him because he knew that it was an opportunity that he couldn't pass up and so it was going to happen."
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Tyler and Angela fell in love on Big Brother's 20th season -- which Tyler finished as the runner-up and Angela placed fourth. The pair moved into a California beachside condo together after the show and started a jewelry line called Naut and Chain.
However, the couple later purchased a home and relocated from Los Angeles to Hilton Head, SC, where they intended to put down roots for a while.
Angela, a fitness model, grew up on Hilton Head Island, while Tyler worked there as a lifeguard before entering the Big Brother house in 2018.
Angela explained the news of Tyler's casting on Big Brother: All-Stars didn't hit her "for a long time" because she told her boyfriend they'd talk it over and figure things out together.
"[I said], 'We're in a pandemic and we don't know if it will actually happen,' and so for me, it took awhile [for the news] to really sink in that this is going down and we're going to be apart," Angela shared.
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"And to be honest, it still hasn't sunk in that I can't see him until possibly maybe the end of October... which is [a] really long [time]."
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Angela added, "Since we've got out of the [Big Brother] house, we've never spent more than three nights apart. I think we spent three nights apart one time. Literally, our lives are so interconnected. We are one person."
Angela therefore said Tyler being away from her "feels like someone ripped my arm off and my leg off and then they strapped a 20-pound backpack on my back and said, 'Go run a marathon now!' I'm like, 'This is impossible.'"
Angela admitted she and Tyler "went back and forth, so many times" on whether he should accept CBS' invitation to appear on this year's edition of Big Brother.
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"There's just so much going on in the world at this time, and he didn't want to leave me alone during a pandemic," Angela explained of Tyler's hesitation, despite his apparent love for the game.
"He felt that he was putting this huge burden on me because we run our companies together, and if he's not there to help, everything is on my plate. That burden, he wasn't really able to be okay with that."
Angela continued, "I had to really say, 'I'm going to be okay. We're going to get through this. I can handle the companies.' Even though he is the one that's playing this game, it's like we're both in this together because we are so interconnected."
Angela told Us that she advised Tyler to just "try to enjoy himself" in the BB house and "have a good time" because "it's an amazing experience."
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Angela hopes Tyler's stint on Big Brother: All-Stars can measure up to their first experience on the show, which she dubbed "a magical" time in her life when she fell in love.
"I just really wanted him to go into it with a really good mindset and just have his head on straight and have fun. If you have that positive mindset, you can really make things happen," Angela noted.
As for whether any more reality television is in her future, Angela admitted, "I don't think I'll do any more reality TV unless Tyler is right there with me."
"I think after this is over, we're both going to be in agreeance that we are never leaving each other's side -- ever again. Our last FaceTime together, we were just bawling our eyes out, like, 'We're never doing this again!' And I was like, 'No, never again.'"
Angela told Entertainment Weekly in late 2018 that she couldn't stand to be away from Tyler for more than a few hours at a time.
Angela also said in December 2018 she'd be "open to the opportunity" of doing another Big Brother season -- but only if Tyler would be onboard with competing again.
"I will not do it without him. I could not be gone for three months. I would die. Like, I would self-evict," Angela admitted.
In December 2019, Tyler told The Bachelor star Ben Higgins on his Facebook Watch series, Back to Reality, that he and Angela were living their "best life" and he could see their relationship going all the way "to the moon."
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"I feel very humbled nowadays because it worked out so well for me," Tyler said last year. "I just feel very, very lucky. I am a very happy person these days, and I am very thankful for all of it."
Tyler has hinted he definitely wants to get engaged to Angela in the future but they're not rushing their relationship or slapping a timeline on the future of their romance.
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"These things happen naturally. This is The One, I already know that," Tyler previously said.
Big Brother: All-Stars just premiered last week, and Tyler so far has avoided the chopping block and is maintaining a low profile.