Erica Rose: 'Bachelor Pad's Michael Stagliano is fake, phony and untrustworthy

Erica Rose and returning second-season Bachelor Pad champion Michael Stagliano were eliminated during Monday night's fifth episode of Bachelor Pad's third season in which 15 former bachelor and bachelorettes and five "Super Fans" compete for a $250,000 cash prize.


Erica, a 29-year-old law student from Houston, TX, who previously competed on The Bachelor's ninth season, was eliminated based on votes cast by Bachelor Pad's 12 remaining third-season cast members after host Chris Harrison announced a twist at the end of the episode in which all the males and females in the house would individually vote to eliminate one woman, who would then in turn get to choose one man to leave with her.

After falsely learning from Michael that Chris Bukowski had been plotting against her and rallying votes to get her out of the house -- which was a move Michael made in the hopes Erica would get eliminated and take down Chris with her out of spite -- Erica quickly determined Michael had betrayed and lied to her even though they were good friends. As a result, Erica chose to remove Michael from the game and unloaded on him prior to leaving -- calling him a bad person and a bad friend amongst other personal insults.

During a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Erica talked to Reality TV World about her Bachelor Pad experience and fallout with Michael -- including why she was okay with bashing Michael prior to her exit although she still had some doubts about which player was responsible for orchestrating her ouster, how she responded to Michael's accusations that she's "vindictive and abrasive" and whether she's open to reconciling with Michael or plans to hold a grudge forever.

Below is the first portion of Erica's call. Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion.


Reality TV World: You believed Michael at first when he was insisting that Chris was gunning to get you out of the house. However, Chris bringing you into the voting room with him was a huge move and ultimately persuaded you to think Michael was actually the one lying to you. Although you were clearly right in assuming Michael had betrayed you at that point, did you ever worry that Michael was actually telling you the truth the entire time and that Chris just decided last minute to show you he was voting for Lindzi Cox in a last-ditch effort to save himself in the game once he realized you were pissed at him?

Erica Rose: I definitely thought that that could be a possibility, because you know, he knew that if Lindzi was leaving, she'd take him with her. So he was taking a huge gamble, but I don't know.

I just -- Michael's reaction to it and Chris wasn't behind the whole movement, you know what I mean? If you watch it, Michael was really the one orchestrating it. At that point, Chris didn't have much influence over the house. He wasn't in the main alliance, as Michael said.

So Michael was the one that could persuade [Jaclyn Swartz] and [Ed Swiderski] and [Rachel Truehart] and [Tony Pieper] and [Blakeley Shea] and [Kalon McMahon] and Lindzi.

Like, he was the one that controlled the entire house and masterminded that scheme, whereas Chris probably thought, "Okay, that would be the best option for me because it would save me and [Sarah Newlon]." He wasn't like running around masterminding it the way that Michael was.


That's why I said I felt the most betrayed by Michael, because Chris was honest with me about it, and he was like, "I haven't voted yet and yeah, I did think of that possibility, but I haven't voted yet." He never told me, "Oh my God, I would never do that, like I never even thought of the possibility," you know?

Reality TV World: It sounds like you were pretty certain then that Michael was lying to you, but since you did have that tiny bit of doubt that maybe he was telling the truth, were you kind of worried about potentially ruining your friendship by unloading on him before leaving the house?

Erica Rose: No, because I knew -- I'm really good at reading people. I mean, Michael is sometimes a hard one to read because he's also a really good actor and he was hugging me and comforting me, and that was, I think, one of the hardest things about it. Because he was being like, "Aw girl, you're fine!"

But I could just tell by his expression after Chris brought me in the voting booth, and by his reaction, I knew that he was behind it. And so, at that point, I had no problem telling him how I felt.

Reality TV World: Monday night's show presented it like Chris deliberately decided to take you into the voting booth, but in an interview he did this week, Chris Harrison suggested Chris only mentioned it to you as a joke and it kind of snowballed from there. Can you clarify that? Was it a deliberate thing Chris had planned as the show suggested or did he mention it you jokingly and then you put him up to actually doing it?


Erica Rose: I think he mentioned it to Kalon jokingly based on the conversation, and then Kalon said, "Yeah, you should totally do it." And then as I was talking to Michael, he came up to me and he's like, "Look, I'll prove to you I have not voted for you yet, so Michael's lying, and I'll vote for Lindzi."

So he was just proving to me basically that Michael was lying, because Michael said, "Chris has already voted for you." And so the fact that Michael would say that when Chris hadn't voted yet, that was my first red flag that Michael was lying.

Reality TV World: In Michael's blog, he called you "abrasive and vindictive" and said you're "not a forgiving person" nor do you have an "even-keeled personality." He claimed that those qualities are what got you on the show to begin with. So I just want to give you the chance to respond to his comments. What are your thoughts?

Erica Rose: Well, I don't think that I'm -- I do think that I'm even-keeled, because as you can see, I always maintain my composure from screaming or going off the rocker like a lot of people [do]. So I don't get that one. But yes, in terms of being vindictive, I think when someone hurts me, I do respond in a way to where maybe I want to get back at them.

And so yeah, by saying the [Holly Durst] and [Blake Julian] comments, like that could've been a little bit vindictive I guess, but I don't think I'm -- I think he was vindictive in trying to eliminate me, you know what I'm saying? And I don't know, I don't think that's what got me on Bachelor back in the day in the first place.


I don't think I presented myself as vindictive. I didn't come off as vindictive even last season on Bachelor Pad. I can't recall anything I did that was vindictive, you know, so I think he's just saying that maybe the way that I responded to him was vindictive. If it was, it's only because I was so shocked at that moment about his betrayal to me.

And just as he could say I was vindictive, I can say that he was fake and phony and untrustworthy. So, everyone's going to have some qualities that aren't very good.

Reality TV World: Michael did mention he'd be open to reconcile with you. How do you feel about that? Do you have any desire to become friends with him again? Has that thought crossed your mind?

Erica Rose: I mean, I don't want to be enemies with him just because our paths do always cross in different ways because that's the world and whatever. But, it's hard for me to say that I want to be friends with him, because I think that he and I have a very different definition of what a friendship is, you know what I mean?

To me, a friend isn't someone that just says, "Oh, I'm your dear friend but I'm going to screw you over and then we'll still be friends." That's just not what I think of as a friend. And so, it'd be hard for me to just be like, "Oh, okay, let's be friends." But I don't mind the possibility of reconciling to where we like don't hate each other.


Reality TV World: Also in his blog, Michael noted that you weren't winning challenges or allying up with anyone in the game. He said you were a "loose cannon" in the house...

Erica Rose: I don't think I was a loose cannon because it wasn't like I was running around being crazy. I was just kind of laying low and doing my own thing, so I don't know what that means -- about a loose cannon.

But yes, I didn't win any challenges. But neither did Lindzi and neither did Kalon, and Sarah hasn't won a challenge yet either. So I agree I wasn't winning challenges, but half the people in his alliance weren't winning challenges either.

Reality TV World: So just to clarify, did you have any type of alliance or plan to become a part of one in the near future, and what was your strategy in the game? Did you just intentionally try to stay off the radar?

Erica Rose: I mean, I really was trying -- I really felt like I could win the next challenge. I just didn't know what it was. But now that I know it's a spelling bee, I still think I could've maybe won it. I was waiting for a challenge that I could possibly win. But I thought -- I didn't realize that there was such a big alliance and that I wasn't part of it.

But earlier on, I did think that I could see there being couples and then people that weren't in a couple. And so I tried to bond together with the other people who weren't part of a couple, but that kept dwindling down every single week. So it made it harder to feel like I had an alliance.


Reality TV World: What were your thoughts about Ed and Jaclyn's relationship while you were on the show? It seemed like they were getting along great up until the moment Ed revealed to the house he didn't want to get romantically involved with her, and she seemed pretty upset by that.

Erica Rose: Well, I think for me, it was obvious that Jaclyn wanted more than Ed did, just because it's Ed and he hooked up with Sarah and then he hooked up with Jaclyn.

I think it was obvious that Ed wasn't there to find love, whereas Jaclyn maybe was. And as much as that kind of thing, when you're like hooking up with someone -- and even though you're friends, one person is always going to get emotions involved, and that was Jaclyn.

Reality TV World: As far as Blakeley and Tony's relationship goes, Blakeley made a comment during Monday night's show that she never thought she'd fall for Tony. Chris also seemed surprise that Tony "fell under her spell." So what was your opinion of that relationship when it started? Were you surprised those two ended up hooking up based on their personalities and compatibility, or lack thereof?

Erica Rose: I mean, we were definitely surprised, you know what I mean? We were just kind of like, "Okay." At first we thought it was Blakeley being like, "Well Chris rejected me and Tony's here. He's single, so I'll go with him." But then when it started happening, we were like, "Okay, we can actually see them together, and the more we think about it, they are a good match and their personalities go well together."

Because Blakeley is very, very dominant and Tony's more laid-back and kind of lets her, I think, wear the pants in the relationship. And so, I feel like they're a good combination together.


Reality TV World: Looking back, do you regret clashing with David Mallet and targeting the "Super Fans" instead of aligning with them?

Erica Rose: Yeah, I mean, but the thing is, David targeted me first by telling me he was going to vote me off. So, it wasn't something that I instigated. But, you know, it was only him that I clashed with. I didn't really clash with any of the other "Super Fans." But it would've been good if he hadn't have done that, and we could've been on the same team for sure. I think that would've been better.

Above is the first portion of Erica's call. Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski