Exclusive: Jesse Wilson talks about his 'Love in the Wild' experience (Part 2)

Love in the Wild contestant Jesse Wilson was eliminated during last Tuesday night's broadcast of the NBC reality dating competition's fifth second-season episode.


Jesse was ousted from the show after his partner Michelle Sacco chose to pair up with former flame Benjamin Clark instead of pursuing their own relationship, and he was left partnerless in the "unmatched area" alongside Ali Leitza, Ryan Smith and Jenna Gillund. Ali, who held Jesse's attention and interest throughout his time on the show, had a chance to choose between Jesse and Ryan at the end of the ceremony but opted out of the opportunity and chose to eliminate herself. 

On Monday, Jesse, a 33-year-old from Oakdale, CA who currently resides in Manhattan Beach, CA, talked to Reality TV World about his Love in the Wild experience and all the drama that surrounded his name during the course of the season -- including what the status of his relationship is now with Ali, what he insisted really went down with previously-eliminated contestant Tara Locke, and what information he claimed was false that Tara had told us in our own recent interview with her. 

Below is the second portion of our exclusive interview with Jesse. To read the first portion, click here. Check back with Reality TV World soon for the last portion to find out what he had to say about his disagreements with fellow contestant Kenneth Barrington. 

To read Ali's interview and what she had to say about Jesse, click here and here. To read our interview with Tara, click here.


Reality TV World: Why do you think Ali wasn't that into you when you clearly had feelings invested in her? Did you just have more of a physical attraction to her than anything or was there more to it?

Jesse Wilson: You know, I think previously answered the question saying that I didn't think the [Tara Locke] relationship had much affect on Ali and I's relationship, but thinking about it, you know, maybe it did. She knew that happened. We had talked about it happening, and we joked about it a little bit.

I kept telling her how I've always liked her from Day 1 except for that little bit of re-routing, if you will. I don't want to demean the relationship that Tara and I had, but we joked about it a little bit. I think that had an effect. I really did, because she went in saying, "Listen, I'm not..."

It did a little bit, but she also told me, "Listen, I'm not going to be physical. I'm not going to be romantic. I'm not going to be intimate with anybody." And that's where a lot of our relationship's arguments spawned from. I was very irritated that someone would come on a show with "love" in the title and not be open to being -- not intimate, I didn't care about that.

That's always where the argument went, but that's not what I meant. It was just being romantic, open and being yourself. She was very aware that she was on a reality show. I think I was different. I went on, and yeah, I understood where I was, but I knew what the goal was. The goal was to find someone and be yourself in the process. And that's where we butted heads a lot.


Reality TV World: What's the status of your relationship with Ali now? Are you guys friends or did you stop talking after the show?

Jesse Wilson: No, we stayed in contact. We all kind of stayed in contact and we stayed friends. I think (laughs) two weeks ago, I believe, when we were partners, I didn't see a lot of her interviews obviously when I was there. So I didn't know she was saying a lot of these negative things about me.

So after that, I think I was a little more hurt that she was giving me a face that was an "okay face." The "I'm in this. Let's kind of figure this out" face, where she's back on interviews saying, "I can't stand this guy," or "I don't want to be with him," blah blah -- whatever it was.

That hurt me a little bit. So, I don't know that we didn't become friends anymore, but we text back and forth and we chat or whatever. We're indifferent, I'd say. If we lived in the same town, we'd have lunch and we'd be fine.

Reality TV World: I have to ask you a little bit about what happened with Tara. Tara seems to think you're a jerk, but when I talked to Cina Luks, she said you were simply blunt and honest. So I wanted you to be able to talk about your side of the matter and respond to their comments. How would you like to explain what went down with Tara, and what made you want to switch partners after you two allegedly got intimate?


Jesse Wilson: Well, after the very first ceremony when all the guys -- I had talked to [Summer Mack] beforehand and I said, "Listen, you and I aren't romantically connecting. I think there's another guy out there who might like you and then I tried to set up them -- kind of talking about [Tim Parrish] and her to see if there was a connection between the two of them.

They both said, "Yes." So I told Summer, "Go choose him. He's more your style. Do that and I'm perfectly fine with going home." Summer was like, "Nah, I don't want you to go home. But there may be another chance for you to stay." And I said, "Well, my only chance of staying is if Ali chooses me."

So I kind of had the impression that the girls would have a second choice at picking from the singles, and they gave us the option to say who we wanted to choose. I don't know if you remember that, but the guys got to say, "Okay I want -- I'm looking after whoever." I flat out said that I was there for Ali. Ali was the only person that I wanted to choose and you saw that Tara chose me, and I couldn't say no.

There was a bit of an explosion in that ceremony too. She had mentioned that she had never had a conversation with me, which was a lie. The night before, her and I had a conversation. We were all drinking and [Benjamin Clark] and I were talking, and she asked me what I do. It was like her very first question.

And I couldn't believe someone was so worried about what someone does, so I lied and I said, "Oh, my dad runs the Zipper at the carnival and I'm poor." So she like rolled her eyes and walked away. And Ben and I were just confused. We're like, "Oh my God. This girl really thinks this."


So in the ceremony, I brought that out in the open. I told [Jenny McCarthy], I was like, "Look, we had a conversation and I didn't like her at all. She was materialistic, not my style, at all." So there was a lot of tension there to start with.

But that night, I made amends and I said, "Listen, I know I embarrassed you a little, but I just called you out on what really happened and maybe I didn't like you or whatever, but let's get through the competition. Let's figure it out. We have to work well as a team. Let's take the pieces apart -- competition then the relationship -- we'll figure that out."

And then after spending more time with her, she's still the same person. She's still that materialistic, princess girl that everybody saw, but she owns it and I respected that. I liked her as a friend and in that way, you kind of saw what happened with the physical part of it. If I have any regrets, maybe it's leading her on -- leading her on a bit.

I don't know if I just led her on emotionally, but physically, sure I was attracted to her. Emotionally, maybe she was led on that I liked her more than -- like in longterm terms, if you will. And I don't know, so.

Reality TV World: After we did our interview with Tara a couple weeks ago, you went on Twitter and said she had told us some false information in that interview. You mentioned, despite her statements, you had told her she was materialistic and you had been interested in Ali from the very first day, while you asked her if she was interested in any other guys -- and once she said no and the guys felt the same way, you apparently chose her out of respect. So were those the things she told us you thought weren't true from your perspective or was there more?


Jesse Wilson: So [Melissa Alatorre], myself and Tara, we were a couple. We were a trio at that point. I talked to Melissa first and she tried to express interest in staying with me, and I told her she came in unfortunate circumstances.

I already had my eye on someone and that's where I planned on going. Regardless of whether someone new came on the island, like Melissa or any other girls, I wasn't going to jump ship just because someone else who was new came along.

I had someone I had my eye on from Day 1 and I was going to stick to that goal to the end to at least find out if there was something. And I told her that and I felt really bad. I said, "Go out and see if there's anybody else that might have an interest in keeping you around and let me know, and then I'll figure it out from there."

And this is where some of the strategy comes in, if you will, that some people called "scheming." I wanted people to have a fair chance at staying if there was mutual feelings between other contestants. I wanted to give them a fair chance at staying and I wanted to be very open and upfront instead of throwing something on someone at the ceremony.

Now Tara and I's conversation, I did the same thing, but ours went down a little differently. I said, "I'm interested in Ali and I plan on choosing her." And I knew that was a blow and it was a very big thing to do, but I had to be honest.

And I said to her, "I will let you go first so that there's an option of one of the other guys picking you up if you think there's someone else out there that you like and they want you back." I asked her and she said, "No, there's no one else that I like."


I said, "Okay, well I'm still going to ask around. I asked around personally with the other guys, and they were like, "Nope, we're set with where we're at and what we want to do." So at that point, I knew she was going to get sent home.

So I chose her at the ceremony to get rid of Melissa first out of respect at least for Tara. I wanted to show her the respect that she deserved in keeping her even though I knew I wouldn't be keeping her in the long run. It was just disappointing that neither got picked up, but that's the way it is I guess.

Reality TV World: Tara had told us she feels you kept her [the first round] to force her elimination in the second "unmatched round." So just to clarify, you're saying that's not true?

Jesse Wilson: Right. Exactly. Had she told me that there was someone else that she liked and/or someone liked her, that I found out, I would've let her go first out of respect to give her that chance. But both came back negative. She said, "Nope, no one else." And everyone else said, "Nope, not interested."

So, I flip-flopped it and at least kept Tara around out of respect in that way. Obviously it looks a little different, but that's just what happened. I wasn't spiteful. I had no reason to be spiteful against Tara whatsoever. She did nothing wrong to me, at least in the grand scheme of things, nothing wrong that I would have been very spiteful and kept her so she wouldn't get chosen.

Above is the second portion of our exclusive interview with Jesse. Click here to read the first portion. Check back with Reality TV World soon for the last portion to find out what he had to say about his disagreements with fellow contestant Kenneth Barrington. 


To read Ali's interview and what she had to say about Jesse, click here and here. To read our interview with Tara, click here.








About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski