Love in the Wild contestant Tim Parrish was eliminated after his partner Summer Mack chose to pair up with fellow contestant Ryan Smith instead of keeping their relationship in tact following an incident in which Tim allegedly got drunk and rubbed cake in her hair when partying one night.
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During a Friday conference call with reporters, Tim, a 32-year-old from Green Bay, WI who currently resides in Chicago, IL, talked to Reality TV World about his short-lived Love in the Wild experience -- including whether he felt the cake incident was entirely responsible for Summer ending their partnership and why he believed she overreacted a bit to the joke.
To read Shauna Dillard's Love in the Wild interview, click here.
Reality TV World: It seemed like Summer didn't have much of a reason as to why she chose Ryan over you, except for the cake incident. Do you think that was entirely responsible for your downfall because it kind of pissed her off, or was there more to it? Do you think there just wasn't much of connection between you two?
Tim Parrish: No, that was -- I think that was definitely it and Ryan got chosen by default, basically. Some girls can't -- they're not into that physical humor, you know, a guy that kind of pushes the envelope with his sense of humor and wackiness.
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So, once I smashed the cake on her head, I think that was just like the straw that broke the camel's back. She said that I reminded her of an ex-boyfriend, and once that happens, I basically am him and I'm done. But you know, I had really no warning of that coming because there was no communication of, "You did that and now there's no chance for us to move on." So, it was kind of -- I got blindsided.
Reality TV World: Do you mind talking about that cake incident a little bit more? Do you think that Summer overreacted or that her reaction was justified? And can you also describe the scene for us a little bit better? Because viewers didn't get to see much of Jesse's birthday party.
Tim Parrish: Yeah, I mean, we were just having a good time and I think for me, putting the cake in front of me -- like I had a birthday cake back in the day and my friends just destroyed it -- so when I see a cake, especially when you're just out having a good time, I'm not going to eat it.
I'm just going to -- you know, I'm either going to leave it alone or the little devil on my shoulder's going to say, "Do something with this cake and mess with somebody." And, you know, we're by the pool, so it's like -- it wasn't a wedding.
So it was kind of like, "Have a little cake on the head. We're on vacation, we're trekking through the mud in the jungle with all this other crap, and you're worried about a little cake?" It's like, come on. It was in good fun and it wasn't meant to like embarrass her. It was just something that was a little zany action, I guess.
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Reality TV World: You seemed really confident going into the Couples' Choice Ceremony. Could you talk about that? Was it because you were solely confident in your relationship with Summer at that point, or were you kind of figuring another girl would pick you no matter what if you ended up in the unmatched area?
Tim Parrish: I was just confident with Summer because I apologized sincerely in the morning, and then we had a talk at the pool, and then we made out at the pool. And I asked her straight up, "Are you happy you made this decision to be with me?" And she said, "Yes."
So, you know, what am I supposed to take at that point? I wasn't supposed to think that she was going to have a change of heart or she could have at least communicated with me so it would have left me an opportunity to at least talk to someone else and stay in the game.
But, I think the whole, "I remind her of an ex-boyfriend," [and her] saying she just wanted me out of the game, it almost seemed like revenge towards him more than it was towards me.
Also in the call, Tim told reporters whether or not he regretted the cake incident entirely.
How do you feel now about the cake incident? Do you regret it? How do you view it?
Tim Parrish: Well, obviously it was a bad decision for me to do that because it cost me another episode and basically changed the outcome and possibly [my] life. So, it was kind of a weird thing because I -- it was just an instinctual thing that I did.
Obviously, I regret doing it because I was having a blast. And, you know, if I could have done it differently, I probably wouldn't have smashed it on her head, but possibly another girl's head who could have taken a joke better.
To read Shauna Dillard's Love in the Wild interview, click here.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski