Ousted 'Bachelor: Rome' bachelorette Erica Rose voices no regrets

Ousted The Bachelor: Rome bachelorette Erica Rose's outspoken and judgmental nature might have scared away Prince Lorenzo Borghese, but any viewers expecting the 23-year-old Houston "socialite" to express any regret or remorse for her televised behavior will have to keep waiting. According to her, anyone calling her a "spoiled brat" is just doing another from of judging.


"Everyone judges in their own way but people only want to frown upon someone like me who will judge those, you know, in a sense below them in certain regards but [then] you can't say it's OK to call me a spoiled brat -- that's not considered judging, that's good -- that's the mentality that people have and that's a crazy mentality," Erica unabashedly told Reality TV World during a Wednesday afternoon press conference in which she extended her own "judging" to include not only The Bachelor's home viewers but also the entire city of Houston

"It's like if you're going to judge someone for being uneducated, that's OK, but it's the same if you judge someone for being spoiled and snobby. I think everyone in the world judges someone in some way. If you're very religious you judge people for not being religious... I think whoever you are, you're going to judge someone. Everyone in the world judges but people are more likely to jump on the bandwagon and judge me for being spoiled and judge me for judging other people but it's like they're judging me -- they just don't realize that I'm doing it and they're doing it so they shouldn't yell at me so much for doing it. I've never met a person in my life, ever, who hasn't judged someone in one way or the other."

"Often people have this preconceived notion that it's OK to chide someone as a spoiled brat but it's not OK to call someone trashy or something but I think it works the same way... if you're going to make fun some way, you can do it the other. People are often not aware of that idea."

While Erica admits that being the daughter of a well known Houston plastic surgeon might have made her a little "spoiled," she says she's not -- despite the comments of Jami Matzke, another bachelorette that was also eliminated in Monday's broadcast of The Bachelor: Rome's third episode -- a "spoiled brat." "People who know me will say -- and they've been quoted and everything -- I'm a very good friend, I really am," said Erica.


"I'm the type of friend who will always be going you the best advice because I'm so honest so I'm the friend that's the only true friend that can give you the best advice and I do care about my friends and I do care about helping less fortunate people and doing charity work and I am a nice person, I am kind-hearted . Yes I can be self-absorbed at times [but] so can everyone else in the world, you know, and ya, I've been raised with a privileged way and so I guess you could call me a little bit spoiled but I don't think I'm a brat and you know, I do take care of myself, I don't need some guy to come along and support me so if I'm spoiled, whatever, I can sustain that lifestyle."

Erica says she still doesn't understand why Lorenzo decided to eliminate her from The Bachelor: Rome and instead offer his only two-on-one date rose to Agnese, a 24-year-old local Italian student with whom the English-speaking Lorenzo can't communicate very well. "I didn't like his reasoning at all, I didn't think it made sense," Erica told reporters during the press conference.

"He told me that I seemed like a different person that night [and] I think from watching it people are like 'She seems the same as she's been the whole time' and that's how I felt and so maybe he just wanted to think of any random excuse he could think of and that's the first thing that came out of his mind... but it just didn't make sense. Going into that two-on-one date I said 'Well if he just really gets a chance to know me and then just doesn't like me then that's OK' but I don't think he got a chance to know me. Obviously I was really upset. I'm glad I kinda reprimanded him and let him know what I was thinking and I think that took him aback a bit but I was happy to throw him off kilter a little."

After rejecting Lorenzo's explanations for why he opted to instead keep Agnese, Erica has formed several alternate ideas of her own. "Honestly, I think I big part of it was because she was Italian and he thought it would be like good of him to pick an Italian girl just because that's his ancestry," Erica explained to reporters. "Also, you know, it's easier to think you know someone who barely can communicate with you... all their conversations were ever about was the fact that she didn't speak English and her English was getting better and so he was like 'Oh, I really know this girl' just because there was not that much that they could say to each other. And also they had that kiss before the date... I feel like he would feel weird having kissed a girl and then sending her home."

"Also, you know she is that Cinderella type of story I guess -- she's a nanny, she comes from, you know, a type of family in Italy, and he has that little Prince Charming complex I think that a lot of guys have and so she would fulfil his little fantasy that way. And maybe he wanted to brush up his Italian, who knows. But I think he would feel worse sending her home then his did with me, because it's like, you don't really feel sorry for a girl like me, ever."


In Erica's opinion, Agnese is a particularly poor fit for Prince Lorenzo. "She barely speaks English and in my mind she needs like a lot of grooming you know, physically, and with manners," Erica unapologetically explained as she sized up some of The Bachelor: Rome's six remaining women. "There are certain women that I think I could see you know going to a nice charity event or something like that. I could see Sadie for example fitting into those circles, she always looks beautiful and she's always elegantly dressed and put together and so for her, she had you know perfect manners and I don't think it would take a lot of work."

"They just have to be able to do lots of charity work and you know what I mean... they all thought they were very good people for cooking and cleaning and making their own beds and you know, I don't necessarily think that makes you a good person, I think doing a lot of things for other people -- like I have my own charity foundation and I think that's good -- so they need to be prepared to you know, give back to other people and not just live their own lives like they've been doing... not all of them but a lot of them. I could see Sadie doing charity work, I could see Jen doing charity work, so you know they might not be used to knowing how to do it, but they can be instructed and learn probably."

Despite footage that showed the rest of the show's women celebrating when they learned that Lorenzo had eliminated her, Erica says she did make friends with most of the rest of the women. "I actually did make friends," Erica told reporters. "I really got along very well with Lisa, she comes from Portland but she's got a closely similar background to me but I think she kinda was smarter than I was in that sense and realizing 'Hey, Lorenzo is looking for more down to Earth girls so she played up like the more down to Earth side of her personality very well. You know, she is much more down to Earth than I am in the sense that she's a girl who likes to go camping and she's very outdoorsy and so I think he liked that in her, but other than that she and I really did have a lot in common. I liked Sadie, I think she's just the cutest little thing in the world and she's so adorable I'd be really happy if Lorenzo ended up with her because I think, you know, how could you do better than a virgin... I think that's pretty cool. I liked Desiree, I think she's just so much fun to be around and I liked Jeanette."

According to Erica, Agnese and Jami were the only women with whom she really clashed. "The only two girls I really didn't get along with very well was the Italian girl Agnese because she had -- just like maybe I had an attitude of superiority -- she really had one just for being Italian. She thought she was the most beautiful girl in the house and she was kinda condescending in that way and I didn't really like her. And then Jami, the girl from Galveston, and I didn't get along that well just because you know, she thought I was a spoiled brat -- basically that's what she said -- and I didn't think she would be right for Lorenzo. When I first met her I said this girl would be perfect for an NFL football player. Other than that, out of the twenty-seven, I was impressed with the twelve that he picked originally, I thought that for the most part he picked a good group of girls."

Erica admits that she was excited to learn that, despite being eliminated from the competition, she would get to return and decide which of the six remaining women will get to go on individual dates with Lorenzo in next week's The Bachelor: Rome episode. "I liked having a little bit of power over them and deciding who gets to date you know and all that, it was a really good opportunity," Erica gushed. "I really picked the girls for the dates that I thought were the most honest and that was really important to me because a lot of the girls weren't honest... they would be really nice to each other's face and then say other things behind their backs and didn't really like that. Not only did I choose on honesty but I [also] chose based on who could be compatible for Lorenzo and who I think could potentially make a princess."


Of course, that's not to say that Erica felt that the remaining bachelorette pool was full of princess potential. "In those group of girls, for me, that was like finding like a diamond in the rough."

"I think it was really significant who I ended up picking. I have a feeling that one of those might have ended up being the girl he ends up with so in a way, I kinda feel like I helped that process move along."

According to Erica, she doesn't understand why most The Bachelor viewers have reacted so negatively to her on-screen behavior -- but she's enjoying it. "I think I take after my Dad... he once told me all publicity is good publicity [and] in a sense it is so that's my philosophy about it," Erica explained. "I like being the bachelorette that everyone is talking about. I enjoy it -- maybe I'm weird, but I do."

But despite enjoying being "the bachelorette that everyone is talking about," Erica also claims to "not care" what The Bachelor's viewers think of her. "I can't get offended by anything rude that people say because that's their own issues with themselves coming out. Why do I care of some random housewife doesn't like me or just any random person for that matter? I do care what my parents think of me, and that's why I'm so happy that they're such wonderful, supportive parents, and the same with my good friends. My friends are good enough friends with me that they aren't going to watch the show and say 'Oh, I don't like her now.' That's all I care about, I don't care what people who don't really know me think of me, why should I?"

According to Erica, the public reaction to her appearance on the show has been mixed. "It was cute when all these thirteen year old girls came up to me [at the mall] and they wearing all of their little tiaras and they were very happy and excited sweet -- that was nice, it's nice to have a pleasant encounter like that. But like going out at a bar for example with a bunch of my friends is very unpleasant because a lot of people want to come up and say rude things. I find the whole situation very amusing because how can these random people that I don't really know have these strong opinions of me, it's almost like a hatred. It's just like, those people are just really weird in my mind and they must not have that much going on in their lives."


While Erica says she and her father have had no problem ignoring some of the public comments she'd heard, Erica says her mother has been a little more effected by some of the negative reaction. "I'm very strong, I don't care about negative things that people say [but] my mom was a little more sensitive. She was at a luncheon after the first episode and a group of women care up and literally kinda attacked her and they're like 'How could you not teach your daughter how to make a bed?' and you know, she was kinda shaken up by it and not as happy. But for the most part, it's been really fun."

Erica hopes that leaving Houston and moving to Los Angeles, where she hopes to break into the entertainment reporting industry, will help her situation. "[Houston] people are in general friendly, but they also, in my experience, can be closed-minded and judgmental and that tends from it being like a Southern type of state maybe," Erica, who is already "looking at apartments" in Los Angeles, explained. "That's why I'm happy I'm moving to LA... there's much more important people for them to be concerned about here so I'm the least of everyone's concerns almost."

Although Live with Regis and Kelly co-host Kelly Ripa and other media personalities have lampooned Erica's The Bachelor comments that the fact she had attended college and didn't have any tattoos made her superior to the show's tattooed and non-college educated bachelorettes, Erica says she still stands by her earlier statements. "I've had so many mothers come up to me and say 'Thank you for saying children shouldn't get tattoos and they should go to college,'" Erica told reporters.

"I think people that come from an affluent background or even a nice upper middle class background would be happy with me because I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that yes, unless you're a professional athlete and you get a really [good job] -- like Kelly Ripa, for example, she was kinda offended but she got a job on a soap opera so I can understand why she didn't have time to go to colleg, that's fine. But I don't think there's ever an excuse for getting a tattoo and permanently disfiguring yourself, why on Earth would you want to do something like that?"

According to Erica, her comments only upset "those disgruntled people who either have tattoos or didn't go to college." "If you have the opportunity -- and in this day and age in America, almost everyone has the opportunity to go to college, you know, my housekeeper's children are going to college, so I think that says a lot -- if you want to go to college, you can go to community college, you can go somewhere. I don't think those are bad things to be saying, I think those are great things to say. I definitely think there are a lot of people that identify with me then there are those disgruntled people who either have tattoos or didn't go to college that are upset about it."


Erica says she found the fact that Lorenzo told her that he didn't have "college degree" and "no tattoos" on his own soulmate checklist both disappointing and somewhat insulting. "When we were on our [Episode 2] group date, we were having a conversation and he was like 'I don't care about any other qualities in a girl, I just want them to be kindhearted and fun' I was really disappointed because I thought of all twelve girls that were there at that point, and I think every single one of them could have qualified as 'kind-hearted and fun.'"

"I have this huge list of that I need in a potential mate like it could go on for days or whatever my list, and the fact that he doesn't care about education or upbringing or you know these are important things to me like it was a huge shock it was almost like a slap in the face. I think at that moment I was just like 'Wow, I really didn't have like any advantage on these other girls' and aside from that I don't think that he ever maybe thought I was a kind-hearted person, which I really am, but you know maybe he really didn't even think I was that much fun, who knows. The point is like that I was just very disappointed by that and really surprised so in that since like, you know, he wasn't, you know, exactly how I expected him to be."

For those wondering how Erica ended up on The Bachelor, she says it was her father's idea. "It was my Dad's idea for me to do this whole thing because I had been complaining forever about my dating life, it had been terrible, and I don't want to insult Texas guys, but I do think that was largely the problem," Erica told reporters. "He was complaining to me how my ex-boyfriends, he thought, were like trying to make my Dad support them and he was tired of it and like here's this guy that you know won't do that, hopefully, and he thought that maybe it could work out."

According to Erica, all of her previous ex-boyfriends have been significantly less well off financially. "All of my ex-boyfriends have been from different backgrounds than me and they've all expected like my family and me to kinda like support them and take them on vacations and you know pay for everything and buy them expensive presents and I was just you know tired of that."

"I think that I you know, have much more to offer than my money -- I think I'm smart, I think I'm pretty, I think I'm fun, whatever -- [so] that's what I was kinda hoping for with Lorenzo is that I would find someone that we could get past that you know financial situation and just get to know each other and that didn't work out."

Erica blames a "Prince Charming complex" for her inability to find a guy with a "similar background." "The biggest problem is that a lot those guys -- that I grew up with and Lorenzo is like -- you know, want to be a Prince Charming. I don't know what is in them that makes them that way, you know my brother isn't like that so I don't understand why they're like that, it's weird."


"I want someone from a similar background. I want someone who is educated and smart. I would like someone who is funny. I want someone who knows how to ski, because I go to Aspen, I go to my house there all the time and they need to come ski with me, you know that would be great. I want them to have flexibility and be able to travel with me a lot. I have to be attracted to them but to tell you the truth like, physical attraction, for me, is not the most important thing because they need to have a good sense of style and be well dressed and well groomed and take care of their body -- you know, so many different things -- I need to be able to take them to a charity event and they need to be able to fit in and have good conversations with people and I want them to be family oriented because I'm very family oriented and they have to want to have kids and I have to think they're going to be a good father. And be a good husband -- not the type that will cheat -- and like you know, my list can go on for days."

Given her previous experiences, "rich" is also on Erica's extensive list. "It would be hard for me to believe that there would be a poor guy who has been raised like me that will fit in at charity events and skiing and you know all those things that I want them to do. I would find someone who maybe could be successful on their own and didn't come from an exact family as me so that I would know they could support themselves financially and not be thinking that I would but I would really like someone who came from a similar background and I don't think that that's like asking too much."

Despite her The Bachelor experience, Erica says she remains a fan of the long-running ABC show. "My favorite two seasons were... the Andrew Firestone one because he's cool and the Bachelor Bob one because he was so sleazy and hooked up with every girl and I thought that was really funny and I liked the girls on that season. I didn't really watch last season because I thought the Bachelor Travis was really boring and the girls were really boring that she picked at the end."

"I really do think that this season is better than they have been in a really long time, for a lot of reasons. When it's an actual prince and not just an alleged Prince Charming, that raises the stakes. I think I definitely made the show more interesting because I was not afraid to be myself."

For those wondering who Lorenzo might give his Final Rose to, Erica hints that viewers might want to pay special attention to school teachers Jeannette and Jennifer. "It's funny because it seems as though every Bachelor always likes the teacher and that's usually the thing that always happens so I'm wondering if this might be like that again -- we'll see!"

Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering, although she admits she's a huge proponent of plastic surgery and has already had a nose job, Erica says that while people have "always thought that they weren't," her breasts "are definitely natural." "I think plastic surgery is great... definitely I'm going to have a facelift one day, after I have kids I'll get my breasts lifted and maybe a tummy tuck."