Sasha Petrovic: My 'Bachelorette' fate seemed to already be decided

Although The Bachelorette star Jillian Harris seemed to suggest otherwise when she failed to give him a rose, Sasha Petrovic doesn't feel that his one-on-one date comments played any role in her decision to eliminate him from the ABC reality dating competition. Instead, Sasha believes that Jillian had already decided to his fate before the date even began.


"It just felt like one of those deals where you [already] know you're going to break up with a girl," Sasha told Reality TV World during a Thursday media conference call.  "And you're like 'Don't let her talk you out of it, don't let her you out of it' and you get there and she's just saying 'I'll change, I'll do what you want me to, I'll do whatever, let's just not break up' and you're like 'Nope, I can't let you talk me out of it, I've already made a decision, I can't like you talk me out of it.'  That was kind of the way I felt."

According to Sasha, the couple's dinner discussion -- which featured Sasha telling Jillian that he feels he's never truly been in love and has come to believe he's looking for a mythical "unicorn" -- was more involved than what was shown on ABC's Monday night broadcast of The Bachelorette's third fifth-season episode.

"It was a long conversation and you guys didn't see everything on the show.  When she said 'You've never been in love' and all those things, like I said, I was backing it up saying 'I probably have been [in love] compared to some people's expectations just not mine,'" Sasha told Reality TV World.  "I told her I've been in serious relationships and all those things, [that] I've been hurt."

"I kept telling her 'I cherish that word... I've said it three times in my life to people and I've kind of almost made a promise that the next time I say it will be my last, I want to marry that person. So I don't want to cheapen it like I think a lot of people do,'" he told Reality TV World.  "They almost have it like built into the calendar.  You know, hey, we're dating this long -- after six months I'm going to tell you I love you and after 12 months we're going to get engaged.  I told her that's not the way I operate."


However instead of understanding where he was coming from, Jillian seemed to respond like she was a lawyer questioning someone who was testifying in a court case, according to Sasha.

"I felt that she was almost like a lawyer who had me on the stand trying to 'rebut, rebut' and almost justify her reasoning saying 'This is why I'm asking you, this is what I think,'" Sasha told Reality TV World.  "There was a lot that went into it and it wasn't like 'Oh yeah, I've never been in love, I'm a commitment-phobe, this stuff's not going to work, I'm super picky, I'm looking for the perfect 5' 8" blonde who's a doctor' type of deal."

"I think Jillian misread [my unicorn comment and] was thinking 'Oh, it's this perfect person' but that's not the case because nobody's perfect and perfect for me," Sasha told reporters.  "You know she has flaws here and there [and] I have tons of flaws as well."

Sasha said he eventually came to feel that Jillian would have managed to find fault with anything he had said.

"There's no question about my character at all and she knew that.  I can talk pretty clear and concise and it didn't matter what I said," Sasha told Reality TV World.  "If I'd have been 'You know what, you're right, I have been in love, I have had my heart broken' she still would have been 'Okay, I'm not sure if I believe that.'"


"We had [already had] a conversation at the second rose ceremony and I had told her about all [it].  I was like, 'You know, I don't know if I've truly fallen in love, if I've found that right person,'" Sasha told reporters.  "We were having a great time at dinner and then all of the sudden she was like 'Okay, it's about that time. I've got to set the foundation for what I'm about to say [later].'"

Sasha also said he believes Jillian may have selected him for the one-on-one date because she felt his elimination would be more "impactful" than some of the other bachelors.

"If she would have kicked off one of the other guys -- like Tanner, the foot guy, or you know like the bartender guy or the break-dancer -- [it would have been] like 'Okay, who cares? Like that wasn't going to work anyway,'" he told reporters.  "For me it was like 'Well this is a guy that potentially could go the distance and she kicked him off.'"

According to Sasha, he hadn't felt much of an initial attraction for Jillian.

"When I first met her walking out of the limo I was like, you know, not really I would say my type out of the gate... she's a cute girl but not that attractive up front," he told Reality TV World.  "Her personality was really nice and sweet. But... 'nice and sweet,' you know, that only gets you so far. You have to have kind of [have] that physical [and] emotional chemistry and connection."


However Sasha said his opinion of Jillian then began to change as he got to spend more time with her.

"At first I was like 'Oh, this isn't going to work.' You know, I thought, well, let's give it a shot and see what happens," Sasha told Reality TV World.  "And the further and further I got along and, you know, it was the weirdest thing because at our date like she - I remember the yellow heels that she was wearing, [I was] like 'Oh my god, this is like, you know, one of the first times I really think she's like a knockout.'"

"You know, she's beautiful. And we were clicking so well. We were talking about like kind of the truth thing and it wasn't artificial. And, you know... that was the first time I really was like 'You know, wow, you know this might work. You know this might actually work.  It has a chance. It has way better of a chance than I thought first coming out here.'"

Unfortunately the change was short-lived, according to Sasha.

"Then all of a sudden, you know, you're switched when she turned into a lawyer and started asking me all those questions. And I was like okay, obviously you know something happened," Sasha told Reality TV World.  "But, you know, I have to admit, you know, I did kind of turn and become, you know, I guess more attracted, you know, physically and emotionally."


Despite the dinner conversation, Sasha said he was still surprised when Jillian announced she would not be presenting him with a rose that would allow him to continue in the competition.

"When she said 'I can't give you this rose' and for the reason I was really surprised and almost in shock," Sasha told reporters.  "It was really surprising, especially given the fact of some of the guys that were left behind because, you know, I think we had pretty good chemistry and we had a great conversation."

"At the end of the day I mean there's a couple of guys that, you know, she knows and everyone knows aren't going to work out," he continued.  "And I think I was one of the guys that potentially kind of, you know, was pretty well-rounded.  And even though let's say it was a small shot, it was still a shot, you know, at finding somebody who kind of was pretty quality through in and throughout. And not like, you know, for example, an unemployed bartender."

Like several of his fellow bachelors, Sasha came away from The Bachelorette with a low opinion of Juan, whom Jillian saved from elimination after the majority of her suitors attempted to vote him out of the competition before the season's second Rose Ceremony.

"Juan is a special character. You know, when he first got in the house, me and him kind of didn't get along very well at all," Sasha told reporters.  "He's like that annoying cousin that every time he sees you he kind of slaps you in the back. And you're like okay, it's funny the first couple of times and you're like 'Hey, take it easy.'"


"Me and him were kind of back and forth the first day but then luckily I had the first date with the pool party and the car chase so I kind of backed off and was gone. But when I came back to the house, I mean the whole house was against him," he added.  "Everyone thought Juan was a spy... everyone thought he was working for the show, you know because he's like 35, he was the oldest guy there."

Chief among Juan's critics was David, whom Sasha said he had repeatedly urged to calm down.

"David just for some reason, just hates the guy... I talked to David about it probably 20 times," he told reporters.  "[I was] like 'He will bury himself. Let him spend time with her.'  I [said] 'The guy is not going to do well, you know, he's not going to do well. just let it pass.' I [said] 'You can't let everybody bother you in life otherwise you're going to go crazy'  and [David was] like 'My dad had three heart attacks by the time he was 50, things bother us in my family... I don't like feeling this way. But I can't help it.'"

"Obviously [David has] some anger management issues going on because he wouldn't react the way he does," Sasha said. "He wouldn't like tell Juan to walk away and get out and almost bully him."

Juan wasn't the only bachelor that Sasha considered to be "weird."

"There [were] a lot of weird characters," Sasha told reporters.  "Like Brad -- you know he was kind of a weirdo. But he was who he was, you know? Everyone knew he was kind of weird."


However despite seeming to have low opinions of several of his fellow bachelors, Sasha did seem to think two of the remaining men -- Kiptyn and Ed -- may be good fits for Jillian.

"You could probably cut out half of them out of the gate, just like all right, this isn't going to work. But if I had to put money on one guy it would almost be a coin toss between Kiptyn and probably Ed," Sasha told reporters.

Each suitor has different strengths, according to Sasha.

"I think her and Ed are almost each other's type in a way where they just see eye to eye," he told reporters. "He does have like a different sense of humor -- it's a little drier -- and I think he's also somewhat non-threatening to her, because some of the guys in the house are you know a little bit cocky and kind of almost too confident. And that might almost push her away where Ed's a lot more humble in a way. And like I said, less threatening."

"If not him maybe Kiptyn because Kiptyn seems like a safe bet," Sasha added.  "You know he - he's older. He's an older guy. He lives on the west coast as well. He doesn't - I mean Kiptyn's a guy that never does anything bad but never really anything to differentiate himself. He's kind of right in that - you know like that middle area that he's always in a safe zone."






About The Author: Steven Rogers