'The Bachelor's Melissa Schreiber still confused about her feud

Although she believes her arguments with fellow bachelorette Raichel Goodyear were what caused The Bachelor star Brad Womack to eliminate her during Monday night's broadcast of the ABC reality dating show, Melissa Schreiber still doesn't actually fully know what the bachelorettes' feud was about.


"You know, it's funny because I actually am still a little bit at a loss. I don't even completely know what happened, and I actually told Brad several times that there was a reason that she was always verbally attacking me. And she would always tell me, 'I love you girl. I'm just stressed out. I'm just stressed out, and I'm sorry.' And then she would do it all over again," Schreiber told Reality TV World during a Thursday conference call with reporters.

"But she did tell me at one point that the reason that she was constantly attacking me was because she felt like I was being dishonest with Brad, and that I wasn't telling him that I would choose to go home on my own if I did not get enough one-on-one time with him. And if any of the viewers log onto [ABC's website], ABC actually posted a deleted scene with Brad where I actually went into detail with him and explained to him exactly that. And Raichel was sitting right there. [So] I really don't know what Raichel's problem with me was."

But while the 32-year-old from Lake Worth, FL feels her ouster was due to Goodyear's constant attempts to initiate fights, the bachelorette does accept some personal responsibility for Womack's decision. 

"I definitely think that my conflict with Raichel had a lot to do with it, but in a sense, I also blame myself for allowing myself to get that emotionally involved with Raichel," she told reporters.


The Bachelor showed the two women fighting several times, however Schreiber said there were even more disputes that weren't edited into the broadcast, as the two bachelorettes were seemingly doomed to be enemies from the beginning. 

"Ironically, it's so funny because Raichel had something against me, I feel like, from the moment I got in the house. There was not a day that went by where she was not verbally attacking me for something," she said.

"But, she would always come up to me later on and apologize for it and tell me she was sorry, and she was stressed out, and whatever. But, then she would do it all over again. So, it was always kind of, I feel like, drama between the two of us, on and off-camera."

Schreiber told reporters she didn't tell Womack about her problems with Goodyear until she already had a couple successful one-on-one conversations with him, but she said she wished had avoided the discussion altogether.

"My first couple of conversations with Brad were very good and did not involve any drama. But I do somewhat regret being involved in the drama whatsoever and allowing Brad to see that. I should not have allowed him to be involved in that kind of drama," she said.


And if the bachelorette was afforded the chance to go back and do it all over again, she mentioned she would have done some things a little differently.

"I would not have allowed myself to be involved in any drama. I would have simply walked away. I think it was just hard for me because I'm not used to being involved in a lot of drama. I am a very non-confrontational person and I think just being constantly -- I don't even know the word to use -- attacked, I feel like I needed to defend myself," she told reporters.

"And I think if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't have defended myself, I would have just simply walked away."

However, Schreiber insisted she was not mad at Womack, nor did disagree with his choice to send her home.

"Not at all, and if I were Brad, I probably would have done the same thing. Nobody wants drama, especially not that early on. So, I think he made the right choice in sending both of us home that night. I wish that I had -- I wish that I had, you know -- the time to get to know him a little bit better, because I don't think he would have sent me home so early, but yeah, I don't blame him," she said.


Schreiber said although she would have liked more time to get to know Womack, she was able to get in a few quality moments and she doesn't feel -- as Monday night's The Bachelor showed some of her fellow bachelorettes speculating -- that Womack seemed in a rush to end their conversation.

"Absolutely not. It definitely was not like that. My conversation with Brad during our fifteen-on-one date was probably a good 10 minutes, and we talked about life and careers and family. So, it definitely wasn't like that. But the girls really couldn't hear because there was a glass partition between us. So, I think it was just kind of assumption," she told Reality TV World.

Despite their limited time together, Schreiber told reporters she was still able to tell that Womack had sincerely changed from his prior turn as the Bachelor, which ended with him rejecting both DeAnna Pappas and Jenni Croft at the eleventh season's final Rose Ceremony.

"You know what, I really do. I wasn't there very long, but I was able to see was a genuine guy," she said. 

"He really does seem to have everything together right now, and he really seems to know what he's looking for. But yes, I do think he has changed."


In addition, the bachelorette said Womack's past should no longer get in the way of him finding true love on the show.

"I personally don't think he owes it to anyone to have to explain himself any further. He has gone above and beyond to have to explain himself and I think that he really just -- he's earned being able to just let it go and move forward," she said.

While she clashed with Goodyear and her The Bachelor experience didn't turn out to be what she hoped it would be, Schreiber said she actually made some friends during her time on the show.

"I was lucky enough to have made a couple of friends that I would like to keep in contact with. Unfortunately, I wasn't there very long to really make a lot of lasting friendships," she told reporters. 

"I think it was just a very unfortunate situation that the girls were ganging up on me. I wouldn't say that it was everybody. I would say it was just a select handful of girls."


Schreiber told reporters several girls made a positive impression on her during her short-lived time on The Bachelor, but singled fang-toothed bachelorette Madison Garton out as the "most genuine, sweet and kind hearted person" she met in the house.

"She was nicest person ever," Schreiber said.

In addition, the bachelorette listed Emily Maynard, Shawntel Newton, Ashley Hebert, Jackie Gordon, and Lindsay Hill as the top five women she believed were good fits for Womack and mentioned she had been friendly with all of them.

During the conference call, Schreiber -- whom the show billed as a waitress from Lake Worth, FL -- also clarified her Monday night broadcast comments in which she was shown saying she had been wanting to get on the show for eight years and had quit her job to participate in The Bachelor's fifteenth edition.

"Well my career is actually not being a server," said Schreiber, who also explained that she had originally applied for The Bachelor's second season but hadn't applied again until last year because the timing had never been "right."

"My career is a real estate and property management. But I did quit my job as a server -- which is something that I do for extra income -- and when I came back, they actually took me back right away. But, that specific serving job is not my main career."


While her The Bachelor experience was both rocky and short, the bachelorette said it was still a great experience and would definitely give it another shot if offered.

"It was honestly an adventure of a lifetime. I'm really -- I'm grateful to have had the experience and I would do it all over again in a minute... I do not have any regrets about going on the show, and I am still grateful that I did. I would have done things a little bit differently in hindsight, but I am very grateful to have been on the show," she told reporters.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski