'The Bachelor' suitor Madison Garton: Emily wasn't only reason I quit

The Bachelor bachelorette Madison Garton's emotional reaction to Emily Maynard's tragic love story opened her eyes to the fact that several of her fellow bachelorettes had already developed stronger feelings for Brad Womack, however it wasn't the only factor in her decision to voluntary leave the show during Monday night's broadcast of the ABC reality dating series.


"It was definitely the Emily thing that set it off, [but] had I met Brad and immediately stepping out of the limo fallen over and my world had stopped and I knew that this was the man [for me], then, yeah, I probably would have been in it for much more of the competition," the 25-year-old model from Brooklyn, NY told reporters during a Thursday conference call.

"There was a bit of chemistry and there was -- I think we both put some effort in to get to know each other more for sure. [But] at the end of the day, could I see myself being his Texas housewife? I'm not sure, so that certainly played into it a little bit."

"Could there have been a connection? Could we have worked? Could there have been something? Maybe, yes. You know, I'm not sure, but yeah, it was probably not going to be his Texas housewife... [and] he said he would have had a hard time bringing me home to his grandmother too," she said.

Madison also admitted that learning Emily's story had made her feel somewhat less deserving of Brad's affection.


"That's the crazy thing. I feel like in the show, all of a sudden, yeah, you do feel a little bit like -- a little bit less deserving. They all have these stories and they need this love and coming out of it and looking back, it shouldn't make me any less qualified to fall in love with him than any of the other girls," she told Reality TV World.

"But yeah, you feel all of a sudden like, 'Why am I here? They need this so badly and their hearts are already on the line and they've had all this heartache before -- what the hell am I doing here?' Pardon my language, but yeah, you just get immersed in the entire thing and you feel like for you it's fun and games and you want to fall in love and for them, it's just so much more serious than that, and that they really need it."

However Madison told reporters she won't consider her decision a mistake if Brad didn't end up selecting Emily at the season's final Rose Ceremony, which was filmed late last year.

"To me, [Brad ending up with Emily] was the fairy tale ending. It doesn't necessarily have to be that way, and I think Emily is a very strong girl -- she will certainly make good for herself... I still think that I just would have felt wrong being there. It wasn't that I left for her, but I didn't feel good being there," she said.

The Bachelor bachelorette also said she had underestimated the show's competitive environment.


"I think going into the whole experience, I didn't really give enough credit to the fact that you really -- you're fighting other girls for a guy. That's just never really been my style so much. There are plenty of men out there, so when it comes to just cut-throat for just one guy over a bunch of girls, and it's haggering what I'm trying to say, but had I have known right away that he was going to be my husband, I probably would have been in a much stronger fight for him," Madison told reporters.

In addition, Madison also told Reality TV World that her decision to walk out of the Rose Ceremony before learning whether Brad was planning to give her a rose was motivated by a desire to protect the feelings of her fellow bachelorettes.

"I didn't want there to be any question of another girl getting a rose that was supposed to have been mine. I would feel terrible if he goes to give me the rose and I take it and then he gives it to someone else. That would have taken away from their experience of getting the rose and I didn't want that to be the situation, so I thought I would nip that in the bud by leaving," she said.

While Madison said she had no major regrets about her decision to leave, she did admit to wishing a couple of things had gone differently. 

"Not at all. I will say something, I wish it had been a little bit longer that I was there, but that's probably what I regret the most, that I didn't take the experience as fully as I had wanted. But other than that, I wouldn't have changed a thing about it. I'm very happy with going on the show with such an amazing experience and I left when I felt I needed to," she told reporters.


"So, I would not change it, although yeah, I wish, yeah, that I had gotten the chance to make a connection with Brad, but at the time, it just wasn't right for me."

In addition, Madison also expressed regret that her decision to quit the show mid-Rose Ceremony had denied her a chance to say goodbye to the rest of her fellow bachelorettes.

"It all happened so quickly. From the time I sat down with Brad and he asked me to stay [until] the Rose Ceremony, that happened maybe four or five minutes before the Rose Ceremony. This was all very late [in the] night, this was all happening so quickly, and I just didn't want to be the girl who was crying wolf to get attention. That was not my intent at all, and so I needed to follow my convictions, I feel good about it," she told reporters. 

"Everything happened so quickly -- the girls had no idea, I stepped down in the Rose Ceremony and I didn't get to say bye to a single person. At least the girls that get kicked off, they get to say bye and all that -- there was none of that, I was not allowed to go back in or say bye and anyone, so that part was hard for sure."

Madison also acknowledged that while she wore her fangs throughout her time on The Bachelor, she doesn't wear them much in her regular life.


"It started out as kind of something for fun, but now it has sort of become my signature thing. Anyone who knows me or has gone out in New York with me knows that sometimes they make an appearance. Yes, it's sort of become my little thing and I have fun with it -- people have fun with it -- it's just kind of how it goes, but I barely wear them at home," she said.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski