'The Bachelorette's Charlie Grogan: Talking to Emily Maynard was like talking to the wall sometimes

The Bachelorette bachelor Charlie Grogan, a 32-year-old recruiter from Nashville, TN, was eliminated by Bachelorette Emily Maynard along with two other bachelors during Monday night's broadcast of the ABC reality dating series' eighth season.


Charlie and Michael Nance, a 26-year-old rehab counselor from Austin, TX, were ousted during the fourth episode's Rose Ceremony, while Nate Bakke, a 25-year-old accountant from Los Angeles, CA, was sent home during his two-on-one date with Emily and fellow bachelor John "Wolf" Wolfner.

During a Thursday conference call with reporters, Charlie talked to Reality TV World about his short-lived The Bachelorette experience -- including why he felt like he was unable to really open up to Emily and vice versa, which specific bachelor he would choose amongst all the rest to end up with Emily and why, and how he knew Emily prior to appearing on the show and why he believed she came across differently when cameras weren't around the first time they met.

Below is the first half of Charlie's call. Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: Do you think if your team had won the sailboat race and you got to spend that extra time with Emily at night that maybe you would've gotten a rose and stuck around longer? In other words, do you think losing that sailboat race kind of sealed your fate in the competition?


Charlie Grogan: I'm not really sure, but I think I probably could've talked to her more about more personal things, because every time we did have conversations, it was never a good time and place to get into those things. I didn't really know a lot about her background, her stories.

I mean, obviously I can go online now and read about them, but going into The Bachelorette, I didn't really know too much about her story, because I wanted to learn about it from her.

I'd say the Bermuda atmosphere and surroundings would have been more of a fit environment for me to kind of pick her brain a little bit more and maybe same for her -- she could've picked my brain a little bit more and learned a little bit more about my story and what I'm going through. I think that definitely would've carried me on into the next, I guess, round.

But yeah, it is what it is and again, I never really had that one-on-one intimate-type of opportunity to really share those kinds of stories. It was always more group dates or at a lounge or at a bar. Again, there's a time and place to share those kinds of feelings, and I didn't really feel like those were it. I was hoping that maybe I would eventually get that opportunity to get that time, but I never did and it's alright.

Reality TV World: During the Muppet Show group date, you told Emily you were uncomfortable doing comedy in front of everyone because you had been undergoing speech therapy and everything following your accident. Would you mind elaborating on that a little more? How long had you been working on your speech prior to that moment and how much further did you feel like you had to go before you could feel comfortable speaking in front of an audience?


Charlie Grogan: Well, that's a good question. To this day, I still go to speech therapy. There are still a lot of things that I have to work on. There's a lot of words that I can't still pronounce. If there's anything more than three or four syllables in it, I have a hard time pronouncing it, so I have to kind of sound it out. So that was difficult.

What made me decide to go and approach her was the fact that me and John "Wolf" were kind of rehearsing what we had written down so far, and I was having a hard time really pronouncing the punch line when it came to the joke. And it was really stressing me out because I don't want to be the guy to ruin such an important event for Emily and for Ricki and for the show.

So I didn't want to be that guy to go onstage and kind of bite my tongue and the audience is kind of like, "Who is this guy and what is wrong with him?" Because they didn't know my story. Everyone that I've been around since my accident has known what happened to me and what I've gone through, so we kind of laugh about it when I like stumble on a word or can't really pronounce something.

It's kind of funny to us now and I'm willing to laugh about it, but I just wasn't ready because again, to be thrown into a 1200-people audience plus a million on national television, it would be my first time actually talking around a lot of people without -- it's messing up and not being made a fool of -- I think that was my insecurity the most there at the end. And then also, I got called onstage for the Miss Piggy thing. I pulled it off, but oof, that was tough. 

Reality TV World: During Monday night's episode, there was a lot of discussion amongst the bachelors about age. Chris, who's 25, apparently thought Doug, who is 33, was a little condescending towards him -- as Doug was saying maybe Chris wasn't mature enough to date Emily and take on a daughter. You're 32, so what are your thoughts on that argument? Were you aware of the conflict between Doug and Chris while you were there and whose side are you on?


Charlie Grogan: Yeah well, I was actually there in the room when they were having that conversation at the hotel, but I could kind of lean either way. I was on Doug's side in regards to you have more experience by age, but then again at the same time, I agree with Chris because he's right.

He's very mature at his age. I know at 25, I was nowhere near close to his maturity level. Again I don't know him, I'm just basing that onset, which has only been close to a month. But yeah, the argument could go either way. It all depends on your experiences in life and how you take those experiences and how you mature -- no matter if you're 18 or 38.

An 18-year-old could go through a lot more stuff in his time of 18 years than a 28-year-old could've gone through in his time of being 28. So, again, it's just all about experiences. I know at 33, I was going through a lot in life and I think I'm very mature for my age. But I think I'm a lot more mature than my friends. I have a lot of friends who are my age and they haven't experienced anywhere close to what I have. So, it can go either way. I agree with both parties.

Reality TV World: Out of the remaining guys, who did you think might be the best man for Emily while you were on the show? Did any of the bachelors stand out in your mind for any reason?

Charlie Grogan: Yeah, I think just knowing them on and off and seeing how people act when cameras, lights and action was going on, I thought from Day 1, I thought Sean was a great guy. I don't know what his and Emily's one-on-one time was like, or what their conversations were like, but from my point of view, I thought Sean was a great guy.


If I could pick one, that would be the one, but I've got a lot in mind. I mean, Travis is a great guy, Wolf is a great guy -- I can't really find the word -- but if I was told to pick one out of the guys left, I think Sean is a pretty good dude.

Reality TV World: When we talked to Tony last week, he said he thought there were some guys in the house who claimed they were ready to step into a father role but probably weren't in reality. So would you agree or disagree with Tony, and if you agree, who did you think wasn't ready to be a dad?

Charlie Grogan: I get the feeling that there's a lot of guys there for other things and opportunities that can come out of being on a TV show. You know, for myself, I don't act, I don't sing, I don't dance, I don't model. So I was going on this for just the experience alone so that when I'm 60, and I talk to my kids or I'm a grandfather, I can be like, "I was on a TV show and it was great. The experience was wonderful."

But I think there were a lot of guys that were on the show for other intentions. I'm not that guy to name names. At the Men Tell All episode, whenever that airs, I might be a little bit more in position to call them out, but yeah right now, I think it's a little too early and I don't want to name names or hurt anyone. Who knows, her mind might change.

I wasn't there for the remainder of the taping, so it might've changed their life and they might've had a different outlook on everything like maybe their passion for her or the experience in their life. So I'm sorry I didn't really answer that question, but I can't.


Reality TV World: Besides you, Michael and Nate also didn't receive roses during Monday night's episode. Do you have any insight as to why Emily let them go, and what did you think of those two guys? What were your impressions of them?

Charlie Grogan: You know what? I don't really -- Nate was one of my roommates in the house. He was great, fun-loving -- again, he was 25. I mean, Nate being 25 and Chris being 25, again it's the maturity level. You can tell Chris was really more mature than Nate -- I mean, not to say Nate was immature -- but you can tell by talking with Chris and hanging out with Chris, you would've never guessed he was 25.

But with Nate, yeah you know, he was still a little wet behind the ears. Nate was great; He was awesome. But I don't know, maybe that's why Emily sent him home, because she maybe saw that kind of like not quite the maturity level she's looking for. Granted she's only 26, but she has a kid, she's gone through a lot. So her maturity level is even higher.

Mike, great dude, quiet. I'm not sure if he really had a lot of time to spend with her, so that's maybe been his downfall. But I became pretty close with Mike in the house and he's a great dude, so I don't really know why she would send him home. I don't know why she would send me home, so yeah.

Reality TV World: What were your impressions of Emily while you were on the show? Did she turn out to be everything you had anticipated or were you disappointed about anything at all?

Charlie Grogan: Again, it's so hard to tell because of the cameras and the lights and all the people sitting around. I mean, your comfort zone isn't really there. Because I met her way before the show. I met her years and years and years ago here in Nashville with mutual friends.


We have mutual friends that live here, and I'd have to say that she acted a lot different than she did while I was on the show. She has to have this persona that she has to keep. I don't know. At some times, I felt -- again, I think there just wasn't a spark between us -- but sometimes I felt the conversations weren't really flowing.

I mean, they were flowing on my end, but on hers, it was kind of just like I was just like talking to the wall. I don't know. Again, I don't know. Maybe it was just -- I don't know. I can't answer that. I'll feel comfortable talking to her, now if she feels comfortable talking to me, I can't really answer that.

I mean, again, every conversation we had was great and it ended perfectly. But again, I didn't think we got too much into the intimate side of me or the deep side of me, and that was sort of my downfall because I waited until the last minute to start bringing that out. So I have no idea.

Reality TV World: You made a comment that you actually met Emily before going on The Bachelorette. Do you mind elaborating on that a little bit? Did she remember you once she saw you on the show and how were you cast on the show? Was the fact Emily was its star the reason behind why you initially applied to be on The Bachelorette?

Charlie Grogan: No, actually, I got cast by a girlfriend of mine that I went to college with online. Actually, when they called me, I thought it was a prank call. I thought it was a bill collector. I didn't answer for like two or three days. I finally picked [the phone] up and was like, "Who is this? What do you want?" 

But yeah, she remembered me. She had said the moment I stepped out of the limo -- she looked at me and was like, "Damn, I think I know this guy!" And that was really kind of a cute conversation we had together, because she didn't know how she remembers me, but she had seen me before and this and that.


And I was like, "Yeah, you know, we knew each other through mutual friends at a birthday party and we had a good time." She knew my face. She remembered me, but she didn't really know how it went. So again, that was a really cute conversation that we had together that wasn't shown. But it's understandable because the [editors] can only fit so much into an episode. She definitely remembers me.

Above is the first half of Charlie's call. Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski