Craig Robinson spent almost no alone time with Ali Fedotowsky during his The Bachelorette stint but still survived the first five Rose Ceremonies, so he was unsure of where he stood.

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"It was kind of confusing to me. I didn't really know what to think because had she not been that into me, then I don't think I would have gotten as many roses as I did," he told reporters during a Thursday media conference call.

"I think maybe that she saw me as a really good friend, and that's why she kept me around. But I'm not 100% sure. I would have to agree with her that the romance aspect wasn't there based on the time we had together. But I can't say if we would have had more time together that it wouldn't have been there. I just don't know."

The 27-year-old lawyer from Philadelphia, PA failed to receive a rose from Fedotowsky during Monday night's The Bachelorette sixth-season broadcast, and he subsequently stated he was "shocked" by his ouster.

"I was shocked because, going into every Rose Ceremony, I thought there was always a chance that I was potentially going to be cut and not get a rose -- including that night. But when it happens, it all happens so quickly -- especially once you've already gotten rose after rose. You get used to the feeling. It just becomes natural, like you almost come to expect it in a way," he explained to Reality TV World during the conference call.

"It just ended so quickly for me. All of a sudden you're in that car on your way home from Turkey. I don't know if shocked was the right word at the time. Maybe more overwhelmed and emotional."

While his eyes were also tearful after his ouster, Robinson said he doesn't know exactly what caused it.

"At the time, I think I really was falling for her. I don't know if I was falling in love with her. I don't know if I can say that now looking back. You just get kind of caught up in the moment of everything. I think that my feelings for her were real -- those emotions that you saw from me were real emotions, without a doubt. That was really a tough thing to take for me," he explained.

"I got rejected by a girl that I thought I started to develop feelings for. It's such a long and enduring process and I made a lot of great friends who all of a sudden I had to leave suddenly and say goodbye to. I think it's emotions of joy a little bit too in the sense that I was going to see my family and my friends again."

Robinson didn't get his first one-on-one date until Monday night's broadcast, and even then he had to win an olive oil-wrestling match against fellow bachelor Roberto Martinez to get it.

He said the lack of alone time was "frustrating."

"I think that things might have been different. I can't say for sure had I gotten a one-on-one date earlier. Like I said on the show, it was frustrating being in that position -- not getting time with her," he told reporters.

"I think that kind of affected me a little bit mentally. It affected the way I interacted with her because I think that kind of was in the back of my mind. But I think things may have been different had I gotten a one-on-one date with her sooner."

Robinson said he's "sure" there was "more" he could have done to woo Fedotowsky.

"Her and I never kissed. That was something I maybe could have done," he told Reality TV World.

"I don't what it was -- whether it was the cameras or the setting or what it was, why that just never happened. There's some things I look back on and say, 'I could have done that differently.' But on the whole, I'm pretty content with the way I handled myself."

In addition, Robinson said he was always unsure about the other bachelors' relationship with Fedotowsky until he saw the season play out on television.

"Now I'm getting to see her dates with the other guys, which I didn't get to see before. So when I thought of who would be getting a rose that night, I just based it on my interactions with the guys, not necessarily on her dates," he explained.

"Everyone came back from their dates with her and said, 'We had the best date ever.' But until you actually see it, I never got a real feel for it. So I had no idea who was going home. I didn't think necessarily it was me. I thought I had a chance to go home."

Fedotowsky abruptly canceled the cocktail party prior to the Rose Ceremony in which he was ousted, a decision he said he "really respected."

"If she had her mind made up, I don't think I would have wanted any extra time with her at that point," he said.

"I trusted her that she really did have her mind made up at that point. I respected that she didn't want to put me through sitting there trying to convince her to keep me if she had already made up my mind."

Robinson was the only bachelor Fedotowsky ousted at that Rose Ceremony because she had previously sent Justin Rego packing after receiving a phone call from Jessica Spillas -- who alleged she was one of two girlfriends Rego had back home in Canada while also competing on The Bachelorette.

"I never saw the girlfriend coming," Robinson told reporters. "I always thought there was something weird about him, something different, something off -- but I never thought it was that he had a girlfriend at home."

While he never thought Rego, an entertainment wrestler from Toronto, had a girlfriend, Robinson said he did feel the only reason he was on the show was to "gain publicity for himself."

"He's an entertainer. Obviously his main purpose I believe in going on the show was to get himself some publicity and -- as he said I think -- to help himself out in the entertainment industry. I think anything that he's saying now about not having a girlfriend is just a continuation of that. As long as he can keep controversy surrounding him, than he's doing what he wants to do an getting more publicity," Robinson told reporters.

"I don't have any real problem with the fact that that's what he wanted to do and this is the angle he thought that he could do it under."

In addition to claiming he was not dating Spillas at the time of filming, Rego has also alleged he was mistreated by ABC and The Bachelorette's producers -- accusations Robinson feels are "absolutely, 100%" not true.

"This was completely legit. There's the voicemails from him to [Spillas]. There's the fact that when Ali asked him point blank to call [Spillas] a liar and he wouldn't call her a liar," said Robinson.

"There was no production angle. There was no ABC angle. That was purely what you saw on TV was the way that it happened in my mind."

Rego has called the voicemails he left for Spillas "pretty incriminating" and admitted that they were left for her while filming was taking place in Iceland -- a fact that, in hindsight, Robinson said the other suitors knew about.

"There was a night in Iceland. [Kirk DeWindt] came to us -- Kirk was living with Justin in Iceland -- and Kirk said, 'Guys, last night [Rego] got up and went into the bathroom and turned on the water. He was talking to himself in the bathroom. I heard him like talking to himself. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but he was talking to himself. I think he's going crazy or something,'" recalled Robinson.

"We had no idea that there happened to be a phone in the bathroom and I'm guessing that was maybe one of the times [he called Spillas]. I don't know. We thought he was just going a little bit insane."

Robinson said he thinks Fedotowsky handled the situation with Rego "perfectly."

"She could have gotten upset, she could have been more sad than anything. But the fact that she got angry, the fact that she stood up for herself, the fact that she defended herself, and the fact that she said a few choice words to him that had to be beeped out -- to me, he deserved even more than what she gave him," he said.

"I thought that was great, I really did, the way she handled it."

Robinson described Rego as a "little bit of an outcast" during filming.

"Really, he never interacted with many of us off camera or on camera. When we lived in the mansion, he would be in his bedroom usually until 2PM or 3PM. We would all be hanging out by the pool, all the other guys, and we would rarely even see him," he said.

"When he did come out, he wouldn't really interact with us. There always just seemed like there was something missing from him."

Since there was little interaction, Robinson said he was surprised by a Wednesday Facebook posting in which Rego claimed the two were friends.

"Justin making that statement that he considers me a really good friend -- or others of us really good friends -- is just a misstatement," he told reporters.

"I did see the statement and part of it said he considers us an 'extension of his family.' I can't agree with that."

While he wasn't that close to Rego, Robinson said he got along really well with Frank Neuschaefer -- whom he described as a "great guy."

Neuschaefer is reportedly one of Fedotowsky's final three suitors, however he allegedly quit the competition prior to the season's penultimate Rose Ceremony in Tahiti after deciding he was still in love with an ex-girlfriend in Chicago.

"He became one of my better friends on the show. I know that whatever happens on the show -- I don't know what happened after I left -- but Frank is a good guy with good intentions," he assured reporters. "He came on the show with good intentions. He means well."

Robinson added that the pressure Neuschaefer faced as immediately being one of Fedotowsky's front runners also might have finally gotten to him.

"There is a lot of pressure. We're all in a tough spot. It's a really difficult spot to be in -- especially him, to get the first one-on-one date with her and have such a strong connection with her, then to have to watch all these other guys build it right after you," he explained.

"You look at it as a positive at the time, 'I got the first one-on-one date. I got the chance to make the first real great impression with her.' But then you just have to sit and wait and watch... I think that's the toughest spot to be in. I have a lot of respect for Frank."

Robinson also said Neuschaefer didn't "specifically" mention any doubts he might have had about his relationship with Fedotowsky.

"He was never doubtful about Ali. But just like you see on camera now, how it sort of started to weigh on him watching the other guys. I think it weighed on Frank more so than other people," he told Reality TV World.

"It might have seemed like he was having doubts, but I don't think I ever heard him say that."

When asked who he felt of the five remaining bachelors was the best fit for Fedotowsky, Robinson singled out Ty Brown and Chris Lambton.

"Not to say that the other guys weren't down to earth or weren't great guys. I actually felt when I left, I even said to Ali, 'If you marry any one of those guys I'll be at your wedding because they're my really good friends for life,'" he told Reality TV World.

"But I think Ty and Chris were who I thought had the best shot."

Despite the fact that a majority of the couples created on either The Bachelor or The Bachelorette have ended without a wedding, Robinson said he "still believes" in the credibility of the show.

"I would not have ended up on the show had I not believed that there was an actual chance for me to find love on the show," he told reporters.

"I think that's proven that it does work, not in every instance. It's definitely not your typical, run-of-the-mill way to find love. But it's proven that it can work."

Robinson added that he has "no regrets" or "bad feelings" about the his experience -- even though it might not have been entirely fair.

"I really think having the opportunity to go on this show was really a blessing. I think I learned a lot about myself on the show. I'm really thankful for the opportunity I was given. When I first got to the show, my ultimate goal was to hopefully fall in love and end up engaged at the end of the show. That would have been great. But you're not thinking that way when you first get there. You're thinking step-by-step," he said.

"Maybe I didn't get a fair shake. But I can't look back on it and say that I have any ill will for the fact that I maybe didn't get as much time with her as some of the other guys did. I'm just really thankful and really blessed to just have the opportunity even if I didn't get a fair shake."

While he would "definitely" consider an opportunity to star as The Bachelor, he's not exactly eager for the chance.

"It would be something that I'd have to think about if offered the opportunity. I look at myself as a lawyer first; I never did this to spin this into any type of career in the entertainment industry or to get into acting or to do further reality shows on top of this. That was never my intention," he explained.

"My intention was to have a great experience, potentially fall in love and then go back to what I do. But that would have to be something I would definitely consider if given the opportunity."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio

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