“I Didn’t Lie”: The Bachelor’s Tahnee Leeson Defends Herself After Confrontation With Jay

Wednesday night’s episode of The Bachelor was almost too much to handle. With resident villain Stephanie being sent home, we assumed the drama left with her.

We were wrong. Because for a moment, tension began brewing between two other women in the mansion.

Things were frosty between Tahnee and Jay after the former told Jimmy that Jay was only on the show for Instagram clout. It led to an intense confrontation as Jay vehemently denied the claims and Tahnee refused to back down.

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What really happened will remain unknown, but after Tahnee failed to receive a rose, she made her way home tending to her broken heart.

POPSUGAR Australia had the opportunity to speak to Tahnee about that incident and what life is like in lockdown.

POPSUGAR Australia: When you were eliminated, how did you feel about Jimmy at that point?

Tahnee Leeson: It was obviously horrible to leave. It was a sad moment but I was never mad at Jimmy because I was always understanding of the fact that he needs to prioritise his relationships.

I would much rather leave earlier with the really great friendship that he and I had than progress further, gain more feelings for him and then still ultimately leave. 

PS: I think everyone wants to know, did Jay really say what you claimed she said?

TL: Yeah, look, I don’t have any regrets. Everything I relayed that evening to Jimmy was 100% true, I didn’t lie.

PS: You mentioned when leaving the show that it hurts that you won’t be able to defend yourself in the mansion. What do you want people to know about you after last night’s episode?

TL: That’s really tough because obviously Jay would have been able to say her piece with the other girls and I wasn’t there to defend my half of things. My integrity is just about the most important thing to me.

I’m extremely honest and I know that a lot of the girls remaining in the mansion were kind of on my side and believed me. So, as much as it was a shame I left that evening and I wasn’t able to return to the mansion and be able to defend myself, I know my friends there would have had my back.

PS: What have you taken away from this entire experience?

TL: I stopped dating previously before I went on the show, so my priorities were very different. Going through this experience has taught me so much about myself and I’m really excited to take that into my next relationship. I’m really proud of how I handled myself on the show, looking back, every single episode I’m featured in, I’m really proud of the person I put forward.

PS: How would you describe your relationship with the girls in the mansion?

TL: I’m really lucky, I have quite a few friendships from the show. I’m very lucky that quite a few of them are still in the mansion, currently in the show, and I’m really close with all of them. I speak to them almost every single day. I was really close with Brooke and I’m especially close with Carlie, Holly and Lily. That’s probably my biggest takeaway, are the friendships that I’ve formed. 

PS: Do you have any regrets about your time on the show? Would you do anything differently?

TL: I don’t have any regrets but there is one thing I would probably do differently. It’s just how guarded I was in my first couple of weeks so that definitely put me a little bit behind the other girls initially, because I naturally put other people before myself, and it’s just not the environment to do that. If I had my time again, I would definitely put myself first and put myself out there earlier than I did. I took a little bit longer than most to warm up.

PS: Who do you think will be the last woman standing?

TL: I’ve got a few favourites, I’m excited to see Brooke return. But Jimmy has an amazing group of girls left there, so he’ll be a very lucky man regardless of who he ends up with. 

PS: Tell us, what’s up next for you?

TL: Well I’m in my sixth lockdown so as much as I would love to give you some inspiring response to that, I’m just hoping and praying that old mate Dan Andrews lets us out soon so I can live life. But right now I’m just living day by day, I’m working like normal and I’m focusing on my friendships.