ABC/CRAIG SJODINJillian Harris has a new shot at love. Of course we all remember the Canadian cutie from the last season of The Bachelor and especially from that much-talked-about, jaw-dropping hot tub scene with Jason Mesnick. Well, she's back, and with The Bachelor way behind her, she's ready to give reality-show love another shot when the new season of The Bachelorette debuts on Monday.
"Last season was definitely hard. But I learned a lot about myself, and what's the harm in giving it a shot?" asks Jillian about saying yes to the show, which is being shot in Hawaii.
When asked how it feels to be third choice for The Bachelorette after Melissa Rycroft and Molly Malaney, Jillian says, "I was a third choice on last season. I know what that feels like. I'm comfortable with that. And just also me being placed third on The Bachelor, it sort of naturally places either one of them as the natural choice. It doesn’t make me feel like I'm third. It makes me feel really happy that they declined."
"Honestly," she continues, "I'm just a short little hyper quirky Canadian and I actually don’t feel like I fit the mold of The Bachelorette very well. And I was very surprised that they asked me. "
Not as surprised as she was when a reporter on a press conference call asked her this…
The question on everyone's mind was this: "The show really strongly insinuated that you and also the other contestants basically had relations with this [Jason]. And I just wanted to see if there was anything you wanted to clear the air about that."
Jillian was taken aback and said, "I think that that's probably the most inappropriate question ever. I'm normally really a really open girl about all these kind of things. But I mean, it's one of those things that anybody can assume, that I had a steamy makeout session with Jason and I went in the hot tub, that him and I quote unquote 'did it.' And we can also assume that every Bachelor and Bachelorette in history has done it with those people…What if I turn the question on you and ask you if you had sex last night?"
With that awkwardness out of the way, Jillian went on to say that she's taking her new gig very seriously. "I'm not here to date and mess around with 30 guys. I'm here to hopefully find the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. And that's a very, very serious thing for me."
Check out a sneak peek from the season premiere of The Bachelorette in the video below.
Think Jillian will find true love this time? Are you rooting for her?