Maria Georgas on the Bachelor.
This article originally appeared on E! Online.
Maria Georgas is ready to nip those rumors in the bud about why she isn't the Bachelorette.
"I was offered the role," she said on the May 1 episode of Alex Cooper's "Call Her Daddy" podcast. "I mean, it was mine until I said it wasn't. And yeah, it became very overwhelming to the point where I had to decline."
In fact, the reality star said the casting decision was so "set in stone" that she had even done fittings. But in March, Jenn Tran was announced as the lead of season 21 of "The Bachelorette."
Get Philly local news, weather forecasts, sports and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia newsletters.
So what changed? Ultimately, Georgas suggested she just wasn't ready to hand out the roses while Tran was.
"She was one of my closest girls in the house, and she was always verbalizing how badly she wanted this," the executive assistant from Ontario continued. "And when everyone around me was so supportive of me being in this position and everyone wanted this for me, I kind of took a second and was like, ‘Why am I not happy? Why am I not excited about this?' And it took me realizing that it's just not my time, where I was like, ‘Guys, respectfully, I need to decline. I need to take a step back.'"
"The Bachelorette" Stars: Where Are They Now?
Entertainment News
Having already been one of the final four on Graziadei's season of "The Bachelor," Georgas knew what the role would require. And ultimately, she felt like it wasn't a journey she was ready to go on at this time.
"I was not in the right headspace for this," Georgas added. "Because I know the extensive process it was to be on the show, right? So having a bunch of guys do the exact same thing and they're there for me, I didn't want to waste anyone's time. It was hard for me to jump right back into it, honestly."
However, she noted Tran is the best person for the job.
"She is the most perfect Bachelorette in my eyes," the 29-year-old shared. "I couldn't think of anyone better to do this. And she was so ready for it and that was enough for me to say, ‘Yeah, it's not my time.' It was a hard time because, again, everyone was so wanting this for me. I just needed to be home with my family and friends and take that time off, to be honest."
And Georgas knew she was stepping away for the right reasons.
"What people saw on their screens was only the half of what I kind of went through in the house," she said. "Did I have time off before it aired? Yes. But again, everything was so — I was so anxious throughout the whole thing. And I get it, it would have been my own show, it would have been me having more control over things. But again, it's so isolating being in there. And I would have to give up my phone — not my freedom, but having to be alone in that, I wasn't comfortable. I wasn't just mentally prepared for it."
E! News has reached out to ABC for comment but has yet to hear back.
Georgas wasn't the only one considered to be the next Bachelorette. Daisy Kent, who was one of the final two on Graziadei's season, previously shared on Nick Viall's "Viall Files" podcast that she also turned down the opportunity.
However, Tran is thrilled to take on the role—with her making history as the first Asian American Bachelorette—and for her journey to find love to begin.
"I hope I find my person," she said during the March announcement, "someone that I truly feel like is 100 percent my perfect match and someone who I'm compatible with. Someone I can have fun and also just like feel like we are each other's person."
