State of disbelief! Izzy Goodkind sat down with Us Weekly Video and exclusively revealed how she felt when her former Bachelor in Paradise costar Nick Viall was picked as the season 21 Bachelor. Watch what she said in the video above!
Viall, a two-time Bachelorette runner-up who dated Jen Saviano on Paradise season 3 over the summer, was announced as the new Bachelor on August 30. Goodkind, who competed for Ben Higgins‘ affections on The Bachelor season 20 earlier this year, can be counted among the many people who assumed that The Bachelorette season 12’s Luke Pell would land the coveted gig instead.
“You should have seen my face when they pulled [Nick] out to announce it,” Goodkind, 25, tells Us. “When I went onto Ben’s season, they announced Nick first as [the Bachelor on After Paradise] kind of like a joke, and I remember I started crying. I called my mom like, ‘I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to be on The Bachelor if Nick’s the Bachelor.’ So when they brought him out again [this year], I said, ‘Oh, this has to be a joke.'”
The graphic designer points out that having gotten to know Viall, 35, on Paradise, she now thinks he’s a “great guy,” although she’s bummed things didn’t work out between him and her friend Saviano.
Goodkind also opens up to Us on why it was “tough” to watch her breakup with Vinny Ventiera on the show, whether she regrets calling him from the limo on her way out of Paradise and how it feels to look back on her brief connection with lamp aficionado Brett Melnick.
Check out her revealing interview in the video above. The Bachelor returns to ABC in January 2017.