What it was like being the runner-up on The Bachelor

Rochelle Emanuel-Smith talks about having her heart broken on national TV, how she felt about her portrayal on The Bachelor and what the show has taught her five years on.

It is often hard to believe the fights, villains and storylines that are shown on TV in the most recent seasons of The Bachelor, but season one runner-up Rochelle says that the portrayal of her experience was “99% accurate”.

Rochelle Emanuel-Smith competed on the inaugural season of The Bachelor in 2013 to win the heart of Tim Robards. Despite coming second to Anna Heinrich, she says that there was never any hate or competition between the girls and they were all very mature.

“Honestly, every single one of them I would consider a good friend. We had a fab group of girls, and the same goes to Tim,” she says.

She says that she was happy with the way she was portrayed on the show, and believes that no girl was shown as better than the rest.

“Yes, I had a lot of stupid conversations and embarrassing moments that the producers didn’t air, so overall I think they were good to me,” she says.

“There’s no time to show every element to each person’s personality, but I count myself as one of the lucky ones.”

While it is often believed that editing and production have a large influence on the way that the show and its cast are presented, Rochelle says that her experience was very authentic.

“The producers can't put words into your mouth,” she says.

“When parts of a conversation are removed it does come out looking different to what you perceived in the moment, but I was never manipulated.”

The US TV show UnREAL focuses on the lives of the producers working on reality TV and how they exploit and control the contestants. Despite their negative portrayal on UnREAL, Rochelle compares the producers on The Bachelor to friends who assisted her through the entire experience.

“Imagine you are about to go on a date, and someone helps you get ready, picks the restaurant, chooses your outfit and follows you around on the day as your guide. That’s pretty much what a producer does on the show,” she says.

“Producers weren’t really there to force something to happen. They chose us for certain things based on how they assumed it was going to go.”

Rochelle travelled all the way to Thailand on her season of The Bachelor, only to be left heartbroken when Tim chose Anna. She says that the decision was a surprise to her, and there was no acting involved.

“The moments of me crying on camera were real,” she says.

“Because I got my hopes up from the environment, my own opinions and nudges from producers. But now I’ve learned that you can only trust your gut instinct.”

Following the show, she told various magazines that she felt like “the country’s biggest joke” when she was left heartbroken for 1.2 million people to watch on TV. However, she says that she is at peace with the outcome now and there is no bad blood between her and Tim and Anna.

Rochelle says that she watched the whole series and threw parties with her friends and family to laugh and cringe together.

“The final episode is the only one I haven't watched since it aired. Obviously it makes me feel a bit sick and it's not nice seeing footage of yourself feeling anxious, scared, alone and shocked,” she says.

She describes her experience on the show as one of the most incredible things to happen to her, and it changed her life in so many ways.

“I learned what I appear like on camera, what it feels like to be loved and hated online, what it’s like competing for somebody’s affection, the highs and lows of being recognised everywhere and the difficulty of dating after a show,” she says.

“Nowadays I just embrace it. I’m very grateful that it happened to me.”