The Bachelorette fans were stunned when DeAnna Pappas turned down Jason Mesnick’s proposal in the season finale this week. On his hometown date to meet her family, Jason asked DeAnna’s father for permission to propose to her. In the Bahamas, Jason told her of his plans and she was well aware that he was about to get down on one knee. So it was no wonder that Jason felt disrespected and hurt that DeAnna let him get down on one knee at that final rose ceremony before turning him down. During the limo ride home, Jason said that his emotional walls were going to go back up and couldn’t believe that he had misjudged his relationship with DeAnna so badly. This week, he spoke to reporters for the first time since appearing on the show and opened up about what he went through and what the future holds for him.

If fans thought that Jason seemed more upset than he should have about the fact that DeAnna let him get down on one knee before turning him down, it’s because they don’t know the whole story. “The show made it look like I got down on my knee and she brought me right back up. I talked to her for a while down there,” he admitted. “It was a lot longer of a process. I felt disrespected. That is something I would never do to anybody. I wish they showed more of that moment.”

In DeAnna’s conference call with fiance Jesse Csincsak yesterday, she said that Jason would always be a friend of theirs. Jason echoed those sentiments in his interview, saying, “We've talked since the finale, and we plan on staying friends.” DeAnna and Jesse also expressed a lot of enthusiasm for Jason becoming the next Bachelor, with a new season airing later this year. "I haven't been approached about it at all,” Mesnick said when asked about it. “If they asked me, it's something I would consider.”

Still, Jason isn’t exactly ready to pack up and leave his family behind again for the chance to be on reality television or find love. "I stepped away from being a dad for several weeks and I've been smothering and being smothered by my little boy. So if there's any date it's just been with my little 3-year-old munchkin," he said. "I am in a place where I could start dating again, but to be honest, I don't even know how right now. My focus is on getting back to work and just being a dad."



- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer, RealityTV World
(Image courtesy of ABC)