Update (7/9): Don’t miss Reality Steve’s interview of Wes Hayden (podcast link here) .
Via The Examiner: Wes Hayden gave an interview today to Bobby Bones on KVET radio about what really happened between him and Jillian and the other guys. Editing is a b*tch, and he’s right, people should think twice before going on these shows. You can listen for yourself here (part1) and here (part 2.)
Did you have a girlfriend when the show was going on?
Wes: I had a girlfriend last summer. She’s still a very good friend of mine. Every now and then we’ll go out and do lunch or something like that. I mean, I did some work for her mom, I’m good friends with her family. They used her name on the show. And I just called them two weeks ago and was like, ‘Look. I don’t care what y’all do to me. You can say I’m the worst guy in the world and I’m here for my publicity, I’ve got a girlfriend. But don’t mention anybody’s name. Because as soon as you mention her name, people in Austin are going to know her, because we dated for a long time. Sure enough, they mentioned her name the very next day. The very next day, People Magazine called. She gave a great article.
Jillian…the end of our date that we had, it didn’t end like you saw it on TV. It was actually a very good date that we had.
It looked like it was all fighting, by the way.
Wes: Exactly. It wasn’t like that at all. We sat down and had dinner for about an hour and a half. And we chatted, we laughed. We BS-ed each other. And when I left, I remember telling Jillian, ‘We’re buds, right?’ She said, ‘Oh yeah. We’re more than that, Wes.’ And I said okay, because that’s the most important thing to me is our friendship, and that we’re honest with each other. I told her I didn’t have a girlfriend. The actual conversation was based around was I here for my career or not.
I think everybody needs to remember that this is a TV show, and it’s here for ratings. If this thing is true, I want to see somebody get married at the end of it. If there’s a marriage at the end of this thing, I’m a total liar and this thing is built around love. I mean, you can get one girl to make out with 30 different guys for two months and then whiddle this thing down to ‘let’s get married.’ I’m just saying, I’d like to see it.
Wes, when you’re in the limo last night, and you say it’s pieced together, how exactly do they get a clip of you saying, ‘I’m the only guy in Bachelor history who’s made it to the top four with a girlfriend.’ How do they get that clip?
Wes: They don’t play what I say after that. I said, ‘I’m the only guy in Bachelorette history to make it to the top four with a girlfriend. Get real, dude. If I had a girlfriend, I’d be home with her right now, and I wouldn’t be putting up with this. They said stuff like that all the way through. They can take whatever they want and just play what they want. It’s not rocket science. I promise you. I do have a career. I’ve been a musician for 14 years and I would never go on national TV and sink myself.
What did you mean by ‘My acting days are over?
Wes: I was in the limo and I was just tired of the whole thing. There were two to three different times on that show where I was ready to go home. Trust me, it’s not what you think. If anybody wants to go on any kind of reality show they really need to consider what could happen to them, and think about it long and hard. And if you do go on, don’t say a whole lot, because they can pretty much do what they want. If I went on there and said, ‘I don’t hit women,’ they could take the don’t out and say, ‘I hit women.’
Look, there had to be drama. There had to be ratings. They picked me for it. And if not, the show would have been boring.
Is Jillian hot in person?
Wes: Jillian’s a cute girl. She really is. But what makes her so cool is that she’s got a really good personality. She’s kind of like the kind of girl who you could go out and have three or four beers with and hang out with the guys.
Was it really necessary to talk trash about the guys who were left?
Wes: Here’s the deal. All the guys talked trash about me for 8 episodes. As soon as I stepped out of the limo, they were already accusing me of things and saying, ‘Wes is a snake. He’s here for the wrong reasons.’ But to be perfectly honest with you, I’ve got in my phone about 30 text messages from the guys. We were all really good friends. None of us didn’t like each other at all. We call each other almost daily. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to Reid, if any, but hypothetically, I could have spoken to him a few times.