Golden Bachelor’s Leslie says love rival Faith ‘should have done her homework’ about show
Golden Bachelor runner-up Leslie Fhima speaks about her relationships with other contestants, including fellow hometown contestant Faith.
While Leslie Fhima left the first-ever Golden Bachelor without a man, she says she left with “lifelong friends.”
“I don’t regret anything – I made lifelong friends with the girls,” she declared on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast. “I came out having made so many good friends.”
“These girls are the only girls who know what you’ve been through, so it’s a really special bond.”
The woman leaned on and support each other throughout the process. Whether doing each other’s hair and makeup or cooking meals for each other, the woman of the first-ever Golden Bachelor built incredible bonds and wowed viewers. Host Jesse Palmer said “the house never smelled better” with the woman “cooking up feasts” for each other. The woman raved over Susan’s meatballs and Edith’s guacamole.
She says she is close with many of the girls including Susan, Kathy, April, Joan, Sandra, Ellen, and her roommate Christina. While she hasn’t spoken to them much since filming, she said she got the “sweetest” text from Faith the morning before the live finale.
“I haven’t really talked to anyone since I got home,” she admits. “I text here and there, but she texted me this morning with such a sweet text.”
Lesile says she watched back the tape of Faith being sent home, which left her feeling “heartbroken” for her. In fact, she thought she and Faith – who received Gerry’s first-impression rose – would be the last two standing. Gerry even told Leslie that he told Faith that he loved her. However, Faith was brutally dumped before Fantasy Suites.
“My heart broke for her,” Leslie said. “I remember that night, we were just sitting separately, not speaking, waiting. I wanted to talk to her so bad, but we couldn’t. I wish I could have held her and cried with her a little bit. It was so hard because she was just gone.”
“I really thought it was going to be me and Faith in the end, so I was shocked.”
However, in a way, Leslie thinks she got off easier having gotten dumped before the intimate overnights, where Gerry reassured Leslie that they would share a future together and that she should “save the date.”
“I just wish he did it different,” Leslie said about Gerry. “I don’t respect what he did.”
“It started with Faith, then me a little more because I went to Costa Rica and did all that. I think he used ‘I love you’ too much.”
Leslie recalls Faith being clueless about the process, having never watched the franchise before. However, Leslie was a bit of a pro, having watched since its debut in 2002.
“[Faith would be like] What are we doing now? What’s the first impression rose? What does that mean?’ It was funny,” Leslie recalls.
She jokes: “I was like ‘Faith, you should have done a little homework, girl.’”
