Jessenia Cruz and Chris Conran, as well as Alana Milne. ABC/Craig Sjodin. Courtesy Chris Conran/Instagram. Courtesy Alana Milne/Instagram
There’s still plenty to break down from season 7 of Bachelor in ParadiseBefore a new group heads for Mexico for season 8. Jessenia CruzAfter being involved in a love triangle, she is sharing her side of it. Chris Conran And Alana Milne.
Jessenia and Chris met up with Alana and a group of Bachelorette and Bachelorette alums to go to San Diego before filming the summer 2021 seasons.
“I’m very aware of other people’s recollections of what happened in San Diego,” Jessenia began on Us Weekly’s Here for the Right Reasons” podcast, referring to the couple insisting nothing happened between them on the California trip. “When I went, I thought, ‘OK, well I wanna kind of conduct myself in a way that, you know, is a great first impression.’ And everyone pretty much did the same thing I would like to say, but I think there were small moments that I feel are conveniently being left out solely because I can say, for a fact, I remember everything that happened in San Diego. I was never drunk. … It’s not to say that everybody else was trashed either, but there’s certain things that happened that people are speaking on, but they’re not really divulging in the full details. Like, I know for a fact that I saw Alana sitting in the jacuzzi with Chris on her lap.”
The show was produced weeks after the trip. Chris and Jessenia met and went on a date. According to the Texas native she questioned Chris about whether or not he was waiting for Alana down the beach before moving on with their relationship.
“He said no. [He said], like, ‘I came here for you and I really just wanted to spend some time with you here in Paradise.’ Well, the way [Chris] said it was more like, ‘I wanna spend time here in Paradise.’ And then everything about me kind of came after that,” she quipped. “I was, like, that’s a second priority. I’m coming at this whole [situation] as lightly as I can because I’ve personally moved on from the whole situation, but I think it’s been very difficult to look away when you have two people who are constantly kind of like continuing this narrative, that just isn’t true, you know?”
Chris developed feelings for Alana in Mexico when she arrived, and they went on a date. They were accused of having pre-planned their relationship and they were later expelled from the group. One thing in particular that Jessenia also feels has been misrepresented is Chris and Alana claiming on the April 20 episode of “Here for the Right Reasons” that no one apologized to them for making them leave the beach.
“I did, in fact, apologize to Alana,” Jessenia told Us. “I gave it a couple days [after the episodes aired] and I reached out to her and I said, you know, ‘I wanted to give you some space, but I wanted to come to you and tell you that, genuinely, I’m so sorry for how things ended up in Paradise. And then when I think about what I would do differently, I wouldn’t have cut you off’ — because I cut her off. And I told her, ‘Honestly, I’m so embarrassed by that specifically because you deserve to speak.’ And I think I was so clouded with my emotions, which is it’s hard to deal with when you feel hurt, when you feel lied to, that I just allow that to control me versus trying to be as centered as possible.”
Jessenia told Us that Alana “acknowledged the apology” at the time.
“The conversation went on and I started to put the pieces together that we had very different recollections of San Diego and it started to even become a concern because I felt as though I was being made to feel as though I should question my reality.” she continued. “And that’s when things really started becoming a problem for me to the point where I even reached out to, you know, a member of production to help me navigate this. And they just told me don’t interact and that’s exactly what I did. I blocked them on social media. [their] numbers and everything and just hadn’t spoken to them up until I saw that interview [on the ‘Here for the Right Reasons’ podcast]. I then unblocked Alana’s email and sent it to her [a screenshot of my apology]It was delivered. So, I believe she blocked me after I sent her a message. I left it at that. I never waited for a response for her either.”
Jessenia explained that when she reached out to Alana last month, she told her that she “did not want to argue with her” about something that happened a year ago.
“It’s done and I get if you’re hurt, that’s fair, but don’t drag my name around the dirt along with it,” she said. “I don’t understand why this is what you’re choosing to do, but at least be honest about this. All I asked was honesty from Chris’ part, which he never gave me, so at least be honest about whether or not you received an apology.”
You can hear more from Jessenia by listening to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.
