ABC/Maarten de Boer
‘Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart’ Star Josh Hester Reveals He Turned Down a Rose From Mel for Julia
You may have not seen a lot of Josh Hester — the singing Uber driver from Nashville — on The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart, and he thinks it’s “pathetic that ABC won’t show good people and their actions” after exclusively telling Life & Style why he was *really* sent home night one, even though he was actually offered a rose.
To viewers at home, it looked like Josh, 31, was snubbed during the first elimination. However, he says he actually turned down a long-stemmed bud from Mel Taevin because he had a “much stronger connection than what was aired” with 27-year-old Julia Rae. “That wasn’t just some random kiss at the end. It was enough of a connection that I told Julia I wasn’t going to accept a rose from anyone else,” he explains.
What happened next, according to Josh, was not shown on screen. “During the rose ceremony, Mel offered me a rose. I didn’t move for, like, 10 seconds … I didn’t know what to do,” he begins. “Finally, I walked down and stood in front of her. She asked if I would accept this rose. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t,’ and walked back to where I was standing.” He notes that he “wasn’t going to break [his] word to Julia” to simply “stay” on the show.
Even the reality host was surprised by Josh’s actions. “Chris Harrison said, ‘Well, I guess Josh just showed us all love is a two-way street.’” He recalls that the producers “had Mel pick another guy,” who ended up being Gabe Baker. As fans know, Julia went on to choose Sheridan Reed and Josh was sent packing. “I don’t regret my decision,” the former contestant states. “There was no one there for me, and I wasn’t going to fake liking someone just to stay on the stupid show and further my music career. That’s not who I am.”
Despite the drama, Josh gushes that the “quality of people on this show was incredible.” He adds that he’s “pretty close” with all the contestants, including Sheridan, 27, whom he “built a close friendship” with “because of Julia.”
As far as what’s next for Josh, he’s done being an Uber driver and moved back home to Florida to start a fishing charter business. He’s still traveling back and forth to Nashville to write and record music, so we’re sure he has a lot of big things on the horizon!
