Fans watched the pair's heartbreaking breakup on Monday's episode of 'The Bachelorette.'
Things didn’t work out with Becca Kufrin on The Bachelorette, but it was his time after that was perhaps the most difficult for Jason Tartick.
ET’s Lauren Zima spoke with the Buffalo, New York, native at The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All taping on Friday, where he rehashed his breakup with Becca, calling it “one of the most empty moments of my life.” The special airs July 30 on ABC, and will show Kufrin and Tartick reuniting for the first time in months.
“I was in complete shock,” he recalled of their breakup. “They didn’t show it [in the episode], but the next day, I was a mess, because it all hit me ... the reality of the situation set in, and I was an absolute mess.”
“[In] that moment, I’m in Thailand and I have everything someone could ask for. I have a suite full of all the food and drink I want… and it was one of the most empty moments in my life, because I didn’t have my friends, I didn’t have my family, and I just lost her,” Jason continued. “So it puts it in perspective. It’s not about where you are or what you have. It’s really who you’re with and the happiness associated with family and friends.”
Fans watched Jason and Becca’s heartbreaking split on the July 23 episode, when she seemingly realized in a moment that she just couldn’t see a future with him. She broke the news to Jason over dinner, and he was understandably surprised. Becca later cried, saying she felt like she was blindsiding him like Arie Luyendyk Jr. did to her -- and Jason kind of felt the same way.
“I really was blindsided,” said Jason, who later returned to say goodbye to Becca (and giver her a scrapbook of their relationship). “It's tough to see.”
“I just had to follow my gut and give him the dinner to see if we could get back on track and so it was nothing that really happened,” Becca explained to ET. “It was just an unexplainable moment that I felt in my heart.”
“I really started to fall in love with him, and so when I ended things so abruptly, it I just wanted to give him a reason why. I wasn’t fully able to do that. It was something I couldn’t really verbalize, and so that’s why I appreciated that he came back to the hotel and we could have that last conversation,” she added. “But then to have tonight too, to explain things a little bit better.”
Viewers will watch Becca and Jason’s conversation on The Men Tell All next week, and after that, she’ll make her final pick, between Garrett and Blake.
“From the get-go, they were both friends of mine. I think that they just have different confidences and foundations of who they are and how they can serve her to be a best fit,” Jason offered. “I think Garrett, first impression round, she was initially attracted to him and their relationship’s only been growing. And with Blake, he's a man of character, but has such a different angle than Garrett.”
“They’re totally two different people, so it will be interesting the direction in which she goes,” he added. “I think either way she'll find happiness with one of them.”
Jason won’t be continuing his journey to find love in Bachelor in Paradise this summer -- “I wasn’t in the head space for that,” he reasoned -- but he confessed he’s heard “rumblings” about him as the next Bachelor.
“I would be willing to do it,” he said. “This experience has exceeded my expectations in every single way.”
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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