'They always asked [me] to rank the girls.'
Colton Underwood did things a little differently on The Bachelor to get the outcome he wanted.
The former NFL pro spoke with Emanuele Berry on a recent episode of the podcast This American Life titled Escape From the Lab, and admitted that he wasn't always truthful with the crew about which ladies he was most interested in while filming the series.
"I thought that I had a lot of it figured out and I was wrong," Underwood, who was a contestant on The Bachelorette before becoming the Bachelor, shared.
The 27-year-old reality star explained that he wasn't getting the dates he wanted on the show despite voicing who he liked most in the house.
"They always asked [me] to rank the girls," he said. "And very early on, Hannah [Brown] was up there. And she got left off of a date."
"I sort of recall remember feeling a little burnt when they did that," Underwood continued. "I was like, 'So let me get this straight. Hannah's number one on my list right now, and she's not getting a date this week?'"
Underwood said he stopped telling producers who his "top girls" were because he didn't want producers "messing with them."
"So in a weird way, I tried to defend myself and defend the girls by not being truthful to them who my top was," he noted.
Underwood revealed that even when Brown wasn't his top pick, he kept his list the same. "Hannah was always at the top of the list when I always made the list for them to see, and I never changed it," he confessed. "So that's just me wanting to set myself up for success."
Meanwhile, Underwood was falling for Cassie Randolph, who he would eventually choose.
"I think with Cass, the best way to describe our relationship is it was such a slow burn," he said of his now girlfriend. "And it was, in a weird way, in the dynamic of The Bachelor franchise where it's supposed to be quick, and fast, and intense."
Underwood added, "It was sort of a relief to find a normal relationship in which it was a slower burn, and I wish it was a more realistic approach to a relationship. When I was with Cass, it was like a breath of fresh air."
In an interview with ET back in April, Underwood echoed similar sentiments, and explained why they've yet to get engaged like most Bachelor couples.
"I think, right now, at this point in our relationship, we’re enjoying this, trying to be as normal as possible," he explained. "But you know, we’ve talked about our engagement and talked about taking the next step in our relationship and [decided] one thing at a time."
Check out more of ET's interview with Underwood:
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