The reality stars stepped out for the iHeartRadio Music Festival last month.
Meghan King and Mike Johnson are leaving what happened in Vegas, in Vegas. On the latest episode of her Intimate Knowledge podcast, the 38-year-old Real Housewives of Orange County alum revealed that her iHeartRadio Music Festival date with the 34-year-old Bachelorette star was a publicity stunt and not much more.
"It was kind of an experiment for the podcast, for Intimate Knowledge," King revealed. "I get set up, he flies into Vegas, and we go on a date on Friday night, and then on Saturday night we walk the red carpet together."
"It was kind of just see what will the media do with this? What's going to happen? Are people going to talk?" she continued. "And it worked. That's exactly what happened. People were talking."
While publicity may have been on the forefront of King's mind, she said that, during the night they spent out with Teddi Mellencamp and others, "I felt like I was a couple with Mike."
Mellencamp, a guest on the podcast, didn't have the same opinion, as she recalled telling her friend, "This is absolutely not going to be a long-term thing... You may have a Vegas connection, but that's where I would leave it."
By the end of the night, King said, she and Johnson had only made out and he went back to his room alone.
"The next morning he had to fly out early. I just felt bad. I totally took over. When we were walking the red carpet, I just took over the interviews and I just felt kind of bad. I was like, 'I really liked him,'" King recalled. "... It was a blind date and then it turned into a real date."
Knowing that -- and given that Johnson "literally asked me to be his girlfriend the last night," according to King -- she felt the need to get in touch with him for a post-weekend conversation.
"I feel bad, so I FaceTime him and I'm like... 'I just wanted to tell you I enjoyed my weekend with you. It did start with this blind date set up, but I really do have [an] honest connection with you and I'm sorry if you ever felt emasculated or whatever. I just had to reach out and tell you that the way I acted was real,'" she recalled. "... He was like, 'Wow, I didn't expect that. Oh my God.' He was laying in bed. He was kissing the phone on FaceTime."
"I said, 'I would like to see you again.' I didn't say, 'I want to be your freaking girlfriend,'" King added. "I felt bad, you guys. I'm not used to this stuff! I felt like I was using him, because I was. He was fine."
The duo couldn't get in touch for the rest of the day, but King eventually received a text from Johnson that she said read in part, "I see us as strictly friends and wanted to say that before I forgot to mention."
"At least he was honest for me," King said. "I think most guys in the situation would've ghosted me completely... I literally laughed, because it wasn't that deep. It's not like a breakup, by any means, but it's also like, you're 34, a bachelor, that's so cute."
"Everyone's fine, so I just need to get over it," she added. "... That chapter is closed. That was an experience."
When ET's Cassie DiLaura spoke to King and Johnson on the red carpet at the event, the RHOC praised the Bachelor Nation star for being "so kind and genuine" and "an easy person to talk to."
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