Throughout the season, Jess’ then-boyfriend Damien was a looming figure that brought several complexities to her and Felix’s future together. But during the grand finale, Jess made the difficult decision to close that chapter so she could fully open herself up to exploring a relationship with Felix.
Speaking to 10 Play, Jess also admitted that during one of their single dates, she and Felix had made an agreement.
“If we were to leave together on the day of the finale, we wouldn’t be engaged, we wouldn’t be boyfriend and girlfriend, we would just leave as Jessica and Felix who are continuing the dating experience,” she said.
Explaining that she needs time to really get to know someone in the real world organically, Jess added, “I really loved my time with Felix in those moments… it just wasn’t enough to be like yep, I want to get engaged or this is 100 percent my person.”
Hoping to continue their dating experience, the long distance and the time between the finale and the show airing began to take its toll on the couple.
“It was tough,” Felix said, “I’ve been in a long-distance relationship in the past and it’s incredibly strenuous because if you feel strongly about someone, you want them to always be around you. With us, we didn’t know when the show was going to air or what was going to happen.”
“I think Felix has a lot of great qualities,” Jess said, but the long distance and the nature of not being able to see each other out in the real world before the finale aired made it difficult to “kick off a normal relationship”.
“As someone who really values communication and who loves a good D&M, I felt like Felix and I had very different perspectives on what that would look like, and we just kind of lacked that communication,” she continued.
“We were on different levels in that sense and it inevitably did naturally fizzle out. I still have care for him and I truly want the best for him and I will always want to be there for him as a friend,” Jess said.
"We have gone through such a massive thing together. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out how I wanted it to… the fairytale ending never actually came to light even though that’s all I ever wanted in my life.”
Felix agreed saying, “We’re still on great terms, we’re still incredibly close and we’ve chatted throughout the process… we’re on great terms.”
As for the question of Damien, Jess confirmed that she has “no romantic feelings whatsoever towards Damien” and the pair did not get back together following the show.
“I still care for him as a person and I think he was a massive part of my life, I would never want to discredit that, but from the get-go, I knew he wasn’t going to be my life partner and he deserves someone who is completely all the way in and not half in,” she said.
During the series, Jess was criticised for coming into the Bachelor mansion while still having a boyfriend on the outside. Now, looking back, she admits that if she had her time all over again she’d do things very differently.
“I would have wanted to have been strong enough to actually break up with Damien prior to going on the show,” she admitted. “I think having someone that I was still attached to created a whole other layer of confusion and drama.
“I’d love people to take on board that this is a TV show at the end of the day, these are actual people. We’re humans and I’m 100 percent not perfect. I never wanted to represent the polyamorous or non-monogamous community at all and I almost want to apologise for being put into this box that I’m the poster girl for it.
“I hope people can see beneath everything and try to have a bit of compassion and empathy for everyone involved.”
