Abigail Heringer Reveals What It Was Really Like Living With Other Bachelor Contestants - Exclusive

Most, if not all, of Bachelor Nation knows that so much footage is captured during a season of The Bachelor, that, of course, some of it doesn't make its way onto the screen. And while most people are interested in watching the relationships form between the leading man and the ladies competing for his heart, there is a lot of time in between filming where the contestants are spending time with just each other. So what is that dynamic like? Do the ladies vying for the bachelor's heart rally become friends? Abigail Heringer, a fan favorite from Matt James' season of The Bachelor, gave us the answers that we've been dying to know.

In an exclusive sit down with The List, Abigail revealed what life was like when the cameras weren't rolling. While Matt was off on a group date or wooing a lady during a coveted one-on-one day, the remaining contestants were left to occupy themselves and each other in the house — and given that Matt's season had specific restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ladies really were all in the same space with each other.

All your questions have been answered, because Abigail revealed what it was really like living with the other Bachelor contestants.

The cameras following The Bachelor's leading man as he searches for love capture just about every aspect of his day — viewers get shots of him in the shower, getting ready for dates, driving up to the house, on each date, and pretty much everything in between. But what happens to the ladies who aren't chosen for a group date or don't get a one-on-one? They spend time together, and according to Abigail Heringer, that downtime was one of the best aspects of being on the show. 

Abigail told The List that people might not realize just how much time the contestants all spend together, and by doing so, how close they all can get. "It's like four days in between the rose ceremony. You just spend so much time with the girls," she said. "It's like we were back in college, and we're all just cuddling on the couches and everything." 

Abigail revealed that her budding friendships with the ladies in the house made "the whole process bearable," and that despite them all dating the same guy, being able to lean on each other made the experience "tolerable."

There are a lot of moments, a lot of bloopers, and a lot of normal day-to-day interactions that don't make the final cut during The Bachelor, and when asked what the cameras failed to capture during her time on the show, Abigail Heringer said that the friendships in the house didn't get the attention they deserved. Abigail revealed that she and the other ladies ate all their meals together, played games, had pool days, and spent normal, down moments together. While she acknowledged that those kinds of interactions "[don't] make for great TV," they were aspects of the show that "people miss[ed] out on." 

"You only saw the bad things happening in the house," Abigail said, which for viewers, led to a lot of guilt by association. Abigail shared that while negative things were said between women in the house at times, those kinds of remarks only made up about two percent of the interactions. 

"You guys missed out on 98 percent of the time in the house," she said. "We were all ... very supportive of each other, despite the circumstances."