"Bachelor" contestant Sharleen Joynt has nothing but nice things to say about her experience on ABC's "The Bachelor" but admitted that it has been difficult to return to her full-time job as an opera singer.
During a radio interview with WQXR (via US Weekly), Joynt said that the opera community takes her "less seriously" because she appeared on the dating realty show
"I think that the opera world is very wary of me at the moment. It's not easy," Joynt said. "Everything I've done so far in my life has been for that career. And so to be suddenly taken less seriously because I spent two months filming a reality show is a little heartbreaking in a way."
"I realized that it would make me some sort of D-list celebrity, but in no way did I think at any point it would really help my opera career," she continued. "That's why the entire time I was on the show, I made a point of not singing."
She did give Juan Pablo a little peek at her vocal skills on one of their one-on-one dates but Joynt said producers wanted her to sing "at every turn."
"I made it very clear - I was like, 'I don't want to sing in interviews, I'm not singing when I get out the limo...' Even the time I did sing, I said no... but then when Juan Pablo himself asked me, he was super insistent... He wouldn't take no for an answer," Joynt said.
The professional singer left the show right before the hometown dates because she didn't think the connection between her and JP was a strong as it should have been. However, she spoke fondly of her experience on the show and of Juan Pablo but did say there were times when she thought (briefly) that it might have been a huge mistake signing on.
"I would be lying if I said I didn't have moments where I was like, 'Maybe this was a huge mistake,'" she told the radio station, adding "It was a fun experience. I'm a 29-year-old girl. It was a really cool experience that I'll tell my grandchildren about somebody.. I only have good things to say about it overall."
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