Juan Pablo Galavis Admits Why He "Didn't Enjoy" Watching Himself on The Bachelor
April 21 2014, Published 7:08 p.m. ET
Juan Pablo Galavis doesn’t feel the need to rush his relationship with his Bachelor pick Nikki Ferrell.
Not only did he break tradition by not getting engaged at the end of the show, but he refused to tell her “I love you” on the After The Final Rose special last month.
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“It’s not just important to take it slow with Nikki, or take it slow with somebody else,” the former soccer pro, 32, tells me when he hosts The Pool After Dark at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City.
“In life, you have to take the pace that love goes. You don’t force it. You just don’t force love, you don’t force falling in love, you don’t force being in love—you just become. I don’t know how to say that in English, but you just feel it. When you feel good with somebody, you don’t have to force saying something or doing something, if you’re just getting to know that person. Right now is the time for me to get to know Nikki in her house, at her job, on the streets. We weren’t able to do that before the show ended.”
While their relationship is good, Juan Pablo takes issue with his portrayal on the ABC reality show.
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“The reality of the show is it was a great experience for me,” he says. “I enjoyed two months of filming. I didn’t enjoy watching it, but it is what it is. It was two months filming something that when you watch it, you’re like ‘wow.’ I had so many great memories, so many great things that you didn’t get to see. That’s the disappointing part.”
He’s moving forward, though.
If he could know one thing about the future, he confesses it’s all about his young daughter Camila, whose mom is ex-girlfriend Carla Rodriguez.
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“I would want to know if at 15, if my daughter loves me the way she does right now,” he says. “And if she’s proud of me, just because I want to be a good example for her, and seeing her grow and how much she loves Daddy—saying ‘Daddy, te quiero mucho,’ which means ‘I like you a lot,’ those are the things that melt my heart. That’s just great!”
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What’s the #1 thing on his bucket list?
“Seeing my future wife walking down the aisle,” he says. “It is very important. I’ve never been married, I’ve never been engaged, never been anything, so I want to make it very special, and it’s definitely the #1 thing because I want to have more kids.”
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Nikki must not mind Juan Pablo’s pace. He greets her on the red carpet by making the heart symbol with his hands when she meets him at the cabana. They don’t call it a night until 2:43 AM!
For Juan Pablo’s Finish This Sentence feature, pick up the new issue of OK! on newsstands now. What do you think of Juan Pablo's approach to love? Do you think their relationship will last? Tweet us @OKMagazine.