After the filming, reality set in
She didn’t get the fairy-tale ending millions had hoped for, but Sarah Stone says she’d do it all over again.
The Jackson native made headlines last February when emergency room doctor Travis Stork gave her the final rose during ABC’s “The Bachelor: Paris.”
Stone was one of 25 women who competed against one another to win the heart of the hunky bachelor.
Along with the rose came a $90,000 Chopard ring with setting (that’s being kept in a bank) and a “promise” to pursue a relationship.
And that’s exactly what they’re doing – as friends.
Stork moved to Colorado in July, Stone says, but they still talk. She says he’s not dating anyone, and she doesn’t think he’s interested in pursuing a serious relationship right now because he’s too focused on his job.
Stone, on the other hand, has been seriously dating someone. And just like Carrie confided in Mr. Big on “Sex and the City,” she told Stork about her new beau.
“It wasn’t just about love and falling in love and breaking up,” Stone says about her relationship with Stork. “It wasn’t like that.
“Travis and I had an immediate connection. We had an amazing time in Paris, and just to come back, it all kind of just fell apart.”
After coming home, they weren’t allowed to see each other before the finale aired three months later, to avoid giving away the ending.
Prior participants on the reality TV show have cited that separation immediately following filming as one of the reasons for their own failed relationships.
It actually worked out for the best, Stone says: “We really needed one another after the show (filmed), during the show, while it was airing.”
Stone says that she and Stork will be friends forever.
“He and I share a wonderful experience together,” she says, adding: “I don’t know how I can get rid of him. Everywhere I go, everyone’s like, ‘Where’s Travis?’ “
Appearing on the show has changed her life in more ways than she could count, she says, “from being just your average schoolteacher to someone who can barely walk through the airport.”
Stone resigned from her job as a kindergarten teacher to film the show and now works as a real estate agent in Nashville.
She’s met and hung out with country music superstar Kenny Chesney and attended her first red-carpet event as a VIP last year at the Country Music Television Awards.
Producers haven’t contacted her – yet – about becoming the next “Bachelorette,” but she says she’d probably do it.
“I’d want to pick the guys, though,” Stone says.
She also is open to appearing on other reality TV shows – ” ‘Amazing Race,’ so I could travel around.”
Who would she choose as her partner?
“Maybe Travis,” she says.
The birthday bunch
Singer Al Jarreau is 67. Singer-actress Liza Minnelli is 61. Singer James Taylor is 59. Actor Jon Provost (“Lassie”) is 57. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jacksons) is 50. Actor Courtney B. Vance (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) is 47. Actor Titus Welliver (“Deadwood”) is 46. Actor Samm Levine (“Freaks and Geeks”) is 25.