The Reason Why Bekah M. Won't Join 'Bachelor In Paradise' Anymore Is Actually So Exciting

Fans everywhere of the shows The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise might be in for a disappointment: The Bachelor's Bekah Martinez is officially dating someone, so she's not doing Bachelor in Paradise. Martinez was originally planning on doing the show, but she met someone in February earlier this year. Now, she's decided to opt out of the show in the name of making things work in her relationship.

In an interview with PureWow, Martinez explained her decision to skip a second go at reality-television-induced love: "So, I just want to make clear with everybody that yes, I was asked to go on the show and, initially, I was planning on it. But, I met somebody in February."

Martinez continued,

His name is Grayston and at first we decided to take our relationship slow because I didn’t know if I was going to go on Paradise or not and I wasn’t really sure what I wanted. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to miss out on that opportunity. I was kind of like, “I don’t want to be dating this guy for two months and then decide not to go on Paradise and have total FOMO and wish that I had done it.” But as it got closer to [filming] I just started realizing that it wasn’t worth it for me to put myself in that environment where I could possibly jeopardize what I had with Grayston.

I just decided that the guy that I was with back home was the person that I wanted to be with right now, and I didn’t want to risk leaving that by keeping my options open and going on Paradise to see if there were any guys there for me. It was kinda this realization that if I have something right in front of me that’s good, why am I going to go out of my way to look for something else?

When PureWow asked if Martinez had considered going on the show anyway, Martinez had noted that it would have been shady and she wouldn't have been cool with that.

Martinez's new boyfriend, Grayston, works at the rock-climbing gym she climbs at, and that's where they met. Of the slow development of their relationship from something casual to something more serious, Martinez said,

At first, it was really casual and we were just doing a lot of fun stuff together, and then it just progressed into something deeper. We do a lot together; we climb, we went to Utah together on a climbing trip a couple months ago. We both met each other’s parents, so it’s definitely getting really serious now. I’ve chosen to keep that hidden from the world right now, because, with so much of my life being aired publicly and so much of me being shown to the world, it feels good to be able to have something just quiet and personal.

I also didn’t want to go through the whole thing when we started dating. For one, I was not sure if I was going on Paradise or not, but also, I didn’t want to put something on the internet and have to address it if we possibly broke up. Now that we’re at a serious point, I feel comfortable sharing this with the world.

The most surprising thing about Martinez's new boyfriend is that he's never watched a single episode of The Bachelor, though Martinez insisted she was going to "rope him in" to watch the show with her. Martinez had nothing to say about Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. in her interview, besides making a point to clarify that Grayston was "nothing like Arie."

"Grayston is in a league of his own, I think from most men," she said. "He is just so unique and so special and so cool and not anything like Arie."

Though she said she wasn't ready to confirm whether or not her new boyfriend is marriage material, Martinez said, "He definitely has my rose for now."