Kat Izzo has revealed her biggest fear going into Bachelor in Paradise and why she almost turned down the opportunity.
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Kat admitted that when casting had reached out to her in the spring, she thought to herself, "I'm not going on Paradise."
Most of Kat's family and friends apparently told her that she should "absolutely not" do the show again because she had gotten wrapped up in drama and was bullied and tormented on social media while the show was airing.
"They were like, 'Please don't, we can't handle that again,'" Kat admitted.
"But some of them were like, 'You should just go for it. You are a different person and I think you'd handle it differently. Why would you say no to that?'"
Kat -- whose relationship with Zac Cooper had just ended in January -- shared, "They called me and I was like, 'I need a lot of convincing.' I was not just like, 'Yeah, I'll do it!' I needed them to really make me feel comfortable about putting myself back in that environment."
Kat confirmed that she waited until "the very last minute" to join the Paradise cast because she was "scared."
Kat confessed her biggest fear going into Paradise was that people may be "very different outside of the show."
"I think I was just mostly scared I was going to get wrapped up in it again and then end up leaving and getting hurt when I came off it," Kat admitted.
Kat had gotten engaged to John Henry Spurlock on Bachelor in Paradise's ninth-season finale, but only days after the finale aired in December 2023, the pair announced their split.
"I knew there were bugs, so I couldn't be afraid of that," Kat continued, "but it was mostly just trusting someone again and it would be to my detriment. [I] needed to make sure I wouldn't get wrapped up in it -- in all the things. I wanted to make sure I could stay grounded."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOWKat also said she was "so scared" to put herself back out there "to be analyzed, criticized, picked apart, and overall judged."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Kat explained how all the backlash and hate was "very hard" on her mental health after her first Bachelor in Paradise stint, especially because she felt totally "misunderstood."
"I'm very happy with where I'm at in life, and I didn't know if I wanted to, like, uproot that and put [myself] under a microscope again and be subjected to [trolls]," Kat explained.
"But I understand it now. I didn't understand the way that the public responds... [Now], I'm not taking it so personally and keeping [my] people close."
Kat said she has a really good support system in place and she "doesn't care" what people think about her anymore.
"I'm not going to use that [feedback] to determine my worth, like I did before," Kat acknowledged, adding that the backlash is "temporary" and will come in waves.
"I can handle a wave," she stated.
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"[I thought], 'What if there's someone there I can actually meet?' Or there could be an experience that would be helpful for me to understand myself again," Kat said.
"It's just not something you really say no to, but it was mostly them convincing me with the air conditioning. I was like, 'You have to promise that there is air conditioning! Otherwise, I'm not going. I'm not doing it.'"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
Kat also realized that if Paradise was not the adventure she had hoped for, she could just leave the show.
"I don't have to stay, and I was going in literally knowing no one and knowing nothing about the show because I hadn't been watching," Kat recalled.
"So it was a completely different mindset vs. knowing every single thing about every guy in Paradise last time and being friends with the girls, so I wanted to see how that was going to play out."
Kat also shared with the podcast's co-hosts Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt how she's "grown a lot" over the last two years.
"It sounded like it was going to be a very different experience than previous ones, and I think when I thought about it, if I would've said no, just you can't say no to things," Kat reasoned.
"You've got to try them out and see what happens and see what comes out of it."
On Bachelor in Paradise's Season 10 premiere, Kat had some flirtation going on with Jonathon Johnson, but then 36-year-old Dale Moss arrived and asked the blonde beauty out on a date.
"He's a man!" Kat quipped as Dale approached the cast. "He is definitely a lot of man!"
And Dale gushed of Kat: "I'm definitely attracted to her. I think she's beautiful and there are definitely layers she has that she hasn't shown me."
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Dale and Kat kissed on their first date, and then Kat gave Dale her rose at the first Rose Ceremony of the season.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
