The Bachelorette star Desiree Hartsock eliminated Michael Garofola during last Monday night's broadcast the ABC reality dating series' ninth season.
 
Michael, a 33-year-old federal prosecutor from Miami Beach, FL, was ousted traditionally during the seventh episode's Rose Ceremony right before he would've received a hometown date. He was sent packing after he had finally embarked on his first one-on-one date of the season with Des. 
 
During a Thursday conference call with reporters, Michael talked to Reality TV World about his The Bachelorette experience and emotional exit. To begin reading what he had to say, click here. Below are some additional highlights from his call. Click here and here for more.

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Have you ever had a Mrs. Robinson moment and gone for a much older woman or someone's mom?

Michael Garofola: No, I have not, no.  No.  I mean, look.  I think that age is a number, but no.  No, I have not and no, there's no, like, Stiffler's mom story with me --  to make an American Pie reference. No, I've never dated one of my friend's moms or someone. I once briefly dated someone that had a kid, but, you know... she was young, not one of my friend's moms or anything like that.  Why do you ask?

Just a funny little thing.

Michael Garofola: Okay. (Laughs)  That's all I have.

The previews for the upcoming episodes make it seem like there will be big drama that will stem from one of the guys saying or doing something that will devastate Des. Do you have any inkling what that might be?  Since you got to know the four remaining guys pretty well, did you see a warning flag with any of them or learn something you think would eventually rear its ugly head?

Michael Garofola: Well, first, I have no inside information, you know?  I'm watching the show now going forward just as you guys would.  If I were hypothetically in touch with some of my best friends on the show, I would not be talking to them about the show.  I would just be talking to them about life and joking about things that would be entirely boring to you guys.

So I really don't know.  I will say for me -- and this is just based on watching the last episode in Portugal -- I did think it was, you know, there was something amiss about two situations and you could sort of just pose the two of them.

One is [Chris Siegfried] sort of telling Des he loves her and, you know, I mean, I think Des is falling in love with Chris, but I don't think she's quite there yet and she did not certainly indicate that to him.  And meanwhile, on the flipside, you have her sort of almost admitting to [Brooks Forester] that she is in love with him and definitely admitting that to Chris Harrison and yet, I think Brooks was probably a step behind.

So I have a feeling that that might be foreshadowing something to happen, you know, if either Desiree doesn't catch up with Chris, or Brooks doesn't catch up with Desiree, or something along those lines. 

And I can see how that situation could devastate either of the guys and/or Desiree, and then how [Drew Kenney] and [Zak Waddell] could, you know, be caught in the weight of that and that could end up breaking their hearts as well, you know?

Just, I don't know.  That would be my sort of educated guess, but that is not based on any inside knowledge that I know or anything.  That's just based on my viewing of the last episode sort of. That's like my stand [or] speculation, you know, as a fan of the show now and watching these guys.  I really do not know enough. 

I will tell you that in watching, you know, these guys are true character.  I think they're all honest and genuine and I think that Chris was very honest and genuine and has more poems than Dr. Seuss. And Brooks was very honest in his assessment of where he was at, and then I expect that to continue, you know, going forward.

You did end up becoming this guy who sort of was like, "I'm weeding out the guys who aren't here for the right reasons," which I admire...

Michael Garofola: That wasn't my -- I mean, I know.  I didn't mean it to come across [that way].  It wasn't my strategy, like, "In order to advance myself, let me eliminate these guys that are" -- that wasn't it. 

It was just, you know, when I have an issue and I feel like someone is in the wrong, I like to just hash those things out in person rather than keep a fake smile to their face and then gripe about them behind their back.  I'm just not -- I try not to be catty like that.

I didn't mean that as a dig. I think it's actually an admirable quality.  I mean, I was being very sincere in saying that.

Michael Garofola: Oh, okay.

You seem to be a person who likes to get to the bottom of things and kind of solve the mystery or figure things out. I also feel like you're tuned in to people's real characters. So you became quite good friends with Brooks.

Michael Garofola: Yes.

So do you think he's there for the right reasons, that he is ready for that next big step, or do you maybe feel he's not necessarily ready?

Michael Garofola: I will say this, like, let me just make an overall observation, okay? Because obviously, I was a little bit older than some of these guys in the house. 

I mean, some of these guys are, you know, 26, 27, 28, and I will say that the first thing I was so impressed with was the maturity of these guys. Because I know, quite honestly, that when I was 27 and 28-years-old, I was not ready to get married, you know?  Even if I thought I was, I was probably delusional. 

And I can say that now, at 33 looking back, I was not ready.  I do think that these guys are -- at least they are -- you know, they uniquely believe that they are ready to make that commitment and to take that step.  It's not just with anyone -- with someone that they would want to spend the rest of their lives with.

I will tell you I got no inkling or no red flags whatsoever from any of the remaining four guys -- none whatsoever.  I think, you know, whether or not Brooks is ready to make that commitment or get married or whatever, I mean, I think he can only answer that question.  I don't know. 

But there was nothing about him at all that made me think that he was not there for the right reasons and not there to explore, you know, what could possibly be with him and Desiree and that potential.

So, I mean, there was nothing, and if there was, that would've really disappointed me about him, because I do think that I am a good judge of character and that would be a shock.  That would be a shock to me if it turns out that he had ulterior motives.

And I don't know.  I would be willing to bet the farm that that is not what comes out, because Brooks is a genuine, solid human being and a close friend, and I would not characterize him as that, you know, to me, if that were something that could possibly happen.

I thought you had a really classy exit, especially this late in the show. But we did see you calling your mom and I wondered if you'd had any great response about that, what people thought?

Michael Garofola: Oh, yes.  Well, first of all, thank you.  I did try to be very gracious and I did mean what I said when I said that I think the world of Desiree and I respect her decision.  And having watched it back, you know, I respect it and understand it even more.

Look, the idea of me calling my mom, as you know, there were five of us -- four of us were going to have hometown dates.  Until the Rose Ceremony, we don't know who is having their hometown date and who is not, and I already knew that my mom had been contacted obviously.  I mean, this should not come as a surprise to anyone to make arrangements just in case I was to have a hometown date with Desiree. 

I mean, I sort of had to give my family a heads up and I personally was not able to do that, you know?  We're not -- we don't have phones with us at the time.  I don't think this is something you guys don't already know.  So hopefully, I don't get in too much trouble for telling you that, but we're not on the phone with our home and family every day. 

So that was going on, and in the limo in the exit van or rejection van -- however you want to call it -- I was the van with no roses.  I was doing my interview and I was like, "Oh, great, now my mom's going to be so disappointed." 

I'm sure she was really excited to meet Desiree and was probably so excited that, after going through the heartbreak I had endured, that I met someone new that's great and I'm having these feelings again. And I was given an opportunity to call her and give her the news.  And let me just say, obviously I hadn't spoken to my mom in awhile. 

And as soon as I heard her voice and heard this sort of sadness in her voice, the dam broke and then the waterworks started.  You could see the purpose of my call wasn't sort of to vent or to talk about my heartbreak with my mom. 

The purpose of the call was to say, "Mom, I have bad news.  You're not going to get to meet Desiree.  So tell dad he doesn't have to, you know, keep working on the basement" or whatever, you know?

So, you know, "Tell my sister [Cara] that, you know, she doesn't have to take off work," you know what I mean?  It was that kind of thing.  It was, you know, "You don't have to cook meatballs," or whatever.  It was sort of like a logistical call just to say, like, "Heads up, we're not coming," you know?  "There will be no camera crews in Lindenhurst, New York.  Don't worry" --  that kind of thing. 

But of course, my mom being the wonderful woman that she is -- and she could sense in a heartbeat that I was not happy and was upset -- and so, the conversation went there, and she offered, I think, some very sage words of advice and was obviously the normal comforting supporting mother that she always is for me.

I know it was difficult for you to leave, but based on what you know of the guys and what you've seen in the episodes, what do you think of the four that are left?
 
Michael Garofola: Well, first, let me say, I mean, the four guys that are left are great, great guys and will be great friends of mine for the rest of my life.  So they're great guys.  I can -- I could -- you know, even when I left, I could sleep very easily knowing that Desiree will end up with a great guy.  So that's number one.

Number two, I would say that in seeing how far along her relationships had progressed with these four other gentlemen and comparing it to her relationship with mine, there is no doubt in my mind that she made the right choice, you know? She was falling in love with one or two of these guys and, you know, one of the guys, Chris, in the last episode he told her he loved her. 

I mean, these are things that being there, you don't sort of have a window into that time and into her relationships with the other men.  And now that I've seen it unfold on television, I could see why she made the decision she made. So, you know, I certainly have no hard feelings whatsoever, and I think she made the right choice for herself.

During a Thursday conference call with reporters, Michael talked to Reality TV World about his The Bachelorette experience and emotional exit. To begin reading what he had to say, click here. Above are some additional highlights from his call. Click here and here for more.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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