Bachelorette contestant Brendan Morais has ‘no regrets’ but is still ‘sad’ about his early departure

Bachelorette contestant Brendan Morais has ‘no regrets’ about choosing to leave Tayshia Adam’s season in the penultimate episode.

The reality show suitor, 31, said that while was ‘confident’ in his decision, he is still ‘absolutely still sad that that’s the way it played out’ while appearing on Tuesday’s episode of Nick Viall’s podcast The Viall Files.

Morais decided to leave the show early after realizing he still wasn’t ready for a relationship following his divorce.

Adams is now engaged to winner Zac Clark.

‘I want the wife and kids and a family more than anything on the face of this earth,’ he told season 21 Bachelor Nick.

‘But then [I’ve been] coming to the realization that there’s a big part of me that’s still broken, there’s a big part of me that still needs time to heal. There’s a big part of me that needs time to grow.’

He also reflected on the pressure of being in such an insular environment, telling Viall: ‘I feel like if I had more time and I could’ve removed Tayshia from that [show] bubble and really see how our lives meshed together … we could have dated, and potentially more. 

‘But when you’re protecting yourself and when you don’t want to get hurt again, you do things that self-sabotage what could be an amazing thing. So I definitely think it could’ve played out differently if a few things had changed.’

While while he said he’s happy with how he ‘stayed true to’ himself during the show he said he wishes he let himself open up more, emotionally.

‘[I] have certain regrets as far as if I opened up a little bit more and I allowed that beautiful love story to come to fruition,’ the professional roofer told Viall.

‘No question about it, I self-sabotaged the situation,’ Morais said.

‘And coming off [of being] divorced for three years now or so, it was a really, really hard time for me. And it was definitely a lot of moments where I’m like, “Am I ever gonna get married again? Am I ever gonna fall in love again and give someone my heart?”‘

But looking back on things Morais said he’s happy that Adams’ found love.

‘What makes me feel a little bit better about the situation is I feel like what was meant to happen happened,’ Morais went on. 

‘…Just knowing how in love Zac was with Tayshia and seeing the mutual love they had for each other, I’d say she would’ve chosen Zac anyway.’ 

‘But if I ended that whole journey where it was me and Tayshia and knowing I had even one percent of doubt about the whole thing, I probably couldn’t live with myself knowing that she may have missed out on the opportunity of falling madly in love with this guy who completely loves her in every way,’ he continued. ‘For that, I’m grateful in how it played out, and I feel like it was meant to be.’

Still, if things don’t work out for the pair Brendan said he’d definitely want to see if he and Tayshia could date again. 

Adams, who got the coveted title of Bachelorette in a mid-season transition (after Clare Crawley bailed early on account of finding love with Dale Moss) seems to have gotten her fairytale ending with addiction specialist Zac Clark, 36.  

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last week about their relationship post-television, the couple discussed some quarantine-related challenges after filming. 

With the the pair on opposite coasts, they had to keep the spark alive through FaceTime, with a few visits here and there, on account of the pandemic. 

‘A long-distance relationship is hard, even without COVID. So we definitely did well in the last four months as a couple; we got to learn each other. But, at the same time, we had the struggles a normal relationship has, with people who are long distance or just getting to know each other.’

Revealing on an episode of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, Adams said, ‘I’m going to be bicoastal. I’m going to keep my place here [in California], but yeah, we’re moving in together!’

Touching on her and Zac’s love during the season she said: ‘There were multiple moments where I saw myself envisioning a life with him. I guess it really solidified when my family was involved, just because I’m really close with my family.’

Clark and Adams made an immediate connection a few episodes into the franchise and related to each other on a deeper level as both had been married previously. 

After Zac revealed his troubling history with addiction and broke down the walls he had up Tayshia and him fell for each other. 

Their strong bond culminated in Adams sending the second suitor home leading up to the proposal, as she knew it was only Zac she wanted to accept a proposal from.