'The Bachelor' Contestant Tara Eddings Speaks Out

Tara Eddings says she was "very sad" to leave the show

ByABC News
January 13, 2015, 10:22 AM

— -- Hard-partying "The Bachelor" contestant Tara Eddings says it was the "nerves" of being on a TV show looking for love with Chris Soules that led her to get visibly drunk on the show's premiere episode.

"The main thing that I want him to know is that I don't drink like that," Eddings told "GMA" correspondent Abbie Boudreau, speaking of Soules. "The nerves definitely got the best of me."

Eddings, a 26-year-old sports fishing enthusiast from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., had trouble staying on her feet at the first rose ceremony, after earlier stating her best friends are "Jameson, Johnny Walker and Jack Daniels."

Her behavior alarmed Soules, 33, so much so that he left the room to meet with host Chris Harrison about whether he should keep her around. In the end, he decided to give Tara another chance and offered her a rose.

That second chance for Eddings ended Monday night, however, when Soules did not give her a rose, eliminating Eddings from the show and ending her chance for love on the show.

"It was very sad to have to leave the show and leave Chris because I really thought we had a great connection," Eddings said.

Eddings first turned heads on the reality TV show's premiere by getting out of the limo wearing Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots to greet Soules. She later sneaked around to the limo again and re-introduced herself to the latest "Bachelor" wearing a black dress and leopard-print wedges.

Though Eddings describes her exit from the show as "rough," she believes Soules, a farmer from Iowa, will find love on the show.

"I think Chris will find true love in this," Eddings said. "He is really putting himself out on the line."

Eighteen women remain in the competition.

Next week on "The Bachelor," ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel will make a special appearance.

ABC News' Lesley Messer and Michael Rothman contributed to this report.