Booted ‘Bachelor Canada’ hopeful says show taught her to filter herself

TORONTO – The latest love seeker eliminated from “The Bachelor Canada,” Gabrielle Dipersico, says the experience has taught her to think before she speaks.

The straight-talking law student from Oakville, Ont., left the Victoria mansion in Wednesday’s episode on Citytv after bachelor Brad Smith visited her hometown and met her family.

Dipersico’s frank and confident personality shone through from Day 1 on the series, when she told fellow hopeful Whitney she was “skanky” for kissing Smith when he gave her the “first impression rose.” From then on, the two clashed as Whitney emerged as the front-runner for Brad’s heart and Dipersico didn’t hold back her criticisms.

“I learned a lot from this. I learned to have a filter before I speak,” Dipersico, 24, said Thursday in a conference call with reporters.

“Maybe next time I won’t be as direct with people, I guess.”

Dipersico did show a softer side in Wednesday’s instalment as she brought Smith, a CFL wide receiver from Hudson, Que., to her hometown to visit the seniors’ recreation centre where she volunteers each week. She also took him to her family home, where Smith joined them in a post-dinner belly dance.

“I was actually relieved after last night’s episode,” said Dipersico, who’s in her first year of law school and is studying for a paralegal diploma.

“I think people just misunderstood me in the beginning because I was so direct, and I think yesterday showed another side of me that Brad saw earlier on.”

Dipersico said her family and friends also know that other side of her and didn’t judge her when they saw her on the series.

“Honestly, they just laughed. They’re like, ‘We know what you’re like and you say those things and they come off to people that don’t know you as serious or rude but we know how you just joke around a lot,’ and I think Brad saw that. So I wasn’t really worried.”

Wednesday’s episode also saw Smith visiting the hometowns of the other three contestants.

In Mississauga, Ont., he shared mint chocolate chip ice cream with Bianka before having dinner with her family.

Then he went to Vancouver, where he and Kara boarded her uncle’s boat and ate with her family.

The last hometown date was with Whitney in Calgary, where they slid down an Olympic-grade bobsled track and dined with her family.

Dipersico said she had a lot of fun with Smith on the series, and had more one-on-one time with him than the cameras showed.

But “we just knew that we’re just better as friends and that was all that there was,” she added, noting she didn’t need an explanation when he failed to give her a rose on Wednesday.

Dipersico also revealed that she actually apologized to Whitney after the first night in the mansion for being “a little bit out of line.”

“We were sort of friends at one point but now that I’ve watched the show, she was doing so many things behind everybody’s back that I sort of regret being friends with her, I guess,” she added.

“I just know to her, she sees it as a competition and Brad is the prize that she has to win.”

Dipersico said she got along best with Kara, a 25-year-old grad student from Delta, B.C., and she hopes she’ll win.

“If Brad wants a genuine girl, it’s Kara. She’s just so sweet.”

As for what Smith sees in Whitney, “I think it’s the mystery,” said Dipersico.

In next week’s episode, Smith goes on “fantasy dates” on Canada’s east coast.