Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe talks season finale and possible wedding spot

TORONTO – Vancouver “Bachelorette” star Kaitlyn Bristowe says she’d consider tying the knot in her home city.

“I would get married there,” the dance instructor said Tuesday, a day after the show’s season finale showed personal trainer Shawn Booth pop the question.

“Either there or Vegas with Elvis,” Booth joked in a joint conference call with media. “We’re still trying to figure that out.”

Bristowe accepted Booth’s proposal after rejecting fellow contestant Nick Viall in Monday night’s season ender of “The Bachelorette,” an especially controversial edition that saw Viall join the pack of suitors partway through the show.

Asked why she didn’t stop Viall before he started to propose, Bristowe said she was just “giving him a chance to express how he felt.”

“I didn’t really know how or when to stop him, because I knew no matter what, it was going to be the worst thing ever.”

Bristowe, 30, said she hoped she would wind up with Booth, 29, “from Day 1,” noting he had a “calming presence” and “it helped that he smelled delicious.”

“His looks helped him out a little, too,” she added. “And then once I sat down with him a couple of times I saw that he had a personality and a sense of humour, and he just kind of seemed like the perfect little package.”

Fans of the ABC/City reality dating series had an inkling the two would wind up together after Bristowe inadvertently posted a photo of them on the social media app Snapchat midway through the season.

Bristowe said she had intended to send the photo to a show producer but mistakenly posted it publicly.

“We felt sick to our stomachs about it and had mild heart attacks and felt really bad,” she said.

It was among several challenges Bristowe faced during the airing of the season.

In the first episode, she and Britt Nilsson — a fellow contestant from last season’s “The Bachelor” — had to go head-to-head to become the Bachelorette. After meeting their 25 suitors, it was the men who picked Bristowe to be the star.

Later in the season, Bristowe faced backlash from some fans online for sleeping with Viall partway through the season.

She said she hopes she’s “empowered women to be themselves.”

“If you’re going to find somebody for the rest of your life and fall in love, I think you should probably be exactly who you are, because then you have a better chance of lasting.”

The two said they plan to spend time in Vancouver and Booth’s home city of Nashville before making any wedding plans.

“I honestly think Sean is going to fall in love with Vancouver,” said Bristowe.

“I’m going to take him to the Grouse Grind. Probably do a lot of things, like go paddleboarding, lots of stuff outside.”

They also “love the idea of having a summer home in British Columbia or Vancouver and living in Nashville,” she added.