For example, Michaella’s own relationship with AI executive Rob Feeley was largely going great until a night out with Rob’s close friends devolved into a particularly jarring display of toxic masculinity and bro culture. Their engagement ended a night later when, once again, Rob lashed out at his fiancé, peers, and production staffers during a cast party Michaella didn’t even want to attend. (Rob has since apologized for his outbursts and revealed he’s been in therapy since leaving the experiment.)
Of course, if anyone was calling Michaella a pick-me during the season, they’ll certainly stop after watching her stand on business during last night’s reunion. In an exclusive interview with Glamour after the reunion, Michaella opens up about the aftermath of her breakup with Rob and clears up what went down with Matt Waldrip, also known as the beekeeper, after the show.
Glamour: How did you prepare for the reunion to remain so poised and composed?
Michaella Giorgio: First and foremost, I took care of myself. I have a therapist that I have been working with for almost two years now—right when the show wrapped. I met with her twice the week of the reunion. I also still work with a life coach that I’ve been working with since 2019. So it’s cool because I kind of look at myself through some different lenses. I go more of the clinical route in therapy, but with my life coach, it’s more of a spiritual route.
It was also really important for me to come out early and have a day completely to myself. What I ended up doing actually was just hanging out in my hotel and getting room service and just being by myself before seeing anybody else. Even my friends who came to the reunion with me came a day after me. So it’s just always so important for me to get grounded; what that means for me is to just quiet the noise and really connect with what’s going on with myself emotionally, mentally, and to give myself space.
Can you explain the timeline of your breakup with Rob? It’s still a bit unclear exactly what happened off-screen. The outing of his friends was the night before the cast mixer. You still leave the party together—and then what happens?
I mean, the relationship was over at that point. We went home together, I was thinking, to have a conversation about the night, about everything. Obviously we’d been having conversations before that party because I made it very clear that I didn’t want to go, and that I was only going for him. But when we got home, he said that he’d had enough, that production was too much, and he left. And then we didn’t speak for a few days, and it was over.
