Ali Fedotowsky is known as many things; "America's Sweetheart," self-proclaimed tomboy, and star of ABC's reality juggernaut 'The Bachelorette.' Over the past nine weeks, we've seen her deal with a nerdy weatherman, an R-rated wrestler, a dude who thinks it's appropriate to get a tattoo in her honor after knowing her for six weeks, and ... Frank.

As we saw in the previous episode, flaky Frank from Chicago dropped perhaps the biggest 'Bachelorette' bombshell yet on an unsuspecting Ali, revealing that he still had feelings for his ex-girlfriend. We saw Frank's side of the story (in perhaps too much detail), and watched as he left our brokenhearted bachelorette in tears on the beach in Tahiti.

TV Squad caught up with Ali to get her thoughts on Frank's decision, her self-doubts and how she maintains that enviable bikini body -- check it out after the jump!

Let's get the inevitable Frank questions out of the way first. Did you have the chance to see last night's episode before it aired, so you knew what to expect?

Yeah I did see it before it aired; I write a blog every week for People.com so I was able to see it. I watched it again last night, and it's hard to watch, for sure.

What did you think of seeing Frank's side of the story in such detail that way?

It was good to see, because I got more perspective into what actually happened, 'cause I really didn't know at the time and I didn't really care to ask much, I just sort of wanted to be done with it [laughs]. But I think after seeing it, I'm understanding more that I don't really think that Frank ever thought he was going to end up with me. I think he had feelings for this girl well throughout the entirety of the show, and that's sad to me, but I don't feel any ill feelings towards him -- I'm over it, I'm happy now.

Why do you think the producers chose to show so much of Frank's indecision and meeting with Nicole?

I don't think that Frank actually told the producers about this girl until that point, so there's no real back-story on her. I think what we saw was actually super important to what happened to me, and I think viewers deserved to know what was going on, so that's why we see so much of it.




We're already getting feedback on AOL with viewers outraged on your behalf and saying that they signed up to see your search for love, not Frank's -- does that surprise you?

I kind of agree with them! [laughs] Frank's not 'The Bachelor,' I'm 'The Bachelorette' -- this show isn't about him with this girl or that girl! But you know, I hope people aren't too hard on him. Yeah, what he did was wrong, and I don't think he realized the gravity of the situation and what he was doing to me until he was in Tahiti and talking to Chris Harrison and Chris Harrison was telling him, "Do you realize what you're about to do, you're about to break her heart during the most important week of her life?" And I think if Frank could go back and do it over again differently, I think he would. I think Frank's a good person, and I wish him the best; if he did fall in love, good -- I hope he did and I hope he's happy.

We know you can't talk about the finale yet, but is it fair to say that Frank's decision changed the outcome of the show? Do you think you would've behaved differently without that bombshell?

I do not think that Frank's decision to leave the show had anything to do with my final decision. I've been having a lot of questions about Frank through the whole season, which viewers didn't see, but I always said that I thought Frank would hurt me in the end. My relationship with him was scary and made me feel insecure, and I would never want to be engaged to or marry someone that made me feel that way, so I'm pretty certain that I wouldn't have chosen Frank in the end. I can say with a hundred percent certainty that it would not have changed my final decision at the end.

The thing that's concerned me the most as we've gone on is that you've said over the course of the show that you haven't felt worthy of Roberto or you feel like there's something wrong with you -- you're a smart and attractive woman, why all the self-doubt?

You know, I think I said one time that I wondered if I was pretty enough for Roberto and I think it sort of got blown out of proportion! [Laughs] I was so blown away with how good looking he was in that moment -- after I said it I remember thinking, "Why did I say that?"

And then in terms of the self-doubt -- it wasn't self-doubt in myself as a person, it was doubt in the guys really and why they were there. It was, "Am I going to fall for someone who's not going to fall for me back?" and "Are these guys falling in love with 'The Bachelorette' or the idea of 'The Bachelorette'? Or do they really like me and feel like they're falling in love with me because I'm me, because I'm just me, this girl from a small town who's just looking for love?" I think that's what it was for me. And then with Frank, of course, I said, "Sometimes I feel like there's something wrong with me" -- I think it's because I've been heartbroken in that way before, I had a guy leave me for an ex before, a guy I really loved, and it was hurtful, and I think that just brought back memories like that. In general, I consider myself, despite what you see on the show, to be extremely confident in who I am and deserving of love. You just see me at my most vulnerable, most emotional points.

And just to be superficial for a moment – I know a lot of girls out there are envying your abs in those bikinis -- what do you do to keep yourself in such good shape, any advice for us?

[Laughs] Believe it or not, I don't do much for my stomach in any shape-defining way ... I think for me, I just stay active, I go out ... I'm not really a person who wants to hang out, sitting around with friends all day, I want to go hiking or playing soccer outside in the grass somewhere, just being active that way. I think that's probably my best advice, to just stay active in general. I'm not a big gym person; I don't really go that often. If I do go, I always tell myself, 'just put on your gym clothes and get there, and if you get there and still don't want to work out, you can leave!' It hasn't happened to me yet, but I don't know, I try to go once in a while.



What did you think of Frank's decision? Do you think Ali will choose Chris or Roberto, or will she end up alone? Sound off below!


[Follow Laura on Twitter @LauinLA.]