Bachelor Nation
Are Leslie Fhima & Gary Levingston Still Together After ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ Elimination?
Leslie Fhima and Gary Levingston formed a strong connection on Season 10 of Bachelor in Paradise. However, a twist in Week 5 led to their elimination after they found themselves in the bottom three following a compatibility challenge.
At that point, it was up to the female in the winning couple, Bailey Brown, to decide which two of the bottom three ladies would get roses to hand out at the next rose ceremony. She ultimately went with Parisa Shifteh and Faith Martin, who gave their roses to Brian Autz and Kim Buike, respectively. That left Gary and Leslie remaining, which meant they were sent home.
“Her and I will continue to move forward in our journey, just in a different way,” Gary said after the elimination. This was all filmed earlier this year, so where do Gary and Leslie stand now? Scroll down for an update on their relationship today.
Are Gary Levingston and Leslie Fhima still together?
No, Gary and Leslie are not currently together romantically, but they “talk all the time,” Leslie said on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast.
“Gary is, I can honestly say, right now, one of my best friends,” she gushed. “I’ll call him if I ever have a problem. He kind of takes me off the ledge a little bit. We’re always there for each other, and we kind of have each other’s back.”
So far, they “haven’t spent time together” due to the fact that they live in two separate cities. However, Leslie isn’t ruling out the possibility of a romantic relationship in the future. “I don’t know what it could be,” she admitted. “All I know is that, for me, a big thing with any relationship, a romantic one for sure, is I want to be friends first. Because I want to be with my best friend growing older. That’s a huge thing for me.”
She concluded, “I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I know that we have special places in our hearts for each other and that’s all I can say right now.”
Did Gary Levingston and Leslie Fhima talk before Bachelor in Paradise?
Another thing Leslie clarified on the podcast was that she and Gary did not have a romantic connection before arriving on the beach. Although they met at Grant Ellis‘ finale of The Bachelor, which is when they were both announced as two of the Golden BiP cast members, they didn’t “communicate at all” before filming began.
“I just didn’t want to do that,” Leslie shared. However, she did confirm that Gary and Nancy Hulkower had been talking before the show and said she had her bags packed at the Week 4 rose ceremony after Gary and Nancy went on a date.
In the end, though, Gary chose to give Leslie his rose over Nancy. Unfortunately, it was Gary’s performance in the compatibility challenge that ended up ruining his and Leslie’s chances. They were sitting pretty toward the top of the leaderboard until he bet too many chips on a question he ended up getting wrong.
Leslie said she warned Gary not to “bet a lot” unless he “unequivocally” knew the answer to the question. “Like a typical man, he did not listen to me!” she ranted. The blunder is, of course, all water under the bridge now.
Bachelor in Paradise, Mondays, 8/7c, ABC
