ALI & ROBERTO FROM THE BACHELORETTE
San Diego’s Newest Couple
By Fara Rosenzweig
Photo: Blair Robb
Can it be true? Can true love be found from a Reality TV show? It may not have happened the first time around for Ali Fedotowsky, but then she met the man of her dreams, Roberto Martinez.
After competing on the 14th season of the Bachelor, Fedotowsky had not found the love that she was hoping to find. She moved on to bigger and better opportunities soon after, as she took a job with Facebook in San Francisco. Another opportunity came about as she was asked to be ABC’s Season 6 Bachelorette. For days she contemplated whether she wanted to be cast in another Reality TV Show, and give up her new career, but she decided to go for it. She had nothing to lose, and only experience to gain.
When Roberto introduced himself to her, Ali knew she had found the love of her life. Still careful not to get hurt again, she questioned everything about him, yet the two fell in love.
Now that the show is over, the couple has moved to sunny San Diego to start a new life with each other. As in many relationships there were a few quirks Ali and Roberto had to adjust to their new partnership. For Ali it was learning how much Roberto eats; he really loves putting cheese whiz on hot dogs in the morning. For Roberto, it was learning to live with a very independent woman, and of course, making sure she always had a plethora of lemons for her water whenever they dine out. These simple, yet original characteristics they both have learned to love.
Happy Hour Magazine sat down with the very down to earth couple to chat about what life is like after the cameras stopped rolling. With an upcoming wedding for Ali and Roberto, Happy Hour Magazine finds out how these two newbies are adjusting to life in San Diego.
Where is your favorite happy hour in San Diego?
Ali: We unfortunately haven’t had the time to go experience a good happy hour spot yet. Part of the reason why we are excited about being part of this issue is because we want to read Happy Hour Magazine, and learn about those places. Coming from San Francisco I had so many places that I went to. I don’t think it’s just the spots; it’s that we want to find a good group of people to go with. We haven’t really found that yet, we’re still adjusting.
I don’t know if this counts as a happy hour spot, but I love Karl Strauss. I love beer and they have a beer sampler – it’s like a buffet! You know how everyone likes to go to a buffet and try a little bit, that’s what it’s like. I get to try a little of every beer and I love beer.
Roberto: I’ve seen a place downtown near the office called Basic – it looks like a cool spot.
What do you two like to do for fun in San Diego?
Roberto: We do the hiking stuff.
Ali: Oh, Torrey Pines! We were doing that almost every day. We start by the golf course and we’ll hike down to the beach, and then run along the beach. The other day there were dolphins down there and I was thinking, “oh my gosh, where do we live? This is like paradise.” Then we do an interval run/walk back up. We like to work out together so that’s a really fun thing for us to do here.
Roberto: I still feel like we’re new.
Ali: Yea, we’re newbies. We don’t really like where we’re living right now, so we’re moving to North PB (Pacific Beach). We get the keys to our new place today! One thing I asked for Christmas was a yellow beach cruiser so we can ride to coffee shops and find new places. People help us find these places!
Roberto: But, only send the good ones.
What’s your favorite restaurant in San Diego?
Ali: I like Mr. A’s – I haven’t taken him (Roberto) there yet. I guess one of my best memories of San Diego is when I came to visit my friend and she took me to Mr. A’s for dinner and drinks and you can see the planes flying through. I just love that vibe!
Do you have a favorite restaurant you go together?
Ali: Georges on the Cove, the view is nice and it’s so beautiful there. Where else do we go?
Roberto: Mall food. [Laughs]
Ali: Yea, we go get mall food. We just like simple stuff.
Roberto: Again, consider us newbies.
What’s your favorite reason to live in San Diego?
Roberto: Well, I’ve always heard great things about San Diego. When I asked people, “If I move to California where should I live?” Everyone said San Diego. We talked about it and she had some good experiences here. It’s neutral – Los Angeles is kind of busy and this removes us from that and gives us more privacy.
Ali: I love San Francisco and I miss it a lot in different ways, but we wanted to make sure that we started somewhere fresh for both of us. I didn’t want to say, I love San Francisco so move here and have him try to fit into my life and my friends. I didn’t think that was fair, so we wanted to be somewhere neutral and San Diego was a good choice. L.A. wasn’t necessarily an option for us because we felt our lives wouldn’t have any privacy there. We want to be able to share when we want to share, and not when we don’t want to.
Roberto: We can control to some extent, a lot more of what we want in our lives to be public. Also, there’s the Shamu Show that she loves. I think that’s the real reason why we moved here.
Ali: The Shamu Show!! The Shamu Slam. I love the Shamu slam.
Roberto: That’s why we moved here.
Why did you both decide to do The Bachelorette?
Roberto: More than anything it’s probably that you never know what’s going to come out of it, and I did it more for the experience than anything else. I went back and forth on whether I should do the show or not and I asked a lot of friends and family. The majority said I should do it just for the experience. I didn’t know what was going to happen; but yea, the experience.
Ali: Same thing. If you ask anyone who does the show they’ll say experience, no one says to find love. Really you don’t join the show thinking you’re going to find love. You go for the experience. I remember when I was thinking about doing The Bachelor I asked a friend and he said, “why not? It’s going to be a great story to tell.” And I said, you know what, it’s so true. It’s a great story to tell and it’s a conversation starter!
So anyways, I decided to do The Bachelor and that didn’t work out thankfully. When they asked me to do The Bachelorette, the thing was I left the Bachelor for my job; I loved my job working at Facebook. If I hadn’t found him on The Bachelorette I would have regretted leaving that job, but now that I have him, how could I regret anything.
When I was asked to do The Bachelorette I didn’t want to at first, but they told me they really wanted me to and the public did too. I didn’t want to give up my job. I went through this with The Bachelor trying to figure out love and my job and I’m not doing this again.
I ran from it and then after a lot of thinking I said, “If I don’t do this I’ll never know.” My friend told me, “If you find your husband on the show, nothing else will matter.” So I said, “You’re absolutely right, I need to see!”
From the TV show to moving in with each other, what has this whole experience been like for both of you? Negative or positive?
Ali: Definitely positive. I think what’s great is when people throw negative at you; it makes you even stronger and more positive. At least that’s what it’s done for me. It helps me make positive changes in my life. For instance, when I was on The Bachelor I got into a fight with one of the girls on the show and I remember looking at myself on the show and thinking, “why did I act that way?” I didn’t like the way that I came off and how I was. I was able to make a positive difference in my life in terms of people and the publicity – I think it’s just fun. We went to the Jingle Ball last week and it was all these girls screaming for Katy Perry, and then we were announced and everyone was screaming – it was like we were Justin Bieber or something.
Roberto: Yea, it was like “AAAAAAA”. It’s funny when the girls start shaking.
Ali: I’m like “we’re just like you.” I remember the experience and it felt like we were Rock Stars.
Roberto: We’re just having fun. You can’t take it too seriously, just roll with it.
Ali: One day this will all be gone, and we are just appreciating what we have. When our time is up – our fifteen minutes, we’re off. When it’s done it’s done, and we’ll walk away. We’re riding the wave and having a good time.
Roberto, what kind of work are you doing in San Diego now that you’ve relocated?
Roberto: I’m opening a State Farm Insurance Agency on January 3rd. I’m super excited and I have a good team. (The office is located in the East Village at 485 10th Ave.)
Ali: I’m going to be marketing the little pants off this guy trying to get him tons of customers. He’s been working so hard on it.
Roberto: It’s rewarding though. I’ve wanted to do this for the last five years and I had the opportunity to start in Charleston (South Carolina) and then the show. I had to ship everything here and it’s super exciting. It’s one of those things; I wanted to open up a business before I was 30 so I am doing that. It’s very rewarding and it’s a good chapter in my life.
Ali, besides marketing for Roberto, what else will you be doing?
Ali: In San Diego, I’ve been doing Fox 5 San Diego News. I’ve been doing little segments there and it’s really cool. At first I was really nervous for it, because it’s hard. You get the script as you’re walking in the door and that’s when you find out who you’re interviewing, but I’m getting better. It’s challenging, but fun.
Roberto: She’s a natural. It’s hard and she’s very good; she’s giving Ron Burgundy a run for his money.
Ali: Why thank you! I’m doing that and working on some other things that will be announced early in the year, so we shall see. I’ve still been doing stuff around the show. I know this sounds like “oh tough life,” but the photo shoots! I had three in one week, so that’s been keeping me busy. There are some things I am working on that I really can’t talk about right now.
Ali, what was it that made you fall in love with Roberto?
Ali: I knew right away, I mean right away. I remember when Roberto walked in, I stepped back and was like “oh hi! Wow!” It hit me like “oh my gosh,” and I knew right away that there was something really special. I remember when he walked away from me I said something like, “sexy!”
Roberto: It’s because I spoke Spanish.
Ali: [Laughs] Yes! When we had that first rose ceremony night and I gave him the first impression rose, he walked away and grabbed my hand. I remember having a feeling as if I’ve held his hand forever, and it was just right.
I remember questioning myself too and saying, “he’s super hot, he was drafted by a pro baseball team, and how the heck is he not a player? I mean we see it with all these sports husbands you know, and I don’t know if I can handle him. He’s the perfect package – and he speaks a few languages. I was like, this guy cannot be real, he’s too perfect.”
I remember in Turkey we had this conversation and he said, “I will never hurt you” and I believed him. How did you know I was the one?
Roberto: There’s no way to not make this sound cheesy, I went in with an open mind just for the experience and obviously I knew the Bachelorette was Ali before, but I didn’t research her or anything. I wanted this experience to be raw and as genuine as possible, as if I was meeting her on the street. There were a lot of nerves going that night, but when I walked out of the limo she was beautiful in her black dress. I remember the moment I stood there and connected eyes with her I couldn’t describe it; but it was something, it was crazy. Just and overwhelming feeling of “oh my god, something about this is really right.” Then as the night progressed I had talked to her and the chemistry was there and it was going great. Then she gave me the first impression rose, so that let me know she was feeling the same things. As time progressed, she really is this wonderful human being.
Ali, what do you think of the new Bachelor Brad, and will he fall in love this time?
Ali: I hope he falls in love. I think everyone deserves a second chance and I wish him the best.
What are the wedding details?
Ali: Sometime in the next year, possibly a beach setting.
Ali, do you have a dress yet?
Ali: I am looking at Monique Lhuiller.
Photo: Blair Robb
Location: Candelas on the Bay in Coronado
Wardrobe Stylist: Tiffany Knox, The Haute Haus
Hair & Make-up: Diesal Salon
Thank you to Bikes & Beyond located at the Coronado Ferry Landing for the surrey bike!
