Gordon Jackie

Article by Greg Kielec
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October 12, 2011

Jackie Gordon of The Bachelor 15 and Bachelor Pad 2 poses with a shawl as local artist Kerr takes photos at the Cornwall Regional Art Gallery . Kerr will refer the photos to complete the nearly complete portrait of Gordon, shown foreground.

Jackie Gordon awoke one evening last year with the startling realization that somehow she was missing her life's calling.

So she quit her stable sales job with MTV at Times Square in New York City and decided to forge a new path. That abrupt change in direction landed in her in the most unlikely of places - Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. A contestant this year on The Bachelor 15 and the Bachelor Pad 2, Gordon made the l0-hour trek to Cornwall Oct. 1 with her 30
year-old sister -- and New York roommate - Victoria, to participate in Pitt Street Artfest.

She attended the weekend festival coinciding with Canada Culture Days to display three of her paintings, meet and greet Bachelor franchise fans and to sit for well-known local artist Deborah Kerr.

The petite, brown-eyed brunette has been pursuing her passion for art with a renewed
vigour ever since exiting Bachelor Pad 2 in rather dramatic fashion late this summer. It
was a made-for-television moment, her love interest Ames Brown bidding her farewell,
then abruptly turning and chasing the departing limo to join her.

The romance fell apart soon after and the hurt still shows in Gordon's eyes as she
searches for answers to explain what may have went wrong as she sits in the corner of
the Cornwall Regional Art Gallery as her likeness slowly takes shape on the artist's
canvas.

It has been weeks since Gordon had to share the same stage with the ever-smiling,
affable Brown, during the taping of the Bachelor Pad 2 reunion. But the emotion still lies
close to the surface.

As cynical as the ever-burgeoning reality TV genre can be, the 28 year-old Rhode Island native is startlingly real. As she sits for her portrait at the back corner of the art gallery, Gordon opens up to Kerr and other onlookers with refreshing candour.

She describes the boredom of whittling away time during Season 15 of The Bachelor,
all the while trying to make conversation with other contestants about Brad Womack,
the man for which whose affection they all were vying.
Then there was the whirlwind romance Brown, which ended before Bachelor fans had barely recognized that it Constantly greeted by fans gushing chivalrous deed undertaken by York City financial manager, Gordon could do little but guardedly nod her head in agreement without revealing the crushing truth.

She says she finally has gotten closure after a tense Bachelor Pad 2 finale that saw her sit-
ting right next to the man who broke her heart. She had rebuffed him when he had tried to make good earlier, but she acquiesced to his advances and sat with him during the return flight to New York. Whatever was said, it was enough for Gordon to now declare him a friend.

Her Bachelor fame, for what it is, hasn't been without a cost. She took a leave of absence from her teaching assistant job to appear on Bachelor 15, but was unable to do so
when Bachelor Pad 2 came calling. It was exactly the type of job she was looking for when she left MTV, but Gordon doesn't regret leaving it behind. She now describes herself as "happily unemployed".

The break for work has given even more time to focus on her painting career, which
she approached with new vigour when she began teaching.

"I think now I'm going to keep painting," she states matter-of-factly. But with the pronouncement comes the realization she is already dipping into her savings that at some point the financial cushion she worked so hard to building is going to be depleted.
"I have to start looking for work," she concedes. But she isn't too worried. She knows
there is another pre-school job available for the taking in the new year. And there is still time to take one more trip, maybe to Europe to brush up on the French she was practicing during her visit to Canada.

"It's a little addictive," Gordon says about the fly-by-night lifestyle. "Let's try this, let's
try that," she giggles." But she wouldn't change her newfound lifestyle for the world. "I think life is too short," she explains, "I want my life to be rich."