Controversial "Bachelor" Jason Mesnick says his new fiancée Molly Malaney was being considered to be the next "Bachelorette" before he swept her off her feet.

Audiences were shocked when, in March's "The Bachelor: After the Final Rose" on ABC, Jason dumped his fiancée Melissa Rycroft, instead deciding to be with his second choice, Molly. The former "Bachelor" tells Us magazine a week after he proposed to Melissa, show producers "kept asking me if I thought Molly would make a good 'Bachelorette.'"

"[I] realized I was not willing to let Molly go on TV and have 25 guys fight over her," Jason says of his fiancee.

Jason also reveals to Us that he had already broken it off with Melissa prior to the "After the Final Rose" show. "Melissa is a great girl, but there wasn't any chemistry," he tells the publication. "So I broke up with her after Christmas, about a month after we wrapped ['The Bachelor']."

He talks of his televised attempt to rekindle the romance with Molly, saying, "Obviously, I didn't want it all on TV, but I had to take the chance if it meant getting her back. I'd rather have picked up the phone, trust me!"

Jason asked Molly to marry him last week while on a romantic vacation in New Zealand.