The former 'Bachelor' star hasn't seen Viall in months, but is ready for another shot at love!
Corinne Olympios is single and surprisingly open to dating a very famous ex: Nick Viall!
Viall cut Olympios from his season of The Bachelor after hometown dates, a sendoff that she maintains was "a huge mistake." ET caught up with Olympios as the debut guest on our Bachelor-centric YouTube series, Roses & Rose. The Florida native now calls Los Angeles home, as does Viall, but she hasn't seen him since The Bachelor ended. The blonde beauty says if Viall, who recently parted ways with fiancee Vanessa Grimaldi, called her up, she'd be open to a meetup.
EXCLUSIVE: Corinne Olympios Explains Vegas PDA Pics
"We clearly had strong chemistry," she says of her time with the 37-year-old on the show. "I was falling so hard and I remember when he changed completely. I went up to him, cameras not rolling, and was like, 'I just want to give you a hug before the night ends,' which is something we normally did. He was like, 'K, well, I'm gonna go give out this rose now.' And I was like, 'Whoa.' It was a slap in the face, like, 'I'm too busy for you right now.' ... I don't know why he got like that. ... I feel like [in the beginning] I saw a different side of him than what [he] shows right now."
Olympios says she distinctly remembers Viall "changing as a person" during the course of the show. "If I saw him getting back to the way he was when I first stepped out of the limo, I would seriously consider giving him a chance," she says. "I would meet up with him, have coffee, talk to him and see how he is. He just broke up with his fiancee; it can't be easy."
The reality star says she wasn't surprised by Viall and Grimaldi's split. She's stayed friendly with Grimaldi, Rachel Lindsay and other women from her time on the ABC show, though notes the strongest friendship in her Bachelor inner circle these days is DeMario Jackson.
"I trust him with my life," she says of the man with whom she spent the summer at the center of a Bachelor in Paradise scandal. "We talk almost every day."
Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson Get Cozy at Halloween Bash: Pics!
The 24-year-old businesswoman has advice for the contestants embarking on the new season of The Bachelor with Arie Luyendyk, Jr.: "Be yourself!" But she also might be throwing herself into the competition. "I think me and Arie are going to wind up together no matter who he picks," she says with a smile. "I have my ways, ladies!"
As for whether we'll see her on a Bachelor franchise show again, Olympios says she has not been approached about joining the franchise's newest series, Winter Games, but is open to it.
Dating, she says, is difficult with her newfound fame. She's considering hiring security because she sometimes comes home to people waiting for her at her apartment building, and says men find her life intimidating because she's hounded by paparazzi and fans. She recently parted ways with a guy who "wore makeup" and told her "we were going to switch off paying for meals." Ultimately she wants someone "smart, funny, confident, caring, mushy -- but not too mushy."
For now, she's loving life in Los Angeles and is busy working on two television shows, a book, her clothing line, an upcoming swimsuit line and a sunglasses line, which launched Oct. 24. "I'm a different person [in Los Angeles] than I am in Miami," she says. "It's a respect thing. In the entertainment industry, being respected by everybody. In Florida, I'm just Corinne."
Olympios describes one of her shows as "a scripted reality show about dating in the millennial world; it's going to be hilarious because everything we talk about is so true." A second show will follow her "everyday life." Her book will be "start-to-finish life of Corinne, you guys will have no more questions for me," she promises. A portion of the proceeds from her new sunglasses line go to ChildHelp.org.
Hear from Olympios herself on how she feels about Viall and her time on The Bachelor in Roses & Rose, below! New episodes of Roses & Rose are posted every Tuesday on ET's YouTube channel. Along with a special Bachelor Nation guest, we watch season eight of The Bachelorette to get to know Arie Luyendyk, Jr., ahead of his Bachelor premiere.