Rae Williams is opening up about her experience on the Netflix dating show The Ultimatum almost a year after the first season aired.
Williams came into the dating experiment with her boyfriend at the time, Zay Wilson, but in the end, decided to try things out with fellow contestant Jake Cunningham with whom she had formed a strong connection.
Looking back almost a year later, Williams is sharing details about what it was like filming The Ultimatum, the most memorable experience to come out of the show and which co-stars she's still in touch with.
Williams has become a part-time influencer
Since the show, Williams tells Narcity she still lives in Austin and hangs out with the same group of friends as she did prior to the show.
She also works with first responders as a 911 operator, a bartender and as a part-time influencer.
"I'll do posts here and there, but I've only been to L.A. once. I didn't really dive into the whole post-reality TV thing," she said.
She's also an ambassador for the fashion retail company Fashion Nova.
Williams keeps in touch with almost everyone from Season 1 of The Ultimatum
Williams is on good terms with basically everyone from her season of the Netflix show, except for former boyfriend Zay Wilson.
She admits she spoke to Wilson a few months ago and they cleared the air, but other than that they don't keep in touch.
"Our relationship ended very terribly, very publicly. He's doing his thing, he's hooking up with a bunch of girls, being an influencer bopping around L.A.," she told Narcity.
"I said this is the lifestyle that you want and I'm happy for you. I'm laying low out here in Texas. I'm in my lane. You're in yours."
Williams also opened up on the Zachary Reality podcast recently where she said she's been getting a lot of messages about Wilson after he appeared on Perfect Match.
Williams says The Ultimatum was "hard to film"
Growing up as a '90s baby and watching reality shows like The Real World, Williams says The Ultimatum was much more serious than she expected.
"I'm a very monogamous person, I'm not into polyamory. I'm not into open dating. I'm not into sharing, really. So doing a partner swap was not fun for any of us."
Aside from that there were also the long hours of filming, serious on-screen conversations and lots of drinking.
"It was super fun, but it was also just super f*cking stressful."
Williams underestimated one thing during The Ultimatum
Williams doesn't regret doing the show which she says was a "once in a lifetime opportunity."
However, she says she underestimated the "power of editing."
"You don't realize how much of your argument or how much of your sentences can be chopped or how a name can be replaced."
She also reflected on the reunion and the way her "meltdown" was edited.
"They edited out a lot of things like Vanessa got extremely upset at the reunion and she started crying and she came over and hugged me because of something that my ex-boyfriend said to me and they completely edited it out," Williams explained.
Williams says the best part of The Ultimatum happened at the reunion
During the reunion, the 26-year-old former reality TV contestant revealed that she was dating a woman and looking back she says that was one of her most memorable moments.
"I think coming out [as bisexual] was probably the best thing that came out of the show for me," she said.
"I've gotten a lot of messages from people saying like, hey, it was really nice to see our representation on a super straight heterosexual mainstream show."
Williams says dating has been tough since The Ultimatum
While she's no longer with the woman she was dating during the reunion episode, Williams says the two remain close friends.
As for her current dating situation, the Austin native says she's been trying to put herself out there.
"Since the show, dating has been kind of weird just because people will message you and think that they already know you or know about you."
Season 1 of The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On is available on Netflix.
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