One of the most intriguing story lines from the ABC dating series' Monday, January 2, episode was Liz, 29, surprising Viall, 36, by competing on the show despite having refused to give him her number after they slept together at Roper and Tanner Tolbert's nuptials in January 2016. A tense scene in the premiere featured Viall's annoyance when Liz implied that she didn't have a favorable impression of the two-time Bachelorette runner-up until his stint on Bachelor in Paradise season 3, which aired after their rendezvous. (Despite the drama, Liz ended up nabbing the night's final rose.)
While Viall appeared miffed on the episode that Liz never contacted Roper, 30, to try to get his phone number, Roper tells IPRSSTV that her pal did try to reconnect. In fact, Liz enlisted her bestie to invite him to a charity event.
"She was like, 'Why don’t you invite Nick? I kind of would like to see him again,'" the Bachelor in Paradise season 2 alum told IPRESSTV at the Bachelor Charity Premiere Party benefiting SheLift at Sycamore Tavern in Los Angeles. "And I was like, 'OK!' So I sent him a text, and he was like, 'You know what, I have some things in the works,' which was the show. He was like, 'I don’t know if I can make it,' and he couldn’t. So she had tried to kind of reach out, in a passive way."
Roper reveals that she actually encouraged Liz to compete for Viall's heart on The Bachelor: "I was like, 'Go see, why not?'" And she also gave the Las Vegas–based doula a bit of advice.
"Oh, my gosh, I talked to that girl, like, four or five times [about what to say to Nick]," Roper divulges. "I’m like, 'Listen — do this, don’t do that.' But I feel like once they were face-to-face, it was kind of a lot of pressure, and it was probably awkward for both of them, and you never know what’s going to happen."
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.