Tayshia Adams Thought “The GOAT” Would 'Be the Easy Show' But Would Rather 'Be Bachelorette Again' (Exclusive)

"I'm like, ‘Oh, it can't be that bad,’ except for I'm crying on every episode," the former Bachelorette tells PEOPLE of the reality competition

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the premiere episode of The GOAT.

Tayshia Adams competed for roses on The Bachelor and then handed them out as The Bachelorette. But on The GOAT, things got a little more physical for 33-year-old Adams.

“Competition is a totally different game,” she tells PEOPLE, adding that she went on The GOAT to show “how strategic and smart” she can be.

Adams quickly proved that she could hold her own amid a sea of contestants who hailed from shows like Big Brother, The Challenge and Survivor, winning the first competition and being named The GOAT in the first episode. Looking back, Adams thinks that winning right out of the gate “put a target on my back.”

Related: Tayshia Adams Implies 'a Lot' Unfolded 'Behind the Scenes' in Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist's Marriage (Exclusive)

“I didn't think that was going to happen,” she says. “On Bachelor, you kind of want to make your first impression known, and that's where I came from with that. But if I did it again, maybe I would've just gone out second or third, because I had a target on my back.”

Winning meant that Adams could pick the team captains for the second challenge — and that she had to cast the tie-breaking elimination vote for either Food Network star Jason Smith or The Circle’s Joey Sasso. Adams ultimately chose Sasso, 30, to be the first one out of the competition.

“I started crying. I was not OK with that,” Adams recalls. “It was tough. I've been through some pretty heartbreaking goodbyes and tough decision making, and I was not expecting that to be on my first night.”

Adams entered Bachelor Nation on Colton Underwood’s season and went on to look for love on Bachelor in Paradise season 6. She then became season 16’s Bachelorette after Clare Crawley ended her reign early. The California native got engaged to Zac Clark at the end of her season, but the two announced their split in November 2021. She went on to co-host the following season with Kaitlyn Bristowe.

Adams didn’t expect The GOAT to be as stressful as her time on any of the Bachelor shows, although she had an immediate ally in fellow Bachelor Nation alum Joe Amabile. “I'm like, ‘Oh, it can't be that bad,’ except for I'm crying on every episode,” she quips. “I thought this was going to be the easy show! But I'm not going to lie. I would probably be Bachelorette again.”

Related: Joe Amabile Was 'Shocked' by Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist's Divorce but Can See Why They Had 'an Issue' (Exclusive)

The GOAT did bring Adams something positive, though, in the form of new friendships with her castmates.

“I earned a lot of friendships from the show,” Adams says. “Truthfully, I don't know if any of our paths would've crossed. This was the perfect show to make some connections with people that I wouldn't have been having the opportunity to do before.”

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The first three episodes of The GOAT are streaming now on Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Freevee, with new episodes dropping on Thursdays.

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