Monday, March 3, 2003

Joe Millionaire's winning bachelorette Zora Andrich wants to set the record straight about her less-than-shocking split from Evan Marriott. She did not — repeat, not — leave the hunky construction worker for, um, Mr. Ed. In a recent interview, Andrich described what it was like filming the Fox reality phenom at that now-famous French chateau.

"Oh, I loved those horses," she told People. "Being with the horse, the one whose name meant 'Sweetie' in French, I was in heaven. That's who has my heart. The horse." Well, a quote is a quote, of course, of course, unless of course... "I said that jokingly," she tells TV Guide Online. "There are people who actually ask me about that, and I'm like, 'Are you kidding?' It's so odd. "That's one [drawback] when I'm doing these interviews," adds the 29-year-old substitute teacher from New Jersey, "things that are said facetiously, sarcastically, jokingly... that doesn't come across unless the writer says that I said it in that way. And that didn't come across in that article, unfortunately."

Groaning, the media novice adds: "It's hard to monitor everything that comes out of your mouth." One thing Andrich will say without hesitation: She is a big animal lover. In fact, she's looking into possibly hosting a show on Animal Planet. "I don't have any offers or anything," she says. "They haven't approached me. I need to approach them." And in case you're wondering, that's not a joke.