‘Temptation Island’ star Ashley H says she 'grew as a person' after appearing on the show
Ashley Howard, who describes herself as a “happy and bubbly person,” is easily one of the fan-favorite contestants on the show. When she first came on ‘Temptation Island’, it just took a drop of a hat to get her to break into tears. Ashley has come a long way since, and now the tables have turned, while she is all smiles, her boyfriend, Casey Starchak with whom she has come on the show, is busy crying.
The 25-year-old brunette beauty met her boyfriend, Casey, through a dating app. What began as a casual fling soon turned into a serious relationship. The couple have been together for over a year and a half, before coming on the show. In the pilot episode, we see Ashley expressing her concerns over Casey’s party boy lifestyle, and isn’t comfortable with the fact that he’s still friends with the girls from his past. Ashley also revealed that she has been cheated on in every relationship she has ever been in, which led to her developing trust issues.
So, we couldn’t help but wonder what brought her on ‘Temptation Island’ when she has such strong trust issues, knowing that there were many tempters and temptresses on the island. She says, “Casey was the one that brought me to Temptation Island. I did not wanna go.” One of the highlights of the show is the video messages which the couples leave for each other. Fans absolutely loved watching the 25-year-old’s video message to Casey in which she made it a point to emphasize that she did not have any regrets about her actions. We asked her about what was running in her mind while she recorded the message. “What was going through my head was that I had honestly no regrets. I was evolving into someone I didn’t think was possible and I was very proud of myself.”
Comparing your relationship to a “sales pitch” is definitely not romantic and worse, comparing your partner to a “mouse in a box” will definitely not win anybody any brownie points. Yet, this is precisely what Casey did, he equated their relationship to a sales pitch while deciding his game plan for the final bonfire, and compared his pretty girlfriend to a “mouse”. When Ashley was asked to share her reaction to it, she replied with, “When Casey compared me to a rat in a box I literally said, 'what the fuck?' I just think he doesn’t know how to use his words correctly and sometimes it gets thrown back in his face. And the sales pitch thing pissed me off.”
While crying her eyes out for Casey, she found comfort in the arms of her fellow islander, Ben Knobloch. Initially Ben and another tempter, Deac, got into a bit of competition to win Ashley’s heart, but she picked Ben. We asked her what drew her to Ben. “I think Ben was just a really nice guy. He would sit there and listen to me talk about my relationship and was understanding so I think that was one thing that really drew me to him,” revealed Ashley.
Before winding up the interview, we asked the reality star, about her experience being a part of the show, and if she would do anything differently given another chance. Ashley said, “I feel like my experience on the show was a pretty good one. A lot of other people are saying completely different things but I feel like I grew as a person and that it was a great opportunity.” She added, “If I could do it again, maybe I watch the bonfires a little bit closer. But then again, you only get 30 seconds so I don’t know what I would do differently.”
You can catch ‘Temptation Island’ season 2 on Thursdays at 10 pm ET/ 9 pm CT only on USA Network.