Victoria Fuller and Peter Weber’s relationship has had a lot of ups and downs on this season of The Bachelor, but he still found enough potential in their relationship to make her one of his final four women. During the show’s Feb. 17 episode, Peter will go to Victoria’s hometown, Virginia Beach, to meet her family. Interestingly, unbeknownst to Peter at the time of filming, one of his exes, Merissa Pence, actually knows Victoria! Merissa and Victoria have a bit of a rocky history. Here’s more to know about Merissa:
1. How do Merissa and Victoria know each other? Like Victoria, Merissa also lives in Virginia Beach. She moved back there from Los Angeles three years ago, and the ladies run in the same social circle. “Our first encounter was that she told me she was going to slash my tires because I was hanging out with one of her ex-boyfriends,” Merissa told Us Weekly. However, due to the “small town” nature of Virginia Beach, and the fact that the women had mutual friends, they continued to see each other around. Merissa said that she no longer plans to hang out with Victoria because Victoria acted “self-centered” and “distasteful” during a night out with their group of friends before she left to film The Bachelor.
2. When did Merissa and Peter date? Merissa and Peter’s relationship was in 2012, and she even still has an Instagram photo with the pilot on her page. Merissa described the relationship as “casual,” but said that she often hung out at Peter’s parents’ house. “We were friends for quite a while after [the split], but then I was in a serious relationship and Peter had started dating someone else, as well, so we really didn’t chat too much,” she admitted.
3. She’s a college graduate and works in marketing. Merissa graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in 2013 with an Associate of Arts degree in Fashion Merchandising. She’s worked at Michael Kors, Guess?, Victoria’s Secret and more clothing stores. In 2016, she became the Director of Social Media for House of Maya Online. Her current job is as a Marketing Coordinator for MSP Design Group in Norfolk, Virginia. In her spare time, she works as a kickboxing instructor.
4. She’s done modeling. Merissa has done work as a model, and during her time at FIDM, she even admitted that her dream was to model for Victoria’s Secret one day. Her ultimate goal at the time was to get into fashion production.
5. She’s a former pageant queen. Merissa started doing beauty pageants in 2009. She was previously Miss Teen Virginia.