The job titles of contestants on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette is one of the franchise's longest-running jokes. There are the usual suspects—real estate agent was especially popular during Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s season—but it's the more questionable careers that get people talking, like "twin" and "sport fishing enthusiast." It's a funny concept, to be sure, but the silliness distracts from something that's rarely discussed on the show: A lot of men and women give up their jobs and financial security to be a part of this franchise. We wanted to know more, so we asked Bekah Martinez, a fan favorite and former nanny from Luyendyk Jr.'s season, to fill us in for Glamour's Money Issue.

The cost just kind of depends for each girl, on how and when they were cast. I think some people knew they were going to be on The Bachelor about a month in advance, but I didn’t know for sure until about 10 days before filming. So that was kind of crazy because basically the only packing list you get is like, "OK, prepare for eight weeks and all kinds of weather." They don't want to give you any kind of hints about where you'll be going, so they tell you to pack everything—bikinis, snow gear, just whatever you might possibly need.

And then, of course, there are the formal gowns. But even with that you're not sure how many cocktail parties or rose ceremonies there will be, so I was watching old seasons to try and calculate how many dresses I would need for however many possible weeks I might be on the show. I was also trying to figure out in my head the amount of casual outfits I'd need and what kind of possible weather we might be going through. It was frantic having less than two weeks to pack all of that, and I didn't have a very extensive wardrobe at that point.

My biggest fear was "Where am I going to get all these dresses?" When you think about it, between cocktail parties and rose ceremonies, if you’re going to be there for any amount of time, you’re going to need at least 10 dresses. I didn't have really any at all. I was like, "This is going to cost me thousands of dollars if I buy all of these." Knowing that there’s a potential to go on the show for two months and not make any money during that time—I'm not working, but I still have to pay rent and all my living expenses—there was no way I could spend a few grand on clothes.

My biggest fear was "Where am I going to get all these dresses?"

So I just kind of started making a plan of who I could borrow dresses from—that was my main concern. I had a friend who was a pageant girl, so I texted her to ask if she had any in my size. Everything else I was able to borrow, like some snow gear from my mom. I have a couple of friends with swimwear companies here in Los Angeles, so they gave me some free suits. I asked a friend if I could borrow a variety of shorts and long-sleeve tops and sweaters. I got really lucky because the mom of the family I was nannying for at the time is in the fashion industry, so she sent me to a couple showrooms where I was able to get samples of different dresses to borrow for the show. I was able to borrow about 12 different dresses and a bunch of casual wear from some brands. After the show I had to collect everything and bring it back to the showroom—they were their samples for models and photo shoots and stuff like that.