Continued from page 3

The Morning After

Thursday February 20, 2003 10:57 AM EST

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Evan, however, is hardly a prince by the women, even if he should end up in Bel Air. "He was treated as if he were the last man on earth," says Ball. "He's not. And I can tell you right now, I don't have much faith in blind dates. Not after this." You won't see her wearing the gift pearls (worth $500) and sapphire necklace ($2,000) she received before being rejected from the show. (Apart from Zora's check, the contestants' only payments were a small per diem and their baubles.) "I'll keep them," she says, "and in 20 years show it to somebody as a laugh."

Sarah, who is now dating a house painter she estimates probably earns as much as Evan did before the show, says she too is over Evan Marriott and his faux fortune. "Money was never a big thing for me. I really like intellectual men."

For his part -- and despite his on-air confession of anguish to one of the show's producers -- Evan says he experienced less and less guilt as Joe Millionaire moved along. "I felt they signed up for this," he says now. "We're all in the same boat. Let's just get this thing over with. I don't think anybody should be mad or feel like they were betrayed." Given Millionaire's success, "they ought to be very proud," he says. "They all had a hand in it."

But, one more time: After all the hype, dewy music and romantic lighting, Evan and Zora ought to be in love, right? "I didn't do a charity thing picking Zora," says Evan. "I genuinely liked the girl. It couldn't have happened to a better person." As for the last woman standing, she left her heart behind at the château. "Oh, I loved those horses," says Zora. "Being with the horse, the one whose name meant 'sweetie' in French, I was in heaven. That's who has my heart. The horse."

For more on real-life Joe Millionaires, pick up the March 3rd issue of PEOPLE on newsstands now.