DraftKings has stripped Jade Roper of her $1 million prize following allegations that she and her husband, Tanner Tolbert, cheated in the fantasy football league contest.
“DraftKings has decided to update the standings for several contests,” the site said in a statement to Us Weekly on Saturday, January 25. “All customers affected by the updated standings will be notified directly. It is our general policy not to comment further on such matters.”
Us has reached out to the couple for comment.
Roper, 32, placed first in DraftKings’ Millionaire Maker challenge during Wild Card weekend on January 5. The Bachelor alum landed the top spot after she and Tolbert, 32, had chosen 150 different rosters that made 300 unique entries between the two of them. It was a similarity that some eagle-eyed Twitter users thought was unlikely unless the couple had coordinated it beforehand.
“Everyone realizes the two of them max entered and split their player exposure, right? And that is illegal,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another person shared four screenshots of the couple’s teams, which showed that Roper’s picks played on Saturday while Tolbert’s teams were scheduled for Sunday.
“This is absolutely insanity and is the clearest collusion ever,” the tweet read.
While some fans were concerned about the legitimacy of Roper’s gameplay, others recognized the former reality TV star from her reality TV days.
“I’m pretty sure this girl was on The Bachelor,” one person tweeted. “I only know this because my girlfriend forces me to watch it.”
The Colorado native replied, “Hahaha that’s me! And Tanner told me I shouldn’t play DK Metcalf! 🤣🤪,” in reference to the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver.
Later that day, the Bachelorette alum and Roper responded to the cheating allegations in a statement to Us.
“We respect that DraftKings feels they must do their due diligence in regard to Jade winning their $1 million prize for the fantasy contest for the NFL’s wild-card round this weekend,” the couple told Us. “Though we must ponder, would the questions, accusations and curiosity about this win be the same if the winner had been male and someone who wasn’t already in the public eye? It is incredibly important for us to establish that Jade’s win is nothing more than pure luck and we are confident that DraftKings will determine the same.”
Roper and Tolbert met on season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise and wed in 2016. They are the parents of 2-year-old daughter Emerson and 5-month-old son, Brooks.
The couple celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary one day before Roper was stripped of her prize.
“Life gets crazy sometimes (do we even remember what life was like before stacks of diapers, deciphering toddler emotions and bedtimes that need 100 stories first?? 😂), but I wouldn’t want to go through this hand-in-hand with anyone but you,” Roper penned in a tribute to her husband via Instagram.
Tolbert, for his part, posted a photo from their wedding day captioned, “You’ve put up with me for 4 years already??? Can’t imagine doing this thing called life with anyone else. Here’s to many more baby 🥂 I love you.”
