UPDATE 1/6 7:50 p.m. ET: Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert are addressing the accusations that they cheated in a DraftKings fantasy football league contest before Roper won a $1 million prize.
“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 Bachelor in Paradise couple said in a statement to Us Weekly. “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.”
Original story below:
Too good to be true? Jade Roper and her husband Tanner Tolbert are being accused of foul play after winning a $1 million in a fantasy football league.
On Sunday, January 5, sports fans began to notice that the 32-year-old Bachelor in Paradise alum finished in the top position in a DraftKings contest for the NFL’s wild-card round. Even though Roper seemed genuinely shocked by her first place win, several people started to think that she and Tolbert, also 32, weren’t playing by the book.
Twitter users shared screenshots from the fantasy league that seemed to show a suspicious similarity in the couple’s choice of players. Apparently, the dating show alums each chose 150 different rosters to make 300 unique entries between the two of them.
“Everyone realizes the two of them max entered and split their player exposure, right? And that is illegal,” one Twitter user alleged.
Another tweet showed four screenshots of the couple’s teams, with the majority of Roper’s picks taking the field for games on Saturday and Tolbert’s playing on Sunday. “This is absolutely insanity and is the clearest collusion ever,” the sports fan wrote.
In response to the widespread accusations that Roper and Tolbert rigged the playing field, a spokesperson for DraftKings told Us Weekly, “We take the integrity and fairness of our contests very seriously and are looking into this matter.”
Although the former reality stars haven’t yet responded to the cheating allegations, neither one of them hesitated to reveal their celebrity status after walking away with the big prize.
“I’m pretty sure this girl was on The Bachelor,” one Twitter user wrote on Sunday night after seeing Roper’s photo at the top of the draft standings. “I only know this because my girlfriend forces me to watch it.”
The former reality star was quick to confirm their suspicions. “Hahaha that’s me! And Tanner told me I shouldn’t play DK Metcalf! 🤣🤪,” Roper tweeted, referring to the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver. Metcalf’s all-star level game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday played a role in locking down the famous couple’s lucky fantasy football win.
Carly Waddell, who cohosts the “Mommies Tell All” podcast with Roper, celebrated her friend’s major achievement. “HAHAHHAHAHAA OMG THIS IS NUTS!!! HELL YES!!!!!!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽,” Waddell, 34, wrote on Sunday.
Football fans couldn’t hide their disbelief that the sports world and Bachelor Nation had collided. Roper shared the Twitter users’ shocked reaction, writing, “Doesn’t even feel real over here! Officially speechless. LIKE WHAAAAAAAAT. 🤯🥳🥳🥳😵.”
