All in good fun? Bachelor season 25 contestant Victoria Larson defended her behavior during an appearance on Good Morning America on Tuesday, January 26.
“Honestly, it was all in good fun,” the 28-year-old self-proclaimed “queen” said. “If my words or actions hurt anyone, like, I sincerely apologize and I’ll do better and hold myself accountable. I’m not a bully. I’m really not.”
When asked whether she has any regrets while watching the season back, Victoria added, “[The other contestants] knew me and knew my heart and knew that I really never have ill intent, so I think they viewed it differently just because they know me.”
The Los Angeles native has made waves since she arrived in a crown during the January 4 premiere of Matt James’ season. In addition to insisting she’s royalty, Victoria was accused of bullying Sarah Trott into quitting the show after she and Kit Keenan said they would make the 24-year-old freelance journalist’s life miserable if she stayed. During the Monday, January 25, episode of The Bachelor, Victoria was quick to team up with Anna Redman to talk about accusations that newcomer Brittany Galvin was an escort.
“I anticipated being well-received, so to get, like, the bullying messages and the hate mail and the death threats, [I] wasn’t really prepared for that at all,” Victoria said on GMA. “100 percent, it was shocking.”
While Victoria admitted that “snatching the crown” off of former Miss Puerto Rico Catalina Morales Gómez during Monday’s episode “was not my best moment looking back,” she reiterated that all of her actions were “all in good fun.”
She concluded, “I don’t think my kindness really got to show through and I really do have a good heart. I actually became friends with one of the new girls.”
Victoria has also made headlines for her recently resurfaced mugshot. The health coach was booked in 2012 for stealing more than $250 worth of merchandise from a Publix grocery store in Florida.
“When the story [initially] broke, I called my dad, of course,” Victoria said on Tuesday. “And he’s like, ‘How do you feel?’ And I’m like, ‘I feel liberated!’ Like everything is exposed. I can tell my future husband Google me; I have no secrets to hide.”
Matt, for his part, had nice things to stay about the controversial contestant on “Bachelor Happy Hour” earlier this month.
“Victoria is hilarious,” he told Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin on their podcast. “She is one of the wittiest people I’ve ever met. … She’s unapologetically herself. She’s the quickest. You’ll say something and she’s got something, and then she’s out.”
ABC executive Robert Mills has also spoken out about Victoria’s role on the series.
“Before, we’ve had ‘shades of grey’ villains, where you understand them more and there is maybe more sympathy for why they would do certain things. This is more black-and-white in that people just absolutely hated her. I totally get why that could be a turn-off to some people,” he told Variety after Monday’s episode. “I’m not saying the show is made purely to stir up drama, but certainly a strong personality like [Victoria] is good. And look, Matt has said that is something that he is attracted to — a woman who is her own woman and who is strong-willed — so you can’t argue that Victoria is not that.”
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
