More to the story. Catherine Giudici defended The Bachelor after several alums claimed they were manipulated by producers on the ABC series.
The 34-year-old Bachelor season 17 winner took to Instagram to answer fan questions during the Monday, February 1, episode of Matt James’ season. When asked to spill “all the tea” behind-the-scenes of “producer manipulation,” Giudici opened up about her experience on the show in 2013.
“I’m sure there has to be some level of ‘manipulation,’ but we also have freedom of choice to say things that we want to say or don’t want to say,” she explained. “For instance, I said, ‘No, I don’t want to talk about that’ and they didn’t push it.”
When asked whether “producer tactics get annoying” or “calculated,” Giudici replied, “We can say no to them too though!”
She explained: ”OK, I get that you guys think, especially with all this stuff coming out, but I also feel like we’re adults that go on a show and we should know that they’re not making us do things that we’re not supposed to do. So, let’s take responsibility for everything.”
Giudici is seemingly referring to Dylan Barbour’s allegations that Jed Wyatt was treated unfairly on Hannah Brown’s season 15 of The Bachelorette.
“You gotta understand the game. They get paid off you doing s—t that warrants screen time,” Barbour tweeted on Sunday, January 31, referring to producers. “It’s easy to make a bad person look worse, it’s hard to make a good person look bad. … They don’t care about people.”
Barbour, who met fiancée Hannah Godwin on season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise, also claimed that producers have “nearly all control” over which men and women receive roses, don’t let the cast sleep “normal hours” and “purposely edit things to warrant bullying.”
When asked who from their season was “the most screwed over by production,” Barbour answered Wyatt, claiming that he didn’t “cheat” on Brown.
Back in 2019, Wyatt and Brown’s relationship came crashing down after allegations surfaced that he had a girlfriend at home when he left to film the pageant queen’s season. Brown learned about the other woman, Haley Stevens, after she accepted a proposal from the “Risk” singer.
“I was highly manipulated and from it deeply mentally affected from the show, and 2. No, I never cheated. Ever. On Haley or Hannah,” the singer said on Sunday via Instagram, adding that he planned to spill more on his podcast on Tuesday, February 2.
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
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