Tension is afoot. Kaitlyn Bristowe had a few choice barbs for Bachelor franchise creator Mike Fleiss over ex Nick Viall getting an offer to show off his fancy footwork this spring on Dancing With the Stars. Find out more in the video above, and detailed below!
Shorlty after rumors circulated on Monday, February 27, that Viall is set to compete on DWTS season 24, Bristowe tweeted, “Someone stop me from going on a twitter rant right now.” (Viall’s spot on the competition series was officially confirmed by Good Morning America on Wednesday, March 1.)
A couple hours after Bristowe’s “rant” message, her Bachelor season 19 costar Whitney Bischoff tweeted, “why does a bachelorette never get this gig @BachelorABC?!? I wanted to see @kaitlynbristowe shake her tail feather!” And the season 11 Bachelorette, 31, replied, “Actually I was offered it, had the contract & Mike Fliess told me I wasn’t allowed.He said he didnt want people wanting fame after his show.” (It’s unclear whether Bristowe intentionally misspelled Fleiss’ last name to include the words “lies.”)
Later that day, Fleiss hinted at Viall’s DWTS casting by tweeting, “The official historic announcement regarding #thebachelor is coming shortly…” (Fleiss later joked that the announcement qualified as “historic” because of the Bachelor season 21 star’s poor dance moves.) This led Bristowe to write, “Just had a historical spin class. That’s how you use that word right?”
The next day, the Bachelor producer appeared to respond to Bristowe’s flak. “When you can’t spell someone’s name correctly, that usually doesn’t help,” he tweeted. And in an apparent response to Bischoff’s comment about Bachelorettes not going on DWTS, Fleiss wrote, “Melissa R has a mirror ball. So quickly they forget!” (The Bachelor season 13’s Melissa Rycroft won DWTS season 15 in 2012; season 1 Bachelorette Trista Sutter also tweeted at Fleiss that she herself competed on DWTS season 1.)
Fleiss then added, “@kaitlynbristowe has my total support if she wants to appear on DWTS!!!” But this didn’t do much to assuage Bristowe, who replied, “Thanks I’ll get right on that opportunity 2 yrs ago. I wonder what changed your mind?”
A source confirms to Us Weekly that Bristowe was indeed set to compete on DWTS following her stint as Bachelorette, but that Fleiss was against it. As fans recall, Bristowe picked Shawn Booth over Viall in her Bachelorette finale that aired in 2015; Viall has said previously that he and the dance instructor haven’t spoken since that episode aired.
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Dancing With the Stars season 24 launches on ABC Monday, March 20, at 8 p.m. ET.