Sometimes, you just can’t let go. Throughout the years of The Bachelor franchise, many exes have shown up on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. While some have hopes of rekindling, others are there to send a message to the lead.
During season 24, Merissa Pence arrived on Peter Weber‘s date with Victoria Fuller. Not only had she dated Peter briefly years before, but she also knew Victoria — they were from the same town.
“I don’t think you deserve what you’re on a date with right now,” she told Peter following his perfect hometown date. “There’s been many relationships broken up because of her. … I would hate to see that come to fruition for you.”
She didn’t go onto the season to try to be famous — her face was blurred out — nor to win Peter back. The two dated in 2012 and ended their relationship as friends. However, she had a message: “Be careful” with Victoria.
“I had a totally different stance than everybody because I knew Peter, I know his family and I know what type of person he is. So I just felt like, if anyone were to say something, I felt like he probably would listen to me versus some random girl,” the former Miss Teen Virginia told Us Weekly exclusively about her decision to go on the show. During their talk, which lasted about 7 minutes, she claimed that Victoria had broken up four marriages.
“He was definitely upset. Everybody could kind of tell the mood shifted,” she told Us. “One of the other wives actually confronted me when I was at a bar in Virginia Beach and I didn’t know that that’s who she was until after the fact. And she was like, ‘I just want to thank you so much. You took on a huge burden that a lot of us couldn’t take on because of other reasons.'”
Merissa wasn’t the first ex to show up on the franchise without an invite — she wasn’t even the first on Peter’s season — and it’s likely that she won’t be the last. Scroll through the gallery below for more exes looking to make a statement!
