Us Weekly is breaking down Bachelor Nation’s reactions to the drama with Dylan Barbour and Jed Wyatt on the Friday, February 5, episode of the “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.
Barbour, 26, made headlines on January 30 when he decided to air “dirty laundry” about the ABC show via Twitter. In a series of tweets, the Bachelorette season 15 alum accused producers of editing the show to “warrant bullying,” slammed the series for how they handled Heather Martin’s upcoming appearance on season 25 of The Bachelor and claimed Wyatt, 27, was the most “screwed over” by production. Barbour, who met fiancée Hannah Godwin on season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise, later deleted the posts and told Us in an exclusive statement that “the message was delivered was wrong.”
Wyatt, who won Hannah Brown’s heart on season 15 in 2020, subsequently spoke out and claimed he was “highly manipulated” and “deeply mentally affected from the show.” The singer’s brief engagement to Brown ended after he was accused of having a girlfriend named Haley Stevens at home. “I never cheated. Ever. On Haley or Hannah,” he told fans via Instagram.
While Wyatt teased that he was going to release a podcast about the situation on Tuesday, February 2, the episode has yet to be uploaded on his “Jed Talks” platform.
Following the drama, former Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. and former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay have both addressed the manipulation claims during interviews with Us.
“As a lead, I wouldn’t say you have 100 percent control,” the former racing driver, 39, told Us on Wednesday, February 3, while discussing his family’s YouTube channel with wife Lauren Burnham. “It is a TV show, so there is going to be aspects of that always to make it entertaining. … They’re not going to put any words into your mouth. You’re the one saying the things that you said, and so can you be led one way or the other? Yeah, of course. But at the end of the day, you’re the one making the decisions.”
Lindsay, who met husband Bryan Abasolo on season 13 told Us that she “never felt manipulated” as a lead or contestant.
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“When I see people say, that I’m almost like, ‘That’s on you that you felt like you fell for that type of scenario.’ I don’t know if you’re trying to get attention,” she said. “I’m not sure you’re trying to excuse some of the decisions you made, but we are all grown people. You made those decisions for whatever reason it is. Don’t try to now go blame it on somebody else. But obviously, they’re making a TV show. So, I might have to keep someone on as a Bachelorette for 2-on-1, but they never told me who I needed to pick at the end. They never forced me. They might’ve said, ‘Hey, you might want to take this person on a date because they have an interesting story,’ but I was never swayed in my decision of who I wanted at the end of all of this.”
For a complete breakdown of the drama, listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.