Through the years, Bachelor Nation has gone through a lot of craziness. From explosive breakups to contestants who made us flat-out uncomfortable, there have been a lot drama-fueled moments that we’ll never forget. The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise somehow keep our jaws dropping every season. All is fair in love and reality TV, right?
Host Chris Harrison spoke about some of the unexpected moments that happened through the years. From Colton Underwood’s fence jump and “raw” conversation with Chris on the streets of Portugal, which he said was “fairly unproduced” to Hannah Brown’s sex-positive attitude during season 16 where she talked openly about what *actually* went down in the fantasy suites after she felt like contestant Luke Parker shamed her.
“We’re going to continue to embrace showing the good, the bad and the ugly and wrap our arms around that when it feels right and real,” the ABC personality explained to The Hollywood Reporter in 2019. “It’s more and more what the audience wants and is demanding of reality TV. You can’t go into a season not knowing who the Bachelor is going to be and dictate anything, yet. But I always say that every season is going to be different and something will happen that we’ve never seen before.”
With social media’s strong presence these days, it’s not surprising that off-screen drama and relationships between contestants have began bleeding into the reality dating franchise more and more. This became more apparent than ever when Blake Horstmann and Caelynn Miller-Keyes’ past romance during the Stagecoach Music Festival led to a lot of drama during season 6 of Paradise. The situation on the beach in Mexico led Blake to leak private text messages between the two while the episode aired.
“There’s nothing that I’m going to say that’s going to change the world and social media,” Chris acknowledged about the ugly circumstances between Blake and Caelynn. “Hopefully, it’s a cautionary tale to others. Yes, we deal a lot in public with our emotions and stories, and I respect them all for displaying that.”
Basically, the Bachelor producers have to roll with the punches, like when Bachelorette Clare Crawley left midseason with contestant-turned-fiancé Dale Moss and was replaced by Tayshia Adams.
Chris exclusively told Life & Style production didn’t have “a backup plan” when they realized the season “may end quickly” because of the Sacramento native’s strong bond with Dale.
“We’ve never done this before,” the host explained when asked if there were any other women in the running to take her place. “We never go into a season ever thinking, ‘OK, if Clare doesn’t work out all the way through, who’s next?’ That’s just never been a possibility.”
The drama never stops in Bachelor Nation. Keep scrolling to see the craziest moments ever!