Colton Underwood’s relationships within Bachelor Nation have been rocky since the former football player found and lost love on Season 23 of The Bachelor. After coming out as gay earlier this year, Underwood decided to document more of his journey on the new Netflix docuseries Coming Out Colton. The strain on Underwood’s relationships with the people he met through the ABC dating shows appears to only be getting worse, as former Bachelor Ben Higgins has now accused Underwood of lying about the lack of support he received after coming out.
While promoting Coming Out Colton, the former Bachelor told US Weekly that he didn’t really have relationships within Bachelor Nation anymore. He said that former host Chris Harrison was the only one “who really reached out and sort of let me know that he was there for me, [asking] if there’s anything he can do.”
Yet Ben Higgins, who was The Bachelor on Season 20, was taken aback by those accusations, saying on The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast that he personally reached out to Underwood and knows of others who also did, though he didn’t name them.
Colton came out this week and said that nobody from Bachelor Nation reached out to him, kind of after coming out, and that’s just not true. It kind of erupted my gut a little bit… I know of multiple people that did, including myself, including friends of mine, that reached out to him. So I don’t know why he’s saying that. I just don’t get it. I don’t know if that’s a good headline, I don’t know if it makes the rest of us look unsupportive, or what.
While podcast co-host and fellow Bachelor Nation alum Ashley Iaconetti said she’d watched Colton Underwood’s Netflix show and enjoyed it, Ben Higgins admitted that Underwood’s statements upset him to the point where he didn’t want to watch docuseries. The podcast host said he actually sent Underwood a gift, and he just seemed confused about Underwood’s intentions in making that claim.
I sent him a book about how you navigate being a Christian and coming out. So I just don’t understand this stuff sometimes. It’s like, are you just trying to make everybody else look bad and for people to feel bad? Because like, Colton, I know people who did, including myself. And so, that’s just a lie.
In the original interview, Colton Underwood said he and Chris Harrison “stay in touch,” and as neither associates himself with the dating shows anymore — Harrison was fired after making controversial comments regarding race, and Underwood has had some blunt comments about the franchise — maybe Underwood was addressing his continued contact with Bachelor Nation vets. Whether it was an intentional lie or a miscommunication, Ben Higgins seemed hurt that his and others’ gestures were discarded.
Colton Underwood appeared on Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette before appearing on Season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise. He then was announced as the lead of The Bachelor in Season 23. Underwood continued to date contestant Cassie Randolph after the show, but the couple suffered a messy breakup, with Randolph filing a restraining order against Underwood amid stalking allegations.
Coming Out Colton is streaming now on Netflix. Take a look at our 2022 TV Schedule to see what’s coming up in the new year.
