This season of Bachelor in Paradise has certainly had more than its fair share of unbelievably embarrassing and cringe-worthy moments. Hannah making out with Blake right in front of a besotted Dylan, Katie breaking down in tears when Wills tried to have a simple conversation with her, two grown men getting into a fist fight over a piñata and pretty much anything involving John Paul Jones, his bevy of bodily fluids and bad behavior, for instance, all qualify on that front. But now, Luke Stone, who left the hot Mexican beach of sexy singles in the worst way ever this week, is saying that his exit actually wasn't as bad as the show made it look.
After Tuesday night's episode aired, Luke took to Twitter to call out what he saw as the show being edited to make his exit way more humiliating. Take a look at his series of tweets:
Oooh! What Luke is alleging, is that Chris Harrison telling everyone that no one has turned down a Bachelor in Paradise rose, as well as him offering up his rose to the group before he had to leave, were actually added in later, so that when the embarrassing sequence aired it made poor Luke's exit look even more humiliating.
When it came time for this week's rose ceremony, Luke offered his rose to Bri Barnes, but (for the first time in the show's history), she declined to accept it, saying that she didn't think it would be fair because she didn't see a future with him. Ouch! Normally, even if someone isn't interested in the person giving out a rose, they accept just so they can stick around and see who else gets added to the cast and whether or not they can get a romance going with them.
Bri, however, wasn't playing that game, and because everyone needed to be coupled up by the end of the ceremony or leave Paradise, Luke had to go home. But, when Chris Harrison came in to tell him that, instead of just seeing Luke say his goodbyes, what we got was...well, see for yourself:
Egad! That was hard to watch, wasn't it? Not only did Luke get turned down, but Chris Harrison seems to make it abundantly clear that right away that this has never happened before and that literally none of the ladies want anything to do with Luke.
While it's clearly true that no one wanted Luke's rose, and also a fact that he's now the only person to have his rose rejected on Bachelor in Paradise, the idea of the show adding that in post so that he looked even more pitiful is really unkind. Especially since Luke came and went from Paradise without doing anything reprehensible that fans would want to see him get his comeuppance for.
To be honest, I think Luke might be right about this voice over stuff. If you listen closely (maybe put on some headphones), the two moments he's alleging were added later do sound a bit different. Plus, a fan on Twitter put her eagle eyes on the case and noticed this:
So, we're supposed to believe that Luke and Chris Harrison didn't move an inch in a full eight seconds? Not! Likely!
Look, as much as most fans realize that Bachelor in Paradise is a reality show and some of these singles are going to "be there for the wrong reasons," and the producers need to help the drama along so that we get compelling episodes every week, there's just no reason for this kind of alleged skullduggery. What good does it really do to make someone look totally unlovable on national TV?
We can all ring our shame bells at the series when Bachelor in Paradise returns for its season finale on Tuesday, September 17 at 8 p.m. EST.
