The Bachelor: Bachelor Creator Hits Back "It Wasn't Staged" March 4, 2009
The Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss is hitting back at reports claiming Jason Mesnick’s split from fiancé Melissa Rycroft and his subsequent romance with runner-up Molly Malaney was staged.
Fleiss tells People magazine he was in talks with Molly for her to be the next Bachelorette when he found out Jason wanted her back as he wasn’t in love with Melissa.
“That’s patently untrue. It was [Jason's] choice in New Zealand who he proposed to,” Fleiss says of the rumors.
“He was not in love with Melissa anymore and he was in love with Molly and he needed to make a change,” he says.
At the time, Fleiss says Molly “was finally starting to come around” to the idea of being the next Bachelorette when he learned Jason wanted her back. “My first thought was, ‘Oh, too bad.’ My next thought was, ‘Wow, that’s almost too good!’ I knew that was a remarkable twist,” says Fleiss.
“At that point, the decision was made to bring all three parties into the studio to film After the Final Rose, the most shocking After the Final Rose in Bachelor history. It was never anyone’s plan,” he adds.
Bachelor host Chris Harrison adds, “We haven’t shown breakups before, but we’ve never had this situation. We couldn’t not show that.”
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