Bachelor in Paradise star Jess Edwards has defended Katherine "Kat" Izzo against the accusation she had a boyfriend back home during filming and also revealed new details about the situation.
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"So Kat's ex-boyfriend was actually my friend before I ever met Kat," Jess revealed during Part 2 of the Bachelor in Paradise cast reunion that was released on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.
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On Bachelor in Paradise's Season 10 finale, Sean McLaughlin made the following announcement: "[Kat], I'm mutual friends with your ex, so I gave him a call. He told me some things that were really enlightening... She actually stashed a laptop and started texting him love letters."
And in August, Allyshia Gupta had told Nick Viall on "The Viall Files" podcast, "Sean's best friend, who was [Kat]'s boyfriend at the time... said [Kat] has been sending him love letters since Day 1 of Paradise."
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Kat denied that her ex was officially her boyfriend at the time, and she also shot down the claim she had snuck an iPad into her hotel room to message this man.
Sean insisted he had "receipts," but Jess declared, "Listen, exes can be complicated."
"I'm sure everyone here has talked to an ex after you've broken up," she continued. "Were they in a relationship? Absolutely not."
Jess pointed out how she had absolutely "no loyalty to" Kat in Paradise.
"I actually thought she didn't like me, to be honest. Literally, I thought she didn't even like me when I first met her," Jess admitted.
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Jess went on to clarify how she had only met Kat once before they arrived in Costa Rica to film Bachelor in Paradise's tenth season.
"But I had known her ex for almost a year at that point," Jess shared. "And they were not in a relationship. They were not in a relationship."
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Kat quickly chimed in, "And I know that [my ex] also said that."
Sean therefore felt the need to clarify, "I never said that you guys were in a relationship, so that's been misconstrued. It was more so [that you] had a plan to get back together after Paradise. That is the way that I said it and that's what happened."
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Sean claimed Kat's ex had told him that directly.
"I'm sure everyone, I mean, I was still going on dates leading up to the show," fellow Bachelor in Paradise star Andrew Spencer acknowledged.
"It's just dating in [The Bachelor] world. I feel like when you go to Paradise, it doesn't mean you just stop dating. You're still dating multiple people here. You go on dates."
Sean admitted while he's "not the right-reasons police," he thought Kat had crossed a boundary.
"Where I draw the line... is 'the plan' -- allegedly the plan to go on Paradise and then get back together afterwards," Sean shared.
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"So [then] what Allyshia said actually was not valid," Kat interjected.
Sean replied that no matter what the situation was, Kat was still in contact with her ex while in Paradise.
"I think that's where you draw the line, is sneaking something in and texting him during filming," Sean added.
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But Kat denied ever doing that. She pointed out how producers probably would've loved to film her secretly messaging an ex while dating Dale Moss.
"That's not a fair assumption to make... and I know for a fact that is not what [my ex] said. And I know for a fact that he did not say we were in a relationship," Kat insisted.
Kat said while she was still seeing this man before Paradise, she was "allowed" to do that.
"I'm going on a dating show, right? But to say that I had a relationship or was consistently talking to somebody is not true, period," Kat vented.
"I would disagree," Sean concluded.
Kat and Sean had become friends when they both appeared on Bachelor in Paradise's ninth season in 2023, and due to their ties to Tampa, FL, they also had mutual friends.
Sean felt hurt and "betrayed" when Kat turned her back on him in Paradise for strategizing, but Kat told Nick Viall on "The Viall Files" that she and Sean were never close friends.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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