Brian Autz has defended lying to the rest of the Bachelor in Paradise cast about what his conversation with Bailey Taylor Brown was really about.
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Not only did Brian tell Bailey that Jeremy had called Susie on the phone and begged for her to return to Paradise, but he also dropped the bombshell that Jeremy had said he'd propose to Susie on the spot if she ever came back.
Brian subsequently lied to everyone, except for his love interest Parisa Shifteh, about what he had said to Bailey.
"Everyone assumed it was you... Why didn't you just own that?" Nick Viall asked Brian during a recent episode of "The Viall Files" podcast.
"You had this whole story that you came up with that was not remotely true rather than just being like, 'Hey man, Jeremy was kind of playing Bailey and I thought it was f-cked up.' Everyone watching it would've agreed with you."
Brian responded by saying there were "two pieces" to that puzzle.
"One of them was [Alexe Godin], her roommate, knew. All of the girls knew and withheld the information from [Bailey]. So I almost was giving the ability to the rest of the women in the house to just own it and keep me out of the scenario," Brian recalled.
"And then the other side of it was I knew the backlash that was going to happen from the guys in the house -- from the 'bro code' and everything else that was going on."
Brian continued, "The heat that I got from it, whether I was upfront in the beginning or not, it wouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have mattered."
Given Bailey and Jeremy were a strong couple in Paradise at this point, Brian's revelation brought Bailey to tears, and she threatened to quit the show when $500,000 was still on the line.
Brian had his talk with Bailey right before the Rose Ceremony in which the cast could vote to eliminate one bachelor and his partner.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOWOnce the cast found out the truth -- that Brian had broken "bro code" and betrayed Jeremy -- Jeremy thought Brian's stunt was an effort to eliminate him, and Andrew Spencer was among the men who thought Brian's way of going about things was "sleazy."
A handful of guys even attempted to vote Brian off the show, but in the end, Golden couple Faith Martin and Kim Buike got eliminated.
Nick pointed out how Brian had done the right thing but, by lying, he made it seem like he had done something wrong.
"I agree and disagree with you," Brian said.
"The information that I relayed to Bailey, I didn't want it to have been expressed by me. You saw the difficulty I even had getting it out to her. That was so difficult for me to even tell her, but she was like, 'You need to tell me!'"
Brian recalled having "a pact" with Bailey about not ratting him out and she "stood 10 toes down" on it.
"I was like, 'Let everyone know that this came from the girls, because they should've said it,'" Brian shared.
"And she held it down and told Jeremy, 'It came from the girls.' Honestly, Parisa was the one that told everybody that it came from me... I was like, 'Oh no!'"
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Brian claimed he and Bailey had both agreed to say the news had come from the girls because they knew Brian would face a lot of backlash from the guys.
"We were at the point where we were in a challenge, and so you don't want to put yourself in the crosshairs with anybody," Brian explained.
"So we get this backlash about bro code from all the guys, and girls are projecting out of guilt because they haven't told her for literally [weeks]. We were three-quarters through the entire season at this point. So I was like, 'How do we mitigate this?' And we spoke about that."
Brian said his conversation with Bailey wasn't shown in full but viewers could see Bailey suggest pinning the warning about Jeremy on the women.
Brian admitted to Nick that not telling his best bud and "homie" in Paradise, Dale Moss, about his conversation with Bailey was "awful."
Brian recalled, "Not telling him upfront didn't feel good, and it still doesn't feel good... But [he and the other guys] began to realize that... so much was taken out of context."
When Bailey confronted Jeremy about Brian's claims on the show, Jeremy promised Bailey that he really cared for her and only had eyes for her. Jeremy also denied ever saying that he'd propose marriage to Susie if she came back to the show.
Bailey ended up forgiving Jeremy and the pair decided to move forward in Paradise together.
Andrew recently told Nick on "The Viall Files" that the men had an issue with Brian's timing and the fact he told Bailey when the pair allegedly had no real friendship up to that point.
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Bailey, however, has said that she thought Brian's motivation for telling her was genuine, and Brian said he ultimately has no regrets about his conversation with Bailey.
Brian said, "I stand by what I did," mainly because he was "the only one who was willing to do it."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
