Former The Bachelor producer Julie LaPlaca has claimed that she almost starred on The Bachelorette's sixteenth season instead of Clare Crawley.
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"I had gone to Florida for my papa's 90th birthday and I got a call from [The Bachelor creator] Mike Fleiss," Julie recalled during a recent appearance on the "Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe" podcast.
"He was like, 'Julie!' I was so scared."
Julie was "scared" because, at that time, rumors were circulating that Peter may have ended up dating his producer rather than one of his The Bachelor finalists.
Julie also revealed in her The Love Producer memoir -- which just hit shelves on July 7 -- that she fell in love with Peter and they had sex multiple times while his season was airing.
Julie admitted she was afraid that her colleagues knew about her secret flings with Peter and were quietly judging her.
But Mike wasn't calling Julie to confront her about the gossip in Bachelor Nation.
"[Mike] was like, 'Julie, I want you to know we are loving these rumors, and I was wondering, would you ever consider being the Bachelorette?'" Julie recalled.
"I was like, 'Yes! Line up 25 men for me. I am ready to throw down! Put on the gowns. Yes!' I was like, 'I am done with this. I just want to find love!' I am a hopeless romantic, and I've seen the love happen."
Julie claimed that Mike viewed her as "the modern-day Cinderella story" and loved the idea of her handing out roses.
"And I said, 'I'd be lying if I didn't think the same. I am the girl behind the camera, picking the boogers out of your nose!' I was like, 'I am ready for my close up!'" she said.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW"So I really thought [it was me] for a minute. I had a secret meeting... So I was in Florida and he said, 'Let's have a meeting when you get back.' So I had a meeting with him and [ABC reality chief Rob Mills], and I really thought I crushed the meeting."se
She added, "And then they were like, 'We want you to meet with the other executives, so stand by and we'll talk about it.'"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Julie said the ABC execs were "really excited about" her potentially becoming the Bachelorette and talked about the possibility for hours.
"A few days went by and then I get called into another [executive producer]'s office," Julie shared.
That's when Julie was allegedly told that, as a producer, it would be "really hard" for The Bachelorette fans to believe her story.
"I just started crying," Julie confessed. "I trust everything happened the way it should, but I would've loved it."
Julie said that ABC picked Clare as The Bachelorette's Season 16 lead only several days later.
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ABC officially announced Clare as The Bachelorette's Season 16 star in early March 2020.
The live After the Final Rose finale for Peter's The Bachelor season aired about one week later in mid-March on the network.
"I couldn't stop crying," Julie admitted of her mental state after learning ABC had passed on her.
When ABC filmed Clare's season, Julie had to continue producing the show -- all the while dealing with a broken heart and overwhelming feeling of disappointment.
Julie recalled how she "couldn't hold back the tears" after facing such rejection and sometimes she's break down crying in the control room.
Julie went on to admit that losing the gig was especially hard for her because she had "fantasized about someone coming back" to woo her.
"[I fantasized about] the Bachelor I just produced," Julie confessed to Kaitlyn, hinting it would've been a dream come true had Peter joined her cast of bachelors.
"So you start creating all of these stories in your head."
Julie wrote in The Love Producer that Peter had actually been "campaigning" for her to star on The Bachelorette while his own season was airing, Us Weekly reported.
When ABC initially approached Julie about the opportunity, she said she rushed to tell her family the news, as well as Peter, who allegedly gushed about how they'd "totally manifested this."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
While Peter's support was flattering, Julie admitted she also felt "a bit of sadness" that he was so excited about the prospect of her dating a bunch of other guys.
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"As you know, I had already started writing the hypothetical love story in my head of Peter and me jetting off into the sunset together," she writes in her book.
"Becoming the Bachelorette would mean this scenario couldn't happen."
In Julie's book, she said she first hooked up with Peter when they reunited to film The Bachelor: The Women Tell All special as the last few episodes of Peter's The Bachelor season were still airing on ABC.
"Shame crept in... How horrible of a producer could I be? I literally went and f***ed the first male contestant I produced," she writes in her book, according to Us. "That is wrong on so many levels."
The Bachelor viewers watched Peter get engaged to Hannah Ann Sluss during his season finale, but the pair ended their relationship before the live After the Final Rose special aired.
During After the Final Rose, Peter tried to reconcile with his runner-up, Madison Prewett, but the pair never committed to a relationship.
Julie also claimed she and Peter slept together multiple times when production halted on Clare's The Bachelorette season in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But Peter quickly moved on and dated his The Bachelor bachelorette Kelley Flanagan. The pair was spotted together in Chicago in late March, and then they went Instagram official with their relationship in May 2020.
Clare's The Bachelorette season eventually premiered in October 2020.
After enduring many ups and downs in The Bachelor franchise, Julie quit her position in 2021 following Matt James' season.
Julie said she finally professed her love to Peter -- who had an on-again, off-again relationship with Kelley until their final split in early 2023 -- over the phone in March 2024, which was about four years after they last hooked up.
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But when Julie decided to share her truth in her memoir, her friendship with Peter apparently came to an end.
"[Peter] blocked me," Julie revealed to Kaitlyn on her podcast. "But I think I was kind [to Peter] in the book."
Ahead of Julie's book release on July 7, Season 21 The Bachelor star Nick Viall vented in an Instagram clip of his "The Viall Files" podcast that Julie's decision to write personal details about her complicated relationship with Peter was exploitive and "gross."
Peter commented on the Instagram post, "I've moved on from this period of my life and I'm ultimately responsible for my choices."
He continued, "What I'll say is this; I asked Julie on multiple occasions to please keep private, intimate details, private. This wasn't about a tv show anymore."
Peter proceeded to call out Julie, claiming she had given him some manipulative, bad advice during filming.
"Curious though if she mentions in the book about my last one on one with Hannah Ann, and how in the middle of our dinner conversation during one on one producer interviews, Julie tells me 'you will look like the biggest idiot in the world to America if you give her your rose,'" Peter alleged.
"I find it wrong to mess with a person's headspace like that and then go on to write a book about them."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
