Bachelor in Paradise alum Sean McLaughlin has criticized the cast for being fake and having a "holier than thou" mentality about the new $500,000 prize.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
He continued, "I thought this was an awesome and fun opportunity, but people's reaction to the money was shocking to me. There were people complaining about it too, and I was like, 'Guys, I've done Paradise before. We're doing the same thing we'd normally be doing; it's just now there is money involved.'"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Sean said most of the cast members viewed the twist as having to choose between "love or money," although that's not the way host Jesse Palmer had explained it.
"You can have both! The reaction was crazy, and I really do think a lot of people, to the detriment of the show, come on and they're so worried about how they're going to look," Sean claimed.
"They're so scared about what Bachelor Nation is going to think, like, 'Oh, if I'm interested in the money, they're going to be mad at me.'"
Sean complained that the bachelors and bachelorettes were too concerned about their image.
"I just think people care too much about what other people think and you should just go and have fun. The money was an awesome twist and I think it was an interesting element to the show," Sean said.
Sean then accused some of the cast of being disingenuous and fake on-camera.
"When we have off-days behind cameras, when you're actually not filming, people were most interested in the money. And then when they got on-camera, they'd switch-up," Sean alleged.
"I think you saw in the episode [Jonathon Johnson] and [Lea Cayanan] saying, 'Oh, we should tell people we're not a strong couple because we can stay on longer.' There was a lot of that going on. No one was just open to talk about it. It was just a behind-closed-doors type of situation."
Sean reiterated how people were "into the concept of the game" when they had "dead days" of filming.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW"I was like, 'Guys, have you seen Survivor? Watch a game show. It can be fun and entertaining.' I just felt like people were scared -- scared to commit to the competition," Sean explained.
The podcast's co-host Serena Pitt admitted if she and husband Joe Amabile were on Bachelor in Paradise together this season, she probably would've viewed it as "a red flag" if Joe said he didn't care at all about the money.
"You better be rich if you're going to look at my face and say you don't care about half a million dollars," Serena quipped.
"It feels like some people have this 'holier than thou' mentality of, 'No, I'm here for love because my heart is pure,' and then some people are looking at you, like, 'How dare you care about the money!'"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Sean agreed with Serena and said it was "nuts," adding, "It was half a million dollars! It's not, like, $50k where after taxes or whatever, it's 25k maybe. It's half a million dollars! Do people make that outside of the show?! I can guarantee you, no!"
Sean noted how it would be "a really, really good year's worth of work" for anybody.
"And I can win it on a competition show when I had no idea money was in it? The 'holier than thou' approach is the best way to describe it, Serena, because that's what it felt like!" Sean explained.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I think a lot of people were just trying to buy their time until they got voted off," Sean said.
"And I'm not going to just sit around and wait for someone to chop my head off. I'm going to try to protect myself."
On Bachelor in Paradise's August 18 episode, the cast had to vote for two couples to be sent home.
Because Sean tried to build alliances and strategize, most of the cast deemed him sneaky and untrustworthy.
And so when there was only one rose left to hand out at the Rose Ceremony, Allyshia Gupta -- apparently predicting her elimination -- interrupted host Jesse Palmer's speech to announce that she and Sean were going to leave on their own accord, and with their integrity still intact.
Allyshia explained to everyone at the Rose Ceremony, "We are leaving here with something so much more valuable than money could ever buy and we'll continue on in our relationship in Tampa and get a big, fat bucket of popcorn to watch all this back."
At that point, however, there were still two couples -- Lea and Jonathon as well as Kathy Swarts and Keith Gordon -- who weren't romantically involved with each other, and so Keith criticized Sean and Allyshia for being too impulsive or reactive.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
But Sean explained on "Bachelor Happy Hour" how he and Allyshia didn't want to give their so-called friends the "satisfaction" of voting them out.
Allyshia said in her final words that the people whom she thought were her friends had clearly voted for her and were all "snakes in the grass."
Allyshia therefore quipped, "I think it's time to mow the lawn," and then Sean added, "I think you guys just voted off the strongest couple here."
Allyshia and Sean proceeded to walk out of Paradise hand-in-hand, and Sean shouted on his way out, "[Dale Moss], I love you, but [Katherine "Kat" Izzo], don't call me crying after this one ends."
ADVERTISEMENT
The women laughed, and Dale called Sean's behavior "wild."
Kat also made fun of Allyshia for being a bad picker of men.
"She's probably embarrassed. I feel bad for her," Kat told the cameras.
But Allyshia seemed proud of her decision-making and said she had no respect for any of the people in Paradise.
"Kat is an absolute joke of a human being. Sean came in here defending you every single day... and it was you that painted a narrative that wasn't true," Allyshia claimed.
"I am disgusted by you and I can't wait for karma to come full circle."
Sean also insisted he would've died for Kat before she betrayed him.
"Dale is going to leave Kat the moment this sh-t ends. Everyone knows that," Sean told the cameras.
"Kat is a little bit delusional at this point, but if you cross me, I hold a grudge. So watch out."
The final rose of the night went to Lea, who offered it to Jonathon. The vote resulted in Brian Autz and Parisa Shifteh getting eliminated from Paradise.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
ADVERTISEMENT
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
