Luke Pell Receives Backlash After Icy ‘Bachelor: Winter Games’ Reunion With Stassi Yaramchuk
Luke Pell probably won’t ever be The Bachelor. The longtime franchise favorite, who captured fans’ hearts after his painful split from JoJo Fletcher during her season of The Bachelorette, seems to have suddenly replaced Juan Pablo Galavis as the series’ most-hated man.
Pell’s publicity problem’s started after his short stint on the ABC spinoff The Bachelor: Winter Games, which featured 25 international castmembers competing in Olympic-themed challenges while looking for love. Luke Pell bonded with Swedish beauty Nastassia “Stassi” Yaramchuk over their mutual heart conditions, and a Bachelor romance was born.
But on the Winter Games: World Tells All reunion follow-up show, taped months later but just now aired on ABC, Luke Pell was singing a different tune. While he had left the show telling Stassi he wanted a future with her, the follow-up reunion revealed the two had not spoken since The Bachelor: Winter Games wrapped. Stassi revealed Luke didn’t even ask her for her cell phone number.
Luke’s explanation didn’t help his case.
“I think for both of us, as suddenly as we had the chemistry and the connection that we did, all the cameras shut off and we’re back down to staring down the barrel of life,” Pell said, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s not just geographical difference, but sometimes your life might be in a different place, and I felt like we were kind of getting to that point during the conversations that we had right after the show wrapped.”
But Stassi clarified that she had never had a breakup conversation with Luke–or any conversation at all with him after the show wrapped. The heartbroken reality star told Pell, “You didn’t even try… How after this could [you] cut a person from your life completely?”
Even more damning, during a commercial break, a cameraman kept the camera rolling as Luke Pell iced Stassi Yaramchuk out behind the scenes. As an emotional Stassi begged for answers, Pell repeatedly just said “Yeah” without looking at her. Luke Pell did not appear to realize he was still on camera. You can see the video of the icy exchange below.
The Bachelor: Winter Games may have been Luke Pell’s worst career move to date. Bachelor alum Clare Crawley accused Luke of only going on Winter Games to increase his social media following, an alleged stunt that has now backfired. Many Bachelor fans took to social media to slam Luke Pell, with some tracking his dwindling Instagram numbers. Luke Pell smartly turned off the comments on his Instagram account, but it didn’t stop former fans from slamming him on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ageorgiou210/status/966883275141668870
How does Luke Pell look at himself in the mirror. You ghosted Stassi and you lied. The camera doesn’t lie in this case. #scumbag #BachelorWinterGames
— Louisa (@Louisam77) February 23, 2018
I use to LOVE Luke Pell. After tonight, I have lost all respect watching him treat Stassi like that. You could clearly see that her heart was broken & he wouldn’t give her ANY answers or even look at her. THANK YOU TO THE VIDEOGRAPHER WHO EXPOSED LUKE. #TheBachelorWinterGames
— Kelsey Perkins (@kelsey1314) February 23, 2018
How many followers has @lukepell lost on Twitter and Instagram??? What a jerk!!! #TheBachelorWinterGames
— Jules – Forever Ridin' with Biden #46 (@jules1327) February 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/MissKitRed/status/966886896071729152
SO glad they aired it!! And just like that @lukepell is the most hated person in #bachelor nation #TheBachelorWinterGames
— Anne (@AnneReneeMN) February 23, 2018
In an interview with People, Stassi Yaramchuk said was blindsided when she heard that Luke Pell had broken up with her without telling her about it.
“Recently, I heard that he actually broke up with me, but I didn’t even know. I’m shocked,” Stassi told People. “It feels like you wake up the next morning like nothing existed. I was like, ‘What? Was I dreaming about it?'”
