Colton Underwood Blasts ‘Bachelor’ Production, Says He Was Silenced During Peter Weber’s Season
Colton Underwood says he wasn’t allowed to talk about Peter Weber’s season of The Bachelor while it was airing. But now that he’s out of his contract with ABC, the former NFL player is going off on producers.
In a new interview with Us Weekly‘s Here for the Right Reasons podcast, Colton said he is “frustrated” by the dating show that led him to his love, Cassie Randolph. He also revealed that Bachelor producers didn’t like the fact that he wanted to “break the fourth wall” and get real about what goes on behind the scenes.
Colton said “nobody wants to feel tricked,” explaining that his growing frustration came after hearing about what went on during Peter’s disastrous season. After a broken engagement with Hannah Ann Sluss, a still-single Peter wound up in a two-day post-show relationship with Madison Prewett.
“They wouldn’t let me talk about his season because I knew I’d keep it to real,” Colton said of The Bachelor bosses. “They knew that I knew too much of what was going on.”
Colton was especially annoyed by a one-on-one date that had Bachelor villain Victoria Fuller’s ex-boyfriend “coincidentally” serenading her and Peter.
“Victoria doesn’t show up with Chase Rice singing as her ex on accident,” Colton told Us. “The whole Victoria situation I feel bad for that poor lady and I feel frustrated for Peter, just because there was so much confusion going on. And I feel like that’s the producer’s job is to sort of help guide the lead, guide the person I felt like they hung him out to dry in so many different ways and set him up for failure.”
Colton went on to say that when he heard about lines being crossed on Peter’s season, he was told to keep his mouth shut. Colton added that while he abided by his NDA — he wasn’t allowed to write or talk about the show — he didn’t appreciate the demeaning and threatening way in which ABC allegedly tried to control him more than a year after his own season of The Bachelor.
Colton did say he is “thankful” for his experience on The Bachelor and wasn’t looking to burn any bridges. He noted that he realizes the show is supposed to serve as entertainment, even if real feelings are involved.
Colton previously described Peter’s season as “overproduced” and called out producers for failing to guide him toward a better outcome, per Entertainment Tonight. The former Bachelor star also placed some blame on Peter, pointing out that the airline pilot could have stood up for himself and put his foot down when “the TV show part of things” started to control his relationships.
