'The Bachelor 13' ends with a break-up on national television, and the producers are fighting the accusation that it was pre-planned.
- Mar 4, 2009
AceShowbiz - It was perhaps the most controversial "The Bachelor" ending throughout the show's history when the producers decide to add an extra hour to reveal a painful break up on national television. While it may as well be a smart strategy to increase the rating, producers of the show insist that there is no foul play apart from the reality.
Jason Mesnick draws criticism when he decided to break his relationship with Melissa Rycroft to be with Molly Malaney, six weeks after he finished taping the show. Right after the airing of the season finale on Monday, March 1, ABC air "The Bachelor: After the Final Rose" to give audience an update of what happens after the ending. Turns out Jason falls out of love for Melissa and wants another shot with the runner-up, Molly.
Many has since deemed the show as being scripted to end in such way, but creator Mike Fleiss has come out to defend. He told People, "That's patently untrue. It was [Jason's] choice in New Zealand who he proposed to." He continued, "He was not in love with Melissa anymore and he was in love with Molly and he needed to make a change."
Fleiss even dished out that there was a plan to make Molly the next candidate of "The Bachelorette" after she was sent home on the finale. "I thought she would be a fantastic Bachelorette, so likeable and beautiful and telegenic," he revealed.
The report of a fixed ending for the thirteenth edition of the show was first brought up by US Weekly which pointed out that a source told them the execs need such ending to lift up the game. And responding to the published story, host Chris Harrison ranted, "I can completely understand if people are unbelievably ticked off about the ending and what happened, but the fact is that report that (Us Weekly) came out with is so unbelievably irresponsible and the lack of journalistic integrity is astounding to me."
