Brendan Morais and Pieper James have managed to cause the biggest uproar this season on Bachelor in Paradise after their conversation about Instagram followers made its way to ABC screens.
It all went down after Brendan quickly dumped Natasha Parker as soon as Pieper stepped foot in paradise.
And while Brendan and Pieper deserve the ire of Bachelor Nation, some viewers really believe that the conversation we saw about Instagram followers isn’t all that unusual on any of the Bachelor franchise shows, it’s just that this time, it wasn’t edited out, exposing Brendan and Pieper to the world.
Bachelor in Paradise viewers think producers exposed Brendan and Pieper
A popular Bachelor fan page on Instagram shared a poll, asking:
“Do you think that other people have gone on Bachelor/Bachelorette/BIP and talked about how they got followers and numbers, but that is always edited out. Buuuuut, the producers are sick of it and so they finally just didn’t edit it out, which is why Brendan and Pieper talked about it all so openly and in bad taste?”
And while this clearly wasn’t a scientific poll and we have no idea how many people even responded to it, the account has 168k followers, so it’s a sure bet that they received a lot of votes — and two-thirds of those who voted said that they did think that Bachelor in Paradise producers are trying to make a point — and an example out of Brendan and Pieper.
After all, the pair were a rumored couple for months before flying to Mexico to look for love on Bachelor in Paradise. In fact, Us Weekly reported back in June, before filming began, that Brendan and Pieper were “super into each other” and had been flying back and forth to spend time with each other.
It’s worth noting that one thing Brendan and Pieper both have insisted on is that they never put a label on it. So in their eyes, they weren’t breaking any Bachelor in Paradise code (as Brody Jenner suggested in his rant against Brendan) because they hadn’t formally committed to being boyfriend and girlfriend yet.
Bachelor in Paradise producers had to know about the Brendan and Pieper love connection too, because it was no secret in Bachelor Nation, with reports about their sightings shared by Reality Steve and others as well as plenty of rumors that both were headed to Mexico.
Connor Saeli even said that what Brendan and Pieper did in paradise wasn’t out of the norm, though he didn’t want to name other BIP couples who pulled the same stunt they did.
Brendan and Pieper insist they went to Mexico as single people
Whether or not BIP producers put Brendan and Pieper on blast to prove a point or not, future members of The Bachelor franchise hopefully have been put on warning that anything they say during filming can and will be used to create massive amounts of drama.
They should also be aware that that drama may interfere with their social media influencer dreams, as Brendan learned when he lost over 83k followers in less than a month. So if they really are there for the wrong reasons, don’t ever speak about it or the whole world will find out.
Bachelor in Paradise airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.