Despite widespread backlash, Arie Luyendyk Jr. has no regrets about choosing to air his heartbreaking breakup with Becca Kufrin during Monday’s finale of The Bachelor, but he does also think it was “unfair” to him.
Choosing to dump Becca weeks after proposing for runner-up and new fiancée Lauren Burnham, Arie claimed to Entertainment Tonight Wednesday, was in the interest of the fans.
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“I just wanted there to be no questions on that breakup. I know that it’s a very public relationship, and I think that doing that on camera would just let everyone know that that decision was solely mine, and it told the story of how I ended up here, with her,” he explained.
“The way the breakup was shown, I think, in its unedited version, was a little unfair to me,” Arie added, interestingly enough after revealing he never watched the episode. “But what can you do?”
Later Wednesday, Arie clarified what he meant to reporters: “We did not watch the finale, but I see a lot of comments on social media about me not leaving the room,” he said. “What I will say is… I was asked to stay in the room by producers.”
This isn’t the first time Arie has clashed with The Bachelor producers, calling them out on Instagram last month for how they portrayed him in a promo for the hometown date episode.
Over the course of the season, Luyendyk appeared to have several qualms with producers. Last month, he called them out on Instagram for how he was portrayed in a promo for his finale.
“For me, it was frustrating not seeing [my] relationship [with Burnham] unfold how it really unfolded. From the beginning, there were a lot of things left out,” he said. “There was just one side of this whole thing that was really frustrating.”
“It’s like reading the best book you’ve ever read, and then watching a TV version of it. You’re not going to see all the great parts, or the parts that really were impactful for me,” he continued. “In our relationship, there was a lot of things that were really important that were left on the table. That was frustrating to see.”
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight prior to Tuesday’s After the Final Rose, ABC executive Robert Mills said that Arie calling out producers on social media was a “one-time incident,” and that he “of course” could have broken up with Becca off-camera if he wanted.
“I think that we definitely wanted him to do this, and like I said, there is the thing of people are going to see this romance play out before the camera, everything, from beginning to end,” he shared. “There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad. But…you can’t force somebody into doing something.”
Photo credit: ABC
