Former Bachelorette DeAnna Pappas Stagliano on How Much of the Show Is ‘Staged’

DeAnna Pappas (now Stagliano) was the lead in the fourth season of The Bachelorette. But Bachelor Nation has most recently seen her as a guest on Clare Crawley’s brief season. The two had a chat about Crawley’s connection with Dale Moss (who she ended up getting engaged to after knowing each other for two weeks).

In a recent interview, Stagliano reflects on how “staged” The Bachelorette is.

Is ‘The Bachelorette’ staged?

Stagliano was interviewed by The Domenick Nati Show on Nov. 13, where she was asked just how “staged” The Bachelor and The Bachelorette really are.

“So something that I didn’t realize when I first went on the show is that the producers are trying to tell a storyline for each person,” she began. “Each contestant has a storyline. And that’s not something that I really knew when I first went on the show.”

When Stagliano became the bachelorette, she thought she was just going to “talk to these guys” and “fall in love.” She didn’t think about the television show aspect of her “journey.”

“What I didn’t realize at the time, what I failed to get a grasp on, is the fact that they are telling a story,” she continued. “Hopefully, it’s a love story in the end. But they’re trying to tell a story.”

That’s why every season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette is filled with stock characters.

“Each person has their own story,” she said. “There’s always the one who’s lost a parent and they have that connection or someone has a daughter at home and they’re nervous to tell that or there’s the virgin. Or whatever that is. So I do believe that the producers are trying to get those storylines out and told as well as bringing those things to light with the bachelor or the bachelorette.”

When asked if producers ever “start fights,” Stagliano said, “I think they definitely don’t stop the drama,” adding that she needs “to be very careful with what [she says]” because she still works with the franchise often.

DeAnna Pappas Stagliano on Clare Crawley’s season of ‘The Bachelorette’ 

Another thing Stagliano commented on is The Bachelorette editing. She told Nati that fans didn’t get the full picture when it came to Crawley’s portion of the season.

For example, fans may remember that during the episode Stagliano was featured in, Crawley canceled a group date. It wasn’t explained why. In fact, it even looked like she might have canceled because she just wasn’t interested in anyone but Moss. Stagliano says that wasn’t the case.

“But, you know what, on a television show you don’t see that,” Stagliano told Nati. “Everybody just, like, gives Clare crap. Like, she just spent time with Dale, shame on her. It’s not at all how it was.”

Furthermore, Stagliano says the chat fans saw between her and Crawley mostly consisting of the lead gushing over Moss was, once again, not the whole story. She says she and Crawley spoke about each of the former lead’s contestants. But only the footage about Moss was shown.

“You saw two minutes, two and a half minutes of that chat,” she said. “We sat there for two and a half hours and we talked about, you know, all the guys, all the dates. The connections she was having with a couple of the guys. Talked about the issue with Yosef and the way that he treated her and talked to her the night before. We talked about so much.

“But, of course, it’s a television show and I feel like, ultimately, people forget that. And it is edited. And what you saw was her being like, ‘Dale, Dale, Dale, Dale, Dale’ and sniffing his pants and calling it a day. There was so much more,” she said.

Even though Crawley got an unfortunate edit, Stagliano is happy Crawley “got her fairytale ending.”

“I just wanted to stick up for her and I wanted her to know that she is loved and she is supported,” she said.