Why Kelley Flanagan Won’t Be on ‘The Bachelorette’ or ‘Bachelor in Paradise’
When Kelley Flanagan appeared on Peter Weber’s season of The Bachelor, the 27-year-old became an easy fan-favorite pick for The Bachelorette or Bachelor in Paradise. Early on, Flanagan got real about her intentions, even calling Weber out for “rewarding the drama.” But even so, she only made it to Pilot Pete’s final five.
Now Weber and Flanagan are quarantining together amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, they insist they not dating. So would Flanagan do The Bachelorette or Bachelor in Paradise? The tax attorney recently made it abundantly clear she wouldn’t join the cast if the franchise extended an offer.
Kelley Flanagan reveals why she won’t do ‘The Bachelorette or ‘Bachelor in Paradise’
When speaking with Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin on Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, Weber was asked whether he thought Madison Prewett, Hannah Ann Sluss, or Flanagan would star in The Bachelorette if they were asked by producers.
The former bachelor revealed he already asked Prewett and it wasn’t something she wanted to pursue. Weber also speculated Sluss would want to be on the franchise spinoff. But he insisted there was “nothing negative” about it since the model knew the process worked.
Meanwhile, when the subject of The Bachelorette approached Flanagan, Weber simply stated, “100 percent no.” Then eventually, Flanagan came around and answered the question herself.
“Would you ever be the bachelorette?” Weber asked Flanagan. She replied, “No, I think I’m a little too awkward on the show.”
Nevertheless, Lindsay and Kufrin disagreed with Flanagan’s remarks. “Kelley, you would’ve been good [as the bachelorette] because you would have put the men in their place,” Kufrin said.
Then Lindsay brought up Kufrin’s season as well as her own, noting their cycles of The Bachelorette weren’t entirely focused on drama. “We were kind of like, ‘We’re here to do something.’”
And in response, Flanagan wished The Bachelor franchise would return to the days where romance mattered. “I think that it’s changed a little bit,” she said. “In the past couple of years, it’s more drama focused. So can they reverse it and go back to what you guys had?”
Given Flanagan’s comments, her stance on joining Bachelor in Paradise won’t come as much of a surprise. And although it appears she respects the franchise, don’t expect her to appear on any of the spinoffs.
“I don’t think I’m made for these shows,” Flanagan said when asked about Bachelor in Paradise. “Hey, I respect it. They’re amazing. But I don’t know how much of a future I have with them.”
Kelley Flanagan calls out ‘The Bachelor’ producers
In an interview with Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti’s Almost Famous podcast, Flanagan delved deeper into the producer manipulation on Weber’s season. “With [Peter], I just saw that he has such a good heart and I saw that he was getting manipulated every which way,” Flanagan said. “And it just kind of pissed me off.”
She continued: “I wasn’t the best contestant for the show and I think everyone knows that. But even with him on the show, I saw him getting manipulated and I’d want to be like, ‘Can you stop? Make your own decisions.’”
Flanagan then detailed what The Bachelor producers did to her relationship with Weber. She said:
I saw him look at me differently compared to how he did on our one-on-one. And I could tell 100 percent that producers were in his head. Because on the one-on-one, nothing happened between us. But he had this demeanor toward me that was so pissed off. And I was looking at him like, ‘What the hell were you told?’ Because nothing happened here for you to have this attitude. So right then and there, I knew something was going on behind-the-scenes.
Meanwhile, Flanagan explained what really happened when she called out Weber on their one-on-one date. She accused producers of keeping them apart, even locking her in a closet. At the time, Flanagan told Weber:
“They don’t let me see you. They locked me up in a closet for three hours last week, and they won’t let me see you. I said, ‘You clearly know they push some people forward and they don’t push others forward. You’ve been in my position before. What do you want me to do?’ I saw … things were getting in his head and he wasn’t able to make his own decisions. And it just kind of pissed me off.”
After Flanagan’s remarks about her experience, it makes sense why she doesn’t want to return for The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise. But at the very least, it seems Flanagan and Weber’s happy reunion means something good came out of this whole debacle.
Read more: Peter Weber Admits That Madison Should Have Apologized About Australia at ‘The Bachelor’ Finale
