At the end of last night’s The Bachelor Finale, Juan Pablo Galavis decided NOT to pop the question to the Nikki, the bachelorette he ultimately chose. He didn’t reciprocate her I Love You either. The live “Final Rose” special that followed was all kinds of awkward, with host Chris Harrison teasing a big surprise, only to have Juan Pablo claim, when the time came, there was no surprise after all.
With no surprise to reveal, Chris pressed Juan Pablo to verbalize his feelings for Nikki. He refused, and then churlishly announced their lives would be private from that moment on.
Ex contestants in the audience lectured him, accused him of biting the hand that has fed him. A clearly frustrated Harrison, who said he was happy to move on, ended the show with an introduction of the new Bachelorette, Andi Dorfman. A contestant, by the way, who basically told Juan Pedro where to stick it.
Today’s media aftermath is delicious, as you might imagine
First, US Magazine has a source that reveals the “disgusting thing” Juan Pablo whispered in rejected contestant, Clare’s ear, during their last helicopter ride:
So, ahem, what did he say?! “He said, ‘I love f—ing you but I don’t know you,'” a source confirms to Us Weekly.
EW. Send me a bottle of brain bleach STAT. Plus. He really is an asshole.
A clearly frustrated Chris Harrison said on Good Morning America today that Juan Pablo continually “fought the process”:
Harrison tells “Good Morning America,” “I’d been frustrated for a long time with him. I know some people take it as I don’t like Juan Pablo or … I’m angry at him and I’m not. I was trying to help him. Any inkling of emotion would help him.”
When asked if there was a divide between Juan Pablo and the show, Harrison says, “Yeah, there was. I don’t know, but for some reason he just fought it the entire way. He fought the process.”
Sponsor, Neil Lane, who provides the jewelry, told People that he was under the impression Juan Pablo was ready to propose:
Says jeweler Neil Lane, who designed the custom bauble: “Juan Pablo was very enthusiastic and very focused about picking out a ring.”
He was talking to me like a guy who is about to propose would talk, and he seemed to take it very seriously.”
From all visible signs, said Lane, “When I left him, he seemed prepared to propose. There were other Bachelors over the years, like Jake Pavelka, who seemed less certain or who might have been struggling. Juan Pablo was not that way.”
According to E News sources there is no love lost between Juan Pablo and The Bachelor producers
E! News has learned that the “overall energy was so negative” and that people in the audience were “told to applaud and they wouldn’t.” Yikes!
“Everyone working on the show—the production team—just seemed to be so done with him. They seemed relieved to finally be finished with this guy,” and insider tells us.
Another source close to the show told us that “Juan Pablo is over the show just as much as the show is over him. He fulfilled his contractual obligations and now he wants to be left alone.”
Those E News Sources also say that Juan Pablo TOLD producers he had a surprise for the audience, leading them to believe he would pop the question to Nikki on the special.
According to a source, a Neil Lane ring was on standby at the taping just in case Juan Pablo went through with the proposal—but he didn’t have it on him while he was filming.
And while we’re told that the controversial 32-year-old had no real intentions of getting down on one knee, he definitely toyed with the idea to the production team.
TMZ is reporting that Juan Pablo refuses to do any post-show publicity, and the studio is just fine with that:
Sources connected with the show and the studio tell TMZ … Juan Pablo outright refused to appear on “Good Morning America” Tuesday, and made it clear he was done with publicity of any sort for the show.
Our Warner Bros. sources say that’s just fine with them, because they think he damages the “Bachelor” franchise because of his d-baggery.
And even GMA wasn’t fighting to get Juan Pablo on the show.
As for the show itself … we’re told producers grew to HATE Juan Pablo, and it appears the feeling was mutual.
Those close to the production aren’t expecting Juan Pablo and Nikki to stay together much longer. “I would give it less than a month,” the insider said.
It looks like the behind the scenes atmosphere was fraught with tension. Didn’t Juan Pablo realize, when he signed up, that he’d be expected to pick somebody regardless? Who even goes on these shows to actually find a mate? There’s a narrative–one of finding love and a happily ever after–and it needs to be fulfilled, dammit.
Linda Holmes over at NPR has an interesting theory. She says the producers were finished with Juan Pablo and had decided to throw him under the bus. But Juan was having none of that and pushed back. Thus, many awkward moments during last night’s live followup.
Between the awful homophobic and ignorant statements Juan was making in public, to his shoddy treatment of the women he was dating, the PR was terrible. I could see the producers just saying f*ck it. Let’s paint him as the jerk that he actually is.
