In a new interview, the controversial Bachelor seems to clarify his definition of 'editing.'
Edited, or unedited? That is the question.
ABC touted last season's Bachelor finale as a first in the history of the show: an unedited breakup showing the entirety of Arie Luyendyk Jr. dumping his fiancee, Becca Kufrin, start to finish.
The Arizona resident originally said he wanted the split to air unedited in order to take blame for the breakup and help Kufrin become Bachelorette. But during an appearance on The View last week (to announce his wedding date to his runner-up, Lauren Burnham, just days ahead of Kufrin's season premiere), he said, "They said it was unedited, but it was."
That same morning, ET sat down with Kufrin, the new Bachelorette, and asked for clarification. How could this issue be so up in the air? She was taken aback: "No, it was definitely unedited," she told ET.
Just days later, Luyendyk Jr. is making the claim again in a new interview with GQ. He tells the outlet he feels "100 percent" betrayed by the crew of the hit show. "It was completely edited," he says. Then, he elaborates on his definition of "editing."
"I was told to stay on that couch," he says. "I tried to leave, and then production was like, 'You need to go back inside. She's finally calming down. I feel like you owe it to her to have this conversation.' So I went back in the house."
The 36-year-old reality star seems to define "editing" not as the video editing of footage, but as him taking the advisement of production and acting on it. "They cut out, obviously, production talking to me from 10 feet away," he says.
But ABC's Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials and Late-Night Programming, Robert Mills, tells ET production involvement is standard for the franchise. It is, after all, a reality show.
"There was nothing done that hasn’t been done on any other season," Mills says. "I have to say in production and the producers’ defense, if this was so unorthodox and felt so wrong, why didn’t Arie say [something]? It’s unedited. You don’t see a cut anywhere. So why didn’t Arie say, ‘No, I don’t want to do this. This isn’t right. You’re making me doing something I don’t want to do.' … There was no point where Arie said, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do. You’re forcing me to do this.’”
For Kufrin, the footage of the unceremonious, surprising dumping speaks for itself. "Let's be honest," she said. "If it was edited, I would want the snot off my face and mascara off my forehead. That was all real."
The Bachelorette airs Monday nights on ABC.