ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke opens up about how 'human behavior' snuck through this time.
Jed Wyatt made it all the way to the final rose on The Bachelorette -- and won it -- despite having a girlfriend back home.
The aspiring musician, who revealed to Bachelorette Hannah Brown early on in the season that he came on the show to promote his music career, has been the subject of controversy for seemingly not coming on the series for the "right reasons," with the show beign questioned by some fans for allowing him to get so far.
ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke reacted to Wyatt's win -- and how it has potentially affected vetting of future Bachelor franchise contestants -- while speaking to reporters at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California, on Monday.
"I've been quite impressed by the production company and the show's interest in continuing to improve and expand its vetting processes," she said. "So, it's an ongoing journey."
"Human behavior is... you know, mercurial," Burke said with a laugh, clearly in reference to Wyatt's girlfriend drama. "I think the show does as good a job as it can vetting contestants, and they continue to improve."
While speaking with ET's Lauren Zima on The Ringer's Bachelor Party podcast last month, Bachelor host Chris Harrison said Wyatt's girlfriend drama was a "hint of things to come" for the franchise.
"This is the world we live in," he said. "In the day and age we live in, this is something we're going to start dealing more and more with. And we already have. People come out of the woodwork all the time."
On night one of Brown's season, she sent a man, Scott Anderson, home for having a girlfriend. Soon afterward, another contestant, Tyler Gwozdz, was mysteriously removed from the show. Past contestants have been scrutinized by fans for their social media activity. However, Harrison noted it's "impossible" to screen contestants as heavily as they'd like to.
"It really is impossible, because everybody has a background. You're doing a background check? You have a background. We've all dated -- you're never going to go through 100 percent of everybody's lovers," he explained. "This is something we have to deal with, because our show is very real. The people on our show are real."
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