EXCLUSIVE: Chad Johnson 'Blown Away' by 'Bachelor in Paradise' Scandal, Talks Role Alcohol Played on His Seaso
Infamous Bachelor in Paradise villain Chad Johnson is shocked by the popular reality show getting shut down after an incident between season four contestants DeMario Jackson and Corinne Olympios.
ET correspondent and fellow Bachelor Nation alum Ali Fedotowsky spoke to Johnson on Wednesday, when he reacted to the biggest scandal in the franchise's history and talked about his own experience being extremely drunk and eventually getting kicked off the show.
"You know, when I first heard, I thought that it was some type of rumor," Johnson recalls upon hearing the news that production had been halted on Bachelor in Paradise amid allegations of misconduct. "I was tagged in something on Twitter. But then when I heard that, I was kinda blown away. Who would think that they would shut down the entire show?"
NEWS: Corinne Olympios Breaks Her Silence on 'Bachelor in Paradise' Incident -- 'I Am a Victim'
"Something serious it sounds like did go on," he continues.
A source close to Bachelor in Paradise previously told ET that Olympios was "out of it" on set on the day of the incident, and another source close to the cast told ET Jackson was heavily intoxicated as well, before the two hooked up by the pool. At this time, neither party has filed a complaint, but both have hired lawyers and the incident remains under investigation by the production company. Johnson, who was filmed drunk and passed out on the beach after getting into arguments with multiple contestants during his season, talked about the open bar on the Bachelor in Paradise set.
"For me, personally, I had drank a whole bottle of wine and six or seven shots before we started filming, but I asked for it," he clarifies. "I didn't mean to do that much, but I did it. They didn't tell me to do it. It's like going to an open bar -- nobody's going to tell you at an open bar stop drinking. They're gonna let you drink."
Johnson says he was never encouraged to drink more.
"But I may be the wrong person to ask that," he says, adding that he doesn't remember being intoxicated at all.
"I think it's the contestants' responsibility," he notes about who he feels should be responsible for the cast's drinking on the show. "You know, we're grown people."
Johnson also notes that producers do step in during filming when they feel things are getting out of hand.
"I don't think they would let something bad happen," Johnson says. "Like I said, they would pull me aside every few minutes and make sure I wasn't going to rip someone's head off."
"I mean, they are really cautious though," he also says of show producers. "With me, it became a thing where they sent me home just because... even though they had it on camera that I didn't actually swing at a guy, just because it slightly looked like it. They asked him and he said I did. And so, because he said that I swung at him, they sent me home. If somebody says they feel threatened, they have to send the person home."
He denies having a drinking problem during his season.
"In real life, if I drank that much I would have just gone to sleep, but in that scenario, you have this adrenaline pump and so it happens," he says about his headline-making behavior. "Like, on The Bachelorette, you can see I barely drank at all."
"I regret drinking so much, you know, but when I showed up, I kinda had a plan," he explains. "I wanted to show up and make the first day like, 'Oh, people are calling me a douchebag online. I'll show you a douchebag.' So, I thought I'd really get it going that first day, and then the next day I would be normal, go on dates, make friends and all that stuff. For me, I was upset that I didn't get the opportunity to stay and get people to know the real me versus the promo version of me."
Johnson is now starring on the new season of E!'s Famously Single, premiering June 25 at 10 p.m. Johnson is excited for the season, saying he's made solid friendships with his co-stars, including Ronnie Magro.
Watch the video below to hear everything we know so far about the Bachelor in Paradise incident that may have shut down the show for good.