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The Bachelor Turns 15: Stars Recall Craziest Moments and Reveal Behind-the-Scenes Secrets

Find out what past contestants such as Courtney Robertson, Ben Flajnik and Tenley Molzahn said about their time on the show and its spinoffs

By Beth Sobol, Corinne Heller, Alli Rosenbloom Mar 24, 2017 5:00 PMTags
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Plenty of hijinks ensue on-camera during The Bachelor, but the craziness continues well after the director yells, "Cut!"

The popular dating reality show celebrates its 15th anniversary Saturday.

"I feel like we are just getting started," executive producer Elan Gale told E! News. "It's never been a better time to be part of Bachelor Nation and I wouldn't be surprised if we were having this conversation 15 years from now."

In honor of the dating show's anniversary, several past contestants of the series and its spinoffs shared with E! News their memories of particularly outrageous televised moments and also revealed some crazy behind-the-scenes secrets from their time on the shows.

Craziest On-Air Moments:

Courtney Robertson, winner of The Bachelor season 16 (2012): "The moment I was flying a helicopter for the final rose, not knowing if I was getting engaged or getting dumped."

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Ben Flajnik, contestant on The Bachelorette season seven (2011), The Bachelor season 16 (2012) and Robertson's ex: "I think the craziest thing that happened (aside from the proposal) was climbing up the Bay Bridge with Emily [O'Brien]. Trying to focus on your feet while a helicopter buzzed around your head is pretty nerve-racking." 

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Tenley Molzahn, contestant on The Bachelor season 14 (2010), Bachelor Pad season one (2010) and Bachelor in Paradise season two (2015): "I'll stick with the most recent. In Paradise when Juelia [Kinney] got stung by a jellyfish and I really tried to figure out how to pee on her foot!"

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ABC
ABC

Alexis Waters, contestant on this past The Bachelor season 21: "Making it past the first night!"

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Craziest Behind-the-Scenes Secrets:

Jef Holm, winner of The Bachelorette season eight (2012) and Maynard's ex: "One crazy memory I have from the show is after night one, when all the guys moved into the house, we had a giant party and ended up throwing everything in the pool. Everything from food & peoples clothes to furniture in the house...it all went in. We woke up the next morning and the producers weren't very happy with us."

Courtney Robertson: "The roses in front of the Bachelor mansion are fake."

Ben Flajnik: "It's really hard to remember everyone's name the first night and the rose ceremony is no different. During the taping of the rose ceremony, you memorize five names, signal to the producer that you're done, and go memorize five more. So on and so on. It gets easier as the night goes on."

Tenley Molzahn: "The amount of time couples actually really spend together [is minimal]. Really, in the end the lead has probably spent a total of 72 hours with the last two people! Crazy!"

Alexis Waters: "The girls actually empower each other even though we are dating the same man, which is kind of awkward." 

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ABC

Erica Rose, contestant on The Bachelor season nine (2006) and Bachelor Pad seasons two and three (2011 and 2012): "We sometimes only sleep three or four hours a night and that's a huge contributing factor that really does drive you crazy...so that's why when Corinne [Olympios] was like taking naps, I'm like, I don't blame her!"

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"Also, I had a two-on-one date on my season and I got sent home. The producers jumped in my car and they were like, 'We don't want you to leave, you need to come back.' I'm like, 'That's so embarrassing, I just got eliminated.' But they did have me come back and instead of competing for [The Bachelor star Prince Lorenzo Borghese], they had me judging a contest between the other girls and deciding who gets the date—and actually they didn't even let me pick! They said let winners of the contest be Jen [Wilson] and Sadie [Murray] and they were the final two!"

Ashlee Frazier, contestant on The Bachelor season 17 (2013): "Some of the girls didn't shower often enough."