Trista Sutter had all of Bachelor Nation talking.
Appearing on the Lady Gang podcast in November 2020, the original Bachelorette opened up about what really went down when she and husband Ryan Sutter tied the knot in a televised ceremony nearly 17 years earlier. And while fans at home watched what looked like a fairy tale unfold, the reality TV pioneer admitted that it was a little bit more complicated than that.
Not only was runner-up Charlie Maher wedged into his ex's big day by producers, essentially serving as its host—something Sutter admitted was "a little bit awkward"—but she said that a production binder full of "storylines" assigned to her friends and family was discovered at the bachelorette party. Additionally, she revealed that her guest list was "super limited in number" because of all the execs whose presence had to be accommodated, leading to a "really big fight" between her and Ryan.
In the end, Sutter holds no grudge over the obvious interference in her big day. "There's no way in hell I ever would have been able to have the kind of wedding, even a fraction of the kind of wedding, that I had on my own," she said. "I wanted to save my parents a s--t ton of money. And we got to take over an entire resort. So, it was super fun."
ABC did not return E! News' request for comment.
But Sutter's not the first member of Bachelor Nation to have pulled back the curtain on the ways in which producers on the franchise have—allegedly—manipulated the action to get the entertainment they want. From the recent claims from Jed Wyatt and beyond, check out all those who've made such claims in the gallery below!
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
(Originally published, Nov. 11, 2020, at 4:17 p.m. PST.)