Dylan Barbour is now taking a more rose-colored view of The Bachelor franchise than he did over the weekend.
The 26-year-old star issued a statement to E! News on Tuesday, Feb. 2 to backpedal from comments he made in a since-deleted Twitter thread on Jan. 30 that was highly critical of the way some contestants were allegedly treated while filming the show and after leaving it. Dylan appeared on Hannah Brown's season of The Bachelorette and later got engaged to Hannah Godwin on Bachelor in Paradise.
"This past weekend, I got into the discussion of being in the public eye and its effects on mental health," Dylan shared. "I've seen a lot of people thrust into this level of notoriety, and with it comes immense scrutiny. And those same friends have had their mental health suffer tremendously from it. I felt the need to speak out as I've been one of the lucky ones to have a great experience from this transition, but with that said, I believe the way the message was delivered was wrong."
He continued, "I'm appreciative of the franchise and the platform given to me, and that was not reflected. I've really only had very positive experiences with the producers and network. Moving forward, I'll speak only from personal experience and continue to be an ally and support system to those who need it."
As for his Jan. 30 thread, Dylan began by tweeting, "Cancel ABC and The Bachelor. Kinda wanna air out their dirty laundry mom got me riled up."
When one fan asked if there was "anything they told you to say that you refused," Dylan replied, "Yes all the time. You gotta understand the game. They get paid off you doing s--t that warrants screen time."
Another individual asked Dylan, "Who from your season do you feel got the most screwed over by production?" and the reality TV personality responded with, "Jed [Wyatt]."
A user then asked, "Are you saying he didn't cheat on Hannah?" and Dylan replied, "Yes."
Dylan acknowledged that he himself has a happy ending from his time on the ABC franchise, given that his relationship with Hannah is still going strong. But he claimed to be looking out for "the other 99% of people" that didn't have a similar outcome.
He had concluded his thread with, "My last thought: they need you until they don't. Each person is a pawn in a larger scheme, and they do not have contestants [sic] best interests in mind. Mental health is not a concern. Multiple people develop issues post-show and they do nothing to help. If anything, they fuel hate."
E! News reached out at the time to reps for the show and host Chris Harrison, and did not hear back.
Dylan's comments spurred Jed to take to his Instagram Story on Jan. 31 and allege that he was "highly manipulated and from it deeply mentally affected from the show." He promised to address the situation in more detail during a Feb. 2 episode of his podcast Jed Talks, but the episode has yet to be released.
As fans recall, Jed earned Hannah's final rose and got engaged during her 2019 finale, but viewers learned in the subsequent After the Final Rose special that the couple had already parted ways.
After filming the finale, Jed told Hannah that he and another woman had been dating up until a week before the show started filming. Hannah pointed out at the time that she had read an interview with the woman that contradicted his story, leading Hannah to decide not to give him another chance.