If you happen to be a fan of the Bachelor franchise, you’re pretty used to drama. And as juicy as the gossip is on-screen, lately it’s been what’s happening off-screen that’s attracting fans’ attention. As you might know, Luke Pell was a contestant on JoJo’s season of The Bachelorette. Many believed Luke would be the next Bachelor…until Nick Viall was announced as the leading man. But apparently Luke wasn’t the only one expecting a run on the show. Over the last few days, two women have stepped forward to tell their stories about Luke’s behind-the-scenes dealings, and Reality Steve dished the entire story on his blog.
Airelle Snyder, a Nashville lifestyle blogger, posted a video on March 21 talking about how she almost went on The Bachelor. She starts by explaining that she got a call from the Bachelor producers saying that someone had submitted her for the show. It can be assumed this was Luke, as he had messaged her that very day asking if she had ever considered being on the show.
The two began communicating back and forth, and Airelle was under the impression that Luke would be the next Bachelor and she would be a contestant on the show. She says in her video that she “was convinced it was going to be [them] in the end.” When Nick was announced as the Bachelor, Airelle attempted to contact Luke, but “he didn’t answer, and [she] didn’t hear from him for awhile.”
This seemed like the end of the story, until two days ago when Airelle posted another video, this time with former Season 21 Bachelor contestant Lauren Hussey. According to Lauren, she and Luke began a super secret (his decision, not hers) relationship after she was eliminated from Nick’s season. She described the relationship, which lasted from Sept. 2016 to Feb. 2017, as “kind of a whirlwind” and says she found proof he had been cheating on her and he admitted to it.
After Airelle and Lauren released the video, Luke sent out a tweet throwing shade at the two girls, trying to downplay his relationship with Airelle. He also posted an image on Twitter that says, “Haters gonna hate, trolls gonna troll,” likely in reference to the girls’ video. However, as Reality Steve points out, there’s a good amount of evidence that the girls aren’t lying about their relationships with Luke.
And hold up for another shocker: Luke apparently played Jubilee from Ben’s season, too. Back when he still thought he was going to be the Bachelor, he convinced Jubilee to come on the show, telling her she’d be his final pick, and then straight up disappeared when he figured out he didn’t get the gig after all.
That’s not all, folks. Luke might have told the same thing to yet ANOTHER woman, Holly Allen. As Reality Steve puts it, it sounds like Luke was “trying to script his own season.”
Luke spoke with Us Weekly about Lauren and Airelle’s claims. “They want to slash my character. I’m respectful. If they want to take it in another direction, that’s their prerogative. I don’t approve of it, but that’s their choice,” he said.
Luke claims he and Lauren had a “break-up conversation,” which sounds different from what Hussey discussed in the video. As for his relationship with Airelle, he claims they only spoke a handful of times and that “there was never a relationship to break up from.”
So what are we supposed to think? On the one hand, we have two women coming forward to say they were mistreated and possible evidence of there being more women in the same boat. On the other hand, we have Luke defending himself against all claims. As of now, it sounds like a battle of “he said, she said.” One thing we know for sure: It’s not always the on-screen drama that’s the best.