Were Kelley And Peter Sabotaged By Production? Let’s Discuss

The Bachelor might not be scripted per se, but the producers definitely play a role in how the show goes down and is shaped for audiences watching at home — and no one knows this better than former contestants. Although as a whole, Bachelor Nation keeps quiet about production tactics, Kelley Flanagan is a recent exception to the rule. Since her contract ended, she has been very open about what went on behind the scenes, and Flanagan’s quotes about Bachelor producers and her relationship with Peter Weber are seriously juicy.

Speaking to Us Weekly’s Here For The Right Reasons podcast on Sept. 30, Flanagan dished about her experience on Weber’s season, and she had a few choice words for production. According to Flanagan, contestants are very “limited” in “what you can do.” She continued, per Us, “If [producers] want you to get that time, they’ll make sure to give you that time. So even if you sit there and you beg and you plea, it’s still not going to solve your [problem].”

That’s not all. Per Flanagan, production definitely sets certain contestants up for success, and others... well, not so much. “You could just see how different people are treated,” she explained on the podcast.

Flanagan added, “If one person wants to go talk to him, of course, you know, sometimes even some people will get pulled to go talk to him. But when sitting there and you ask politely, like, they know what you want to do. And you’re not given that green light, what are you going to do? Go beg and plea?” At the time of publication, producers for the show have not commented or contested Kelly’s comments.

Throughout her time on the show, this preferential treatment rubbed Flanagan the wrong way. “And I wasn’t going to be someone — actually there was several times where maybe [production and I] got into it, but again, there wasn’t much I could do more,” she said. “They know what they’re doing and it’s on their page.”

In the past, Weber has echoed Flanagan’s words. In April 2021, Weber also appeared on the Here For The Right Reasons podcast and spoke about Flanagan’s tension with production. “I don’t think she got the fairest chance or whatnot on the show if I’m being honest. And I think production would say the exact same thing,” he said, according to Us Weekly.

OK, so producers may not have been on Team Kelley from the get-go, but did that really effect their relationship long-term? Considering they got together post-show, Flanagan doesn’t think production changed their romantic trajectory too much — yes, even with their breakup in mind.

When asked whether she thought her relationship with Weber would have ended differently if not for production’s interference, she responded confidently, “Nope, not at all.”

That said, she had no regrets about her time on The Bachelor. “I could sit here and say that I wish I fought more. ‘I wish I did this. I wish I did that.’ I participated on all the group dates I tried my best in a lot of senses, but overall, like, I just don’t think there was too much of a push for me,” she explained.

In Flanagan’s eyes, what’s done is done, and no final rose would have changed the way she and Weber ended things. That feels like closure goals.