Peter's Ex, Merissa Pence, Called Out Victoria F. For Being "Manipulative"

There has been no lack of drama on Peter Weber's season of The Bachelor, and the relationship he had with contestant Victoria Fuller was easily one of the biggest catalysts for it on the show. One of the largest pitfalls between them was the rumor Victoria had a history of breaking up marriages, told to Peter by his ex-girlfriend, Merissa Pence. Victoria denied the rumors, but Merissa Pence's quotes about Victoria F.'s "Women Tell All" segment reveal she stands by her accusations.

"It definitely was hurtful to watch her on 'Women Tell All'," Merissa told Us Weekly on March 9. "It was her way of being manipulative and saying she didn’t break up multiple relationships."

In case you blocked out the drama, here's a quick recap of the Pence-Fuller situation: According to Merissa, she casually dated Peter Weber for a few months back in 2012, and she met Victoria three years ago when she moved back home to Virginia Beach. Though the two ran in the same social circle, turns out, they didn't mesh at all. Victoria apparently told Merissa she was going to slash her tires because she was hanging out with one of her ex-boyfriends. During Victoria's hometown date with Peter in Virginia Beach, Merissa showed up with concerns for Peter and accused Victoria of breaking up multiple relationships in the past.

Victoria denied the "breaking up relationships" accusations on the "Women Tell All" episode, saying, "This was someone that didn’t like me and ... I don’t really know why she did it. Maybe she wanted to come on the show."

Merissa, however, is saying something completely different. She continued to Us Weekly:

It wasn’t a personal motive for me to go on, it was a blanket motive for all those people here that couldn’t speak up. I got a lot of messages after that saying, ‘I can’t believe she’s lying again.’ ‘Stay true to yourself, you know why you did this,’ and so much more stuff [about Victoria] has come out after this because people feel empowered to speak up and before they were scared to speak up.

Merissa went on to say she's heard from other women apparently involved in Victoria F.'s reported hometown drama, and says they support her.

“They want to speak up but then realize there’s more to life than this reality TV show,” Merissa said, explaining her thoughts on why none of the women have actually come forward publicly. According to her, they're using Reddit accounts to open up. “You have to put yourself in their shoes. If you had a child and you’re now divorced ... I think it just digs up a lot of dark times for them and I’m glad I was able to speak up for them.”

Whether you're #TeamMerissa, #TeamVictoria, or #TeamJustWaitingForThisSeasonToEnd, it's likely this isn't the last Bachelor Nation will hear from either woman on the matter.

Part 1 of Peter Weber's Bachelor finale airs on Monday, March 9, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.