BIP: Pieper Reacts To Watching Her Relationship With Brendan Play Out

Pieper James believes viewers are only seeing overly produced and carefully edited drama when it comes to her blooming relationship with Brendan Morais on Bachelor In Paradise. The 24-year-old graduate student was introduced to reality TV when she appeared on Matt James’ season of The Bachelor. Though the Oregon stunner had a lot to offer and was looking for someone who knew exactly what they wanted in life, she was ultimately eliminated in week 7. Brendan, on the other hand, was a fan favorite during Tayshia Adams’ season of The Bachelorette. Though the two really connected when Brendan revealed he lost his father at a young age and strives to one day become the best dad in the world, he eliminated himself days before the finale.

Since then, the two former contestants have been stirring up some drama before hitting the sandy beaches of Mexico. Though Brendan initially took interest in contestant Natasha Parker, there were many rumors circulating the beach that Brendan was just waiting for Pieper to arrive. Despite Natasha’s best attempts, her worst nightmare came true when Pieper arrived at the beach and immediately asked Brendan on her date without even looking at the other men up for grabs. It didn’t take long for the pair’s secret plan to be revealed. Brendan essentially admitted to Pieper that he lead Natasha on in order to make it to the week of her arrival. Pieper responded in giggles, thanking her “boyfriend” for “playing the game.” Drama erupted the next morning when Natasha had an opportunity to talk to the pair separately and realized she was a casualty in the couple’s plan. The episode ended with Brendan and Pieper discussing their follower counts on social media. As of Tuesday morning, Brendan lost more than 30,000 followers, and Pieper lost more than 3,000.

Now that the drama has played out on television, Pieper is speaking out on Instagram against the crazy editing that villainized the couple. “Just a gentle reminder that reality TV isn’t real. An edited, produced, and cut down show isn’t going to show you every single thing said and done,” she said. “An edited and produced show can’t show you conversations that happened before filming between friends.” Pieper continued to explain that she makes light of the show because it’s not supposed to be a dark drama. “I don’t believe in pitting women against each other. I don’t believe men are prizes to be won at the expense of someone’s feelings. I believe in open communication to get answers, not name calling on the Internet.”

At the end of the day, Pieper claimed “it’s a TV show” and the viewers are only shown whatever “makes the best television.” All three cast members involved in the highly anticipated drama previewed what was to come on social media before the episode aired. Brendan first shared a shirtless pool selfie, which he captioned, “Here for the wrong reasons.” Then, Pieper danced to Lizzo’s hit song, “Rumors,“ on her Instagram story while posting a photo on her feed with the caption, “All’s fair in love and war.” Then, Natasha retweeted a message that called the pair disrespectful for their posts.

Produced and edited or not, there will come a time when Pieper and Brendan are going to have to admit they clearly went on Bachelor In Paradise in order to get more screen time and more social media followers. Pieper admitted she was in a relationship with Brendan right before he flew to Mexico to begin filming. The ABC dating franchise does create celebrities, but it was not created for that purpose. In fact, executive producers of the show even made rules against contestants under contract doing other shows, such as Dancing With The Stars, in order to avoid the show becoming a fame audition. Of course, there are instances where it happens, but in order to try and keep the authenticity of the show, it’s time for Pieper and Brendan to go home and explore their relationship off-camera.

Bachelor In Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 PM ET on ABC.

Source: Pieper James/Instagram, Brendan Morais/Instagram