Christina Mandrell Baby Bump Photo Bewilders Bachelor Nation

Heavy/ABC Christina Mandrell confused fans with a baby bump photo.

Former “The Bachelor” contestant Christina Mandrell recently took to social media to share a photo in honor of the beginning of Joey Graziadei’s season. The photo was something of a throwback to her first night at “The Bachelor” mansion a year ago, but she appeared to be sporting a baby bump in the new picture. Was this a pregnancy announcement?

Fans first met Mandrell when she was a contestant on Zach Shallcross’ season. Many expected her to join season 9 of “Bachelor in Paradise,” but that did not happen. She found love via the franchise anyway, and got engaged to Brayden Bowers at “The Golden Wedding.” After she shared the photo showing her with a baby bump, Bachelor Nation started buzzing.

Here’s what you need to know:

Christina Mandrell Posted a Photo Showing Her With a Baby Bump

The photo that caused so much confusion within Bachelor Nation was posted by Mandrell in her Instagram Stories on January 22. The photo showed her in a pink dress with a cutout over her bare baby bump. There was also a pink bow tied around her midsection.

Under the photo, Mandrel wrote, “Can’t believe this was already a year ago! Good luck to all the ladies tonight! Who else will be watching @joeygraziadei’s #bachelor premiere tonight?”

Because Mandrell shared the photo in an Instagram Story instead of her Feed, fans could not publicly comment or question her on what it was supposed to mean. Plenty of “The Bachelor” fans turned to Reddit to discuss the picture.

One Redditor made it clear they were not impressed by Mandrell’s post. “She is so lame to do this on Joey’s night and what they both did at the Golden wedding. So self centered!”

“Wow – first the ‘surprise engagement’ at Gerry & Theresa’s wedding, and now a faux pregnancy announcement on Joey’s first night. It’s really not nice to continually try to upstage everyone,” a second Redditor wrote.

‘The Bachelor’ Star Later Shared She Is not Pregnant

In addition to the photo she shared on her Instagram Story, Mandrell did an Instagram Live during the evening. Several Redditors noted that during the live, “The Bachelor” star noted she was not pregnant. Rather, it seems, she used artificial intelligence to edit the photo to make it appear she was.

“Is she pregnant? I am lost. But wondered at the wedding,” read another Reddit comment.

“She’s not pregnant, just trolling. She clearly does not have that belly in real time. She’s thirsty for attention,” added someone else.

“Really weird to use AI to do this. This is actually horrible and [she] is on live laughing about it. And ‘pretends’ to announce on Joeys premiere,” a different Redditor wrote. That poster continued, “Kind of strange. People have issues and can’t have children etc. wow. Send this to your best friend. Don’t post it on your story.”

“I’ve really been trying to like her for years, but this is just too much,” another person noted.

“This is giving the most bizarre form of main character energy,” read another comment.

Several “The Bachelor” fans who have struggled with infertility in their own lives found Mandrell’s fake baby bump stunt to be quite distasteful. A few people noted they still think Mandrell is pregnant, even if the altered photo was just a joke.