ABC Chris Harrison, Ashley Iaconetti, and Matt James during a date on The Bachelor.
Victoria Larson has had no problem feuding with fellow contestants on The Bachelor, but apparently it doesn’t stop there. Former contestant Ashley Iaconetti revealed that even she caught a little bit of Larson’s wrath when she guest hosted a group date on episode three.
Iaconetti hosted a romance novel-themed date where a group of contestants were asked to write a romantic scene about Matt James. They then had to read it to him in front of the other contestants. Iaconetti played the role of mentor, helping the women make tweaks to their story so they’d be just right.
“I sit down with Victoria and immediately I’m like ‘Oh, this girl is a little bit of an oddball,’ but I didn’t know what I now know of her,” Iaconetti said on an episode of The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast. “I sit down and she’s just telling me all about this fetish, and my little innocent ears — as she actually called me out on — I was taken aback only because this girl has known him for seven days now.
“She was going in depth about what she likes to physically happen to her during sex, and I was just like, ‘OK, do you want to tell Matt this right now? Like in front of the audience? Do you think this is something Matt is going to be into hearing right now?’ … And she was like ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘OK cool, do your thing girl,’ as you saw in the episode.
Evidently, that interaction didn’t sit well with Larson and she pulled Iaconetti aside to call her out for it.
“She was like ‘I think you were kind of rude and kind of judging me for wanting to talk about my fetish,’ maybe she didn’t use the word fetish, but about fill in the blank. … She was like, ‘I have to figure out if he’s into it, because if he’s not into it, then I may not want to be with him.’ OK, fair. That was the end of our little pow wow. I was a little scared.
“Then when I sat down to listen with the crowd, she said ‘Plug your virgin ears, Ashley.’ I was like, ‘Excuse me? I’m married!’ So that was my little drama with the drama queen herself, Victoria.”
So did Larson heed Iaconetti’s advice and tone down her story? Not a chance.
“Her erotica story was the most erotic, the most rated X,” Iaconetti said. “You guys have no idea what it was about. You have no idea. The entire thing was bleeped out. And I don’t even think I can discuss it here, because this is kind of a PG-13 program.”
Chris Harrison Told a Iaconetti Critic to ‘Suck It’
ABC/Craig SjodinChris Harrison and Ashley Iaconetti appear on a ‘Bachelor’ group date.
Iaconetti has become a staple of The Bachelor franchise since first appearing as a contestant on season 19 of the show. She returned for two seasons of Bachelor in Paradise, as well as The Bachelor Winter Games. Eventually she found love with Jared Haibon and the couple got married in August 2019.
Iaconetti and Haibon hosted a group date together during the most recent season of The Bachelorette. When Chris Harrison announced that Iaconetti would be back once again during The Bachelor, one commenter on Instagram wrote, “Poor thing so desperately needs to stay relevant.”
Harrison wasted no time firing back.
“hey Nicki suck it!” Harrison wrote in a reply. “We specifically asked my friend to be on the show and she was gracious enough to quarantine and join us! Go troll elsewhere por favor.”
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