An almost year-old Bachelor secret has just been revealed! During Nick Viall’s season, word spread that finalists Vanessa Grimaldi and Rachel Lindsay had a feud behind the scenes. That was finally confirmed this week — along with the reason for their bad blood!

It’s all thanks to Bachelor in Paradise Season 4 star Danielle Lombard’s Reddit AMA during which she answered fan questions about her time as a contestant on the spin-off and on Nick’s season. In the thread, which has mostly been deleted, DLo detailed that Vanessa “stabbed me in the back” on Bachelor, and “tried to do something similar to Rachel later on.”

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But it wasn’t just a case of betrayal that spurred the two fan favorites to stop speaking. Apparently, the Canadian beauty called the Bachelorette star “something that was extremely derogatory.” Danielle added, “From what I heard it was bad. Vanessa had to be separated for the rest of the show.”

After that bombshell was dropped, Entertainment Tonight spoke with Rachel herself, who was shockingly candid. “One thing I know about Danielle is that she’s not a liar. But I do want to set the record straight on what happened between Vanessa and I,” she started. “Being in the Bachelor mansion is a true test of your character. It’s a high-stress, low-sleep situation, and I learned all I needed to know about Vanessa during that time.”

That might sound vague, but the lawyer was quick to elaborate on the explosive confrontation that took place. She recalled, “Vanessa told me that I used ‘aggressive’ tones with her, and I was very upset by that. There are so many stereotypes placed on African-American women.” The issue only got worse when the “derogatory word” was uttered. She continued, “She called me a ‘bully,’ and for her to use that phrase was offensive to me. She had no examples to match it. I also felt as a special education teacher who works with children, she was using the word frivolously.”

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When Rachel explained to her castmate why she was so bothered, giving her an opportunity to apologize, Vanessa allegedly refused, saying, “No, you’re a bully, and I told Nick that.” They were then separated by producers for the rest of the season. The now-engaged star stated, “This was an assassination on my character. After I’ve faced uphill battles for my entire life and worked to prove myself in my career.”

As for why the Dallas native never addressed their drama publicly, she reasoned that she was trying to respect both of their relationships. Fans watched as Vanessa and Nick got engaged in the finale — only to call it quits a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Rachel’s happily engaged to fiancé Bryan Abasolo.

Despite their split, Nick came to Vanessa’s defense on social media. A Reddit user noticed the former Bachelor commented on an Instagram post implying that Danielle attacked Vanessa to stay relevant with the 100 emoji. Does that mean he also thinks Rachel is exaggerating the incident?

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Whether it’s true or not, fans may never know why producers didn’t show their face-off, but Rachel did offer up a theory. “Maybe because at the end, the show is more about relationships than any drama, or because they didn’t know how the audience would take each side of things. What Vanessa said was offensive,” she concluded. Stay tuned for Vanessa’s inevitable response!

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