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Bachelor Matt James Says He Was ‘Shocked’ By Heather Martin’s Arrival on Season 25
What’s the deal? Bachelor Matt James admitted he was “shocked” by Heather Martin’s late arrival during season 25, but do the Bachelor Nation stars have a history together? Get the scoop on their friendship below!
“I have met Heather before, [but] I had no relationship with her,” the leading man, 29, said on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast during the February 2 episode. “But she does have a relationship with one of my good friends Hannah Brown. I was just as shocked to see her as everyone else was when she arrives and I think it makes for a very interesting conversation.”
It’s unclear how well Matt and Heather, 25, knew each other before he entered the franchise, but ABC executive Robert Mills said she was convinced they would make an amazing couple.
“[Heather] felt for sure [Matt] was her husband and basically did anything she could to get there and track him down,” the programming exec explained during Julia Cunningham’s “Bachelor Recap” podcast on January 5.
Teasers for the Monday, February 8, episode of The Bachelor show the former contestant from Colton Underwood’s season arriving to the Nemacolin Resort in Pennsylvania while driving a white minivan.
“Heather, what are you doing here? You could honestly destroy this whole thing for Matt,” host Chris Harrison can be heard saying. Surprisingly, the California native was fully aware of the risk she was taking by putting herself out there.
“This is like an impossible situation, still, like, I do feel like Matt’s worth it,” Heather says in a promo video for week 6.
It appears there was a lot more going on behind-the-scenes than what will be shown on-screen. Bachelor in Paradise alum Dylan Barbour slammed the franchise in a since-deleted Twitter rant on January 30. The former Bachelorette contestant’s tweetstorm began when he claimed that Heather was mistreated during her short stint on season 25.
“The Bachelor producers screwed Heather over. She must be protected. Just know I’m ready to go to battle against them and these mean girls,” he wrote. Dylan has since called the delivery of his criticism “wrong” and deleted his tweets. The blonde beauty has not spoken out about the situation.
Heather first appeared in Bachelor Nation as a contestant on Colton’s season, which premiered in January 2019, where she became close pals with Hannah, 26. At the time, she had “never been kissed” and experienced her first smooch with the former football player. Since then, she has been romantically linked to Lawson Bates.
The drama never sleeps in Bachelor Nation! See season 25 spoilers about Matt’s final contestants here.
