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Yikes — Kevin Wendt Says Ashley I. Actually Cheated on Him With Jared Haibon
When Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon first revealed that they were finally together, basically everyone swooned. After all, Ashley had been chasing Jared for years, ever since they first appeared together on Bachelor in Paradise, and it seemed, against all odds, she’d finally gotten her guy. But there was one person who wasn’t charmed by their romance: Kevin Wendt, Ashley’s ex from The Bachelor Winter Games and a former contestant on Canada’s version of The Bachelorette. He’d heard that the couple started dating after he and Ashley broke up, but he hadn’t heard how — and that it included her cheating on him.
Back when Winter Games aired, the season ended with Ashley and Kevin winning it all and finding love, something they decided to pursue once the show was over. And when the World Tell All aired at the end of February, they were still together. But just a few weeks later in mid-March, they announced their split online. And it was that same month that Jared and Ashley shared in “The Story of Us” that they’d found their ways back to each other, partially spurred on by Ashley’s relationship with Kevin.
Kevin was extremely gracious about the news at the time, but now that he gets to tell his own story on BIP, he’s revealing that the whole thing was actually pretty hurtful to him. And he doesn’t appreciate being cheated on. “When Ashley and I left Winter Games, I knew I wanted to marry her one day. And then all of the sudden, Jared flips the switch, and now he wants to be with her,” the reality star said in Paradise. “I did try to make it work, but if you kiss another guy while you’re dating someone else, it’s cheating in my book.”
Yeah, uh, we think that’s cheating in most people’s books. But apparently not Ashley’s, though she doesn’t deny how things went down. While she was still dating Kevin, Ashley had gone on a vacation with a few friends — including Jared. And when they were saying goodbye at the airport, he confessed his feelings and kissed her. “I thought ‘OK, well that’s everything I’ve ever wanted, but I’m definitely gonna continue dating this other guy,'” Ashley said in the video. But of the breakup, she said, “I just knew in my heart at that point it wasn’t right with Kevin. I did not cheat on Kevin. I ended the relationship because it had run its course. And then Jared was still there.”
So we get that Ashley wasn’t fully dating both guys at once — she’s not Paulie Calafiore with his “overlapping” relationships “in transition” — but she did admit to being kissed by Jared while she was still with Kevin. Kissing someone else while you’re in a relationship is still a pretty textbook case of cheating. So while we’re happy for Ashley and her guy, we’re gonna have to side with #TeamKevin on this one. Hopefully, he’ll have a chance this summer to find a love of his own. We’re just crossing our fingers that a certain Paradise proposal doesn’t go down right in front of his eyes. Hasn’t the poor guy been through enough?
