'Bachelor' Alums Defend Heather Martin After Matt James Drama

Support from Bachelor Nation! Heather Martin’s drama-filled appearance on Bachelor Matt James’ season led to Hannah Brown, Hannah Godwin, Dylan Barbour, Demi Burnett and more franchise alums defending her.

The former contestant from Colton Underwood’s season, 25, shocked the remaining season 25 contestants when she walked into the Nemacolin Resort in Pennsylvania wearing a stunning white gown during the February 8 episode.

While talking to Chris Harrison, Heather explained her BFF Hannah B. said that she and Matt would make an amazing couple, and the Biola grad wanted her chance to meet him before he possibly got engaged during the finale.

Matt started hysterically laughing when Heather interrupted his conversation during the cocktail party before the rose ceremony, but fans were left with a cliffhanger and didn’t see how their conversation went. Teasers for next week show Heather in tears seemingly crying over how “mean” the other women were to her. The whole situation seems like it’s going to end negatively for the California native.

Time will tell what happens on-screen with Heather and Matt, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions about what prompted her to appear. Her stint on the show is seemingly one of the things that sparked Bachelor in Paradise alum Dylan to slam the franchise during a since-deleted Twitter rant.

“The Bachelor producers screwed Heather over. She must be protected,” Dylan wrote on January 20. “Just know I’m ready to go to battle against them and these mean girls.”

The question remains: Did Matt and Heather have a history together? The leading man admitted he was “shocked” by her arrival.

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“I have met Heather before, [but] I had no relationship with her,” the NYC resident 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.”

ABC executive Robert Mills also spoke about the situation and claimed Heather was convinced she and Matt were meant to be together. “[Heather] felt for sure [Matt] was her husband and basically did anything she could to get there and track him down,” the ABC exec explained during Julia Cunningham’s “Bachelor Recap” podcast on January 5.

Keep scrolling to see Bachelor Nation’s reaction to Heather’s appearance on Matt’s season!

Becca Tilley

Becca Tilley was the runner-up on Chris Soules’ season before coming back to the franchise again as Ben Higgins’ contestant. She shared a little bit about her own experience while assessing Heather’s stint on season 25.

“When I was called about coming back to be on Ben’s season, I said I would only come if I could start from the beginning with everyone else .. and this Heather situation is the exact reason,” she tweeted.