We were pleasantly surprised (thrilled, to be honest) when we found out that, despite everything, Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson will appear on the Bachelor in Paradise Special episode even though they didn’t end up being on season four.
A single episode is better than nothing, right?
Well, it turns out that we’ll be seeing more of Corinne and DeMario on Bachelor in Paradise than we’d ever expected to … and we are genuinely shocked. Because the world is basically going to see their sex tape.
Though a thorough investigation concluded that there was no sexual assault, the Bachelor in Paradise scandal rocked fans.
And the concern over what might have happened was so serious that producers shut down production on Bachelor in Paradise after they’d started filming and sent everyone home.
According to reports, after a lot of drinking, Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson were hooking up in a pool.
A producer was concerned that the two were too drunk to consent to what they were doing and what was going on, including being filmed.
It’s important to note that no one — including Corinne — ever accused DeMario Jackson of sexual assault.
He was reportedly too drunk to even pop an erection, which is why the reported sexual activity was very much centered upon Corinne’s genitals and took the form of, it is said, both licking and fingering.
The concern was that both Corinne and DeMario were being victimized by being filmed while hooking up while so thoroughly intoxicated.
There were some whispers that perhaps an overeager producer had deliberately arranged that they hook up.
Since Corinne was too drunk to remember events, she — as much as those of us reading up on events at home — was forced to listen to reports and statements and rumors in an effort to piece together what had happened.
All of that was a big deal, even if the investigation ruled that a sexual assault didn’t take place.
More importantly, Corinne Olympios closed the book on the case and expressed satisfaction with the findings.
And while that’s great, and while she and DeMario are going to appear on the season four special even though they won’t appear as planned on the full season, the Bachelor Nation still has a lot of questions.
Chris Harrison tells Entertainment Weekly that viewers will get a clear picture of what happened in the infamous poolside romp.
In fact, what we get might be more vivid than we’d ever imagined.
“It’s going to be literally dealt with the moment we come on the air.”
That’s smart — to clear the air but also to draw in more viewers.
(You gotta hit those ratings, especially with your premiere)
“We’ll start talking about it right away and start dealing with it. If you don’t, it’s the elephant in the room and then it will taint the entire season.”
Yeah.
Imagine if they filmed the fourth season and literally just didn’t address it.
This isn’t a TLC show where reality stars just get to pretend the bad things that they’ve said and done never happened after spending a little time off camera.
“So we want to show everybody and then get on with Paradise because there are some wonderful things that are going to be happening.”
That’s exciting, for sure.
Chris Harrison had more to say, though.
“There’s been a lot written and assumed and said about what we’re going to do and what we’re not going to do.”
Well, obviously.
If you don’t tell people the whole story right away, people have to connect the dots themselves.
“We had already shot for three days [before the shutdown] and a lot had actually happened — a lot of people had arrived, there had been dates, we’d gotten to the point where there was about to be our first rose ceremony — so we had a week’s worth of stuff.”
It’s good that all of that isn’t going to waste, then.
“We didn’t want to just throw that away because that’s what impacted the show and it’s what led to the shutdown.”
It’s all part of the same story, really.
Just like in real life, few things on Bachelor in Paradise happen in a total vacuum.
Chris Harrison tells us exactly what we can expect:
“We thought you needed to see that. So you’re going to see a lot of it, including Corinne and DeMario on the show.”
That’s something … but not the extent of what we’re going to see of Corinne and DeMario.
“When we restart, it will be me back in Mexico walking you through what happened and then we’re going to watch what happened.”
That’s a little more hands-on narration than usual, but it makes sense, given the circumstances.
“And then we’ll cut back to me and I’ll kind of shed some more light on things and then we’re going to go back and you’re going to see more of what happened, [and] not just the controversial.”
And, of course, there’s the show’s usual content:
“You’re going to see a lot of things, people falling in love, a lot of dates happening.”
“I think people have this preconceived notion of what it was like and what was going on and really the only way to prove anything or show you anything is to all watch it and you can judge for yourself.”
Did he just say what we think that he just said?
Maybe.
“So that will involve seeing Corinne and DeMario and it will also involve Carly and Evan’s wedding.”
Imagine getting married on television only to be upstaged by that scandal.
Chris Harrison isn’t really subtle about what we can expect to see from the poolside sex romp.
Because, with obvious censorship, it sounds like they’re going to show it.
“To the best of my knowledge, you’re going to see more than enough to show you what was happening that led up to the shutdown, within certain taste and values of what we can show on network TV.”
Obviously, nobody’s going to see any boobs.
Or anybody’s platinum vagine.
After all, this is Bachelor in Paradise, not Bachelor in Westeros.
Now that would be a show.
We have to assume that they’re only showing this (censored) video with the public after getting some sort of permission from both Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson.
They might not technically need approval, contracts being what they are.
But the optics would be terrible if they aired it over Corinne and DeMario’s objections.
First of all, this is an incident that Corinne apparently doesn’t remember.
Second of all, this is something that one of the producers witnessed and believed to be a sexual assault.
But they must have agreed to it, right?
They’re both appearing on the special.
We have to wonder what Corinne Olympios’ famously supportive boyfriend will think when he sees the controversial poolside sex romp in all of its censored glory.
