Much of the drama during “The Bachelor” is between the contestants, all sharing one house and one man. This week, Syracuse University alumna Ashley Iaconetti was at the center of the fray.

The drama began when contestant Kelsey Poe opened up about her deceased husband out of the blue, which Iaconetti said made her question Poe’s genuineness.

“I feel like it’s weird the way she was so nonchalant about it,” Iaconetti said. “I think it’s a little bit weird she has been here for five weeks and waited so long to tell her story.”

Later on, things turned tense for Iaconetti during a white water rafting group date in Santa Fe, Mexico.

“I’m excited and nervous,” she said. “I am mostly excited because I’ll be on Chris’s boat.”

While the rapids proved easy for Iaconetti, the surprise reemergence of eliminated contestant Jordan Branch was not. “The Bachelor” Chris Soules invited Branch to the evening cocktail hour when Branch arrived unexpectedly at their hotel.

“I’m super pissed,” said Iaconetti, who describes Branch as her “least favorite person in the house.”

When fellow contestant, Whitney Bischoff, suggested welcoming Branch and treating her kindly, Iaconetti took offense and an argument ensued.

“I feel like you guys are being too understanding. She blew it,” said Iaconetti. “You should not be nice to her right now. She had plenty of chances.”

When Bischoff received the one rose on the group date, Iaconetti was visibly irritated and left the room in tears.

“She is fake as sh*t,” she said. “Whitney was the last person around that table that I wanted to get that rose. I don’t see him with her.”

Bischoff also feels Iaconetti would be an equally poor match, since Soules would not view Iaconetti’s mean girl tactics as appropriate.

Drama escalated to new heights, when Soules cancelled the ritual cocktail party before the rose ceremony, after hearing Poe’s emotional story about her late husband.

Iaconetti was distraught that she lost a chance at one-on-one time, due to her lack of a “traumatizing story.”

“My story is nothing compared to hers,” Iaconetti said. “Now it’s just a big comparison game of sad stories.”

The episode ended abruptly as Poe collapsed in the hallway and cried out in pain.
The screen only read “To Be Continued…” leaving both Poe and Iaconetti’s fate a mystery until next week.

Published on February 2, 2015 at 11:01 pm

Contact Jen: jbundy@syr.edu