Arie Luyendyk Jr. is finally opening up, in detail, about the demise of his once-tight friendship with former The Bachelorette bachelor Jef Holm.

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Arie and Jef became close friends on The Bachelorette's eighth season when they both competed for Emily Maynard. (Jef won Emily's heart and Arie finished as the runner-up).

"Jef and I haven't spoken since Sean's wedding," Arie said of his pal Sean Lowe during an appearance on Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti's Almost Famous Podcast.

"That was four or five years ago now, and obviously a lot has happened in that amount of time. I don't really feel he knows the man that I am, and I don't know why the shade's been thrown."

Shortly after Arie was named the new Bachelor in September 2017, Jef tweeted that he stopped being friends with the pro racing driver years ago because "he's disgusting," later adding, "Oh the stories I could tell..."

And once The Bachelor's 22nd season premiered on January 1, Jef took to Twitter again to bash Arie by writing, "Doesn't matter who gets out of the limo...I'll give 5k to the charity of @chrisbharrison's choice if @ariejr lasts 1 year with anyone."

When asked to explain what happened between Jef and himself, Arie replied with a laugh, "I could really dive into this."

"But you know, [Jef] lives with [Robby Hayes] and still hangs in The Bachelor circle of friends, which is fine. I just don't see why he had to come after me and be so negative when his own relationship didn't work out," Arie said.

After Emily's The Bachelorette finale aired in July 2012, she and Jef ended their engagement and announced their split less than three months later. So Arie apparently doesn't think Jef is one to talk about finding lasting love on reality TV.

"I feel it's unfair to judge, and I feel more disappointed than anything," Arie admitted, "because I don't feel it's a warranted attack on me. I don't get it."

Once Ben and Ashley probed for more details about the tension between Arie and Jef, the current The Bachelor star seemed to let his guard down.

"We had -- Sean's wedding, you know, he brought a date," Arie explained of Jef, "and I feel he handled the situation badly with his date and he didn't treat that person right."

Arie revealed, "And I spoke out, and then he got into a fight with myself and a few of the producers, and that was the last time we talked."

Sean's wedding to Catherine Giudici was a big event filmed for a TV special that aired in January 2014 on ABC.

"I just felt like in the moment, I had to stick up for that person that [Jef] brought instead of him," Arie recalled on the podcast. "And I feel like he thought I chose the wrong side. But in actuality, I just felt like he was treating that person in a negative way."

Considering Jef appears to be single right now, there has also been speculation he's jealous of Arie's The Bachelor gig.

"And so, I don't know, I think maybe there is a little bit of jealousy. I don't know," Arie confessed.

When asked to address rumors why Jef hasn't appeared on any The Bachelor spinoffs despite a strong desire to, Arie replied, "I can't speak to that. I can only speak to my experience, but yeah, I haven't talked to him in so long. So [his diss] was surprising to hear."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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