Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon are explaining themselves after Kevin Wendt accused Ashley of cheating on him during their relationship.
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"If you kiss another guy while you're dating someone else, it's cheating in my book. That really hurt me," Kevin said while introducing himself on Tuesday night's debut broadcast of Bachelor in Paradise 5.
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Kevin was seemingly referring to the kiss Ashley and Jared shared a kiss in an airport earlier this year when Jared realized he was in love with his best friend and wanted to date her.
"We've been really open about the fact that we did kiss in the airport in one dramatic, spontaneous, romantic moment," Ashley told HollywoodLife on Tuesday.
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Jared then quickly chimed in to defend his fiancee, whom he proposed marriage to in June.
"Let me clarify that as well. I kissed her," Jared explained. "I don't want that to be misconstrued. I saw a moment of opportunity, and I took it upon myself. So if anybody is to blame for that, it's me. Not Ashley."
Jared and Ashley's engagement will be featured on Bachelor in Paradise this season, but the couple assured HollywoodLife there was "no confrontation" with Kevin while they were in Mexico.
In fact, when Kevin found out his former flame was dating Jared again, he wished them both well on Twitter and called Jared "a lucky man."
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Ashley and Jared shocked the world in May when they revealed they had been dating since March 2018 following a three-year "are they or aren't they" saga that played out on two different seasons of Bachelor in Paradise.
After Jared insisted he just wanted to be friends on Bachelor in Paradise 3, Ashley competed on The Bachelor Winter Games, which filmed in late 2017 and aired in February, where she met and fell hard for Kevin, a Canadian firefighter.
Ashley and Kevin left the show dating each other, trying to make a long distance relationship work.
But in January 2018, Jared and Ashley traveled to St. Lucia with friends Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert for a vacation -- and that's when things took a dramatic turn in their so-called "friendship."
Jared explained on The Story of Us that he wanted to act on his feelings for Ashley but felt guilty because she was finally involved and interested in someone else. Still, Tanner reportedly convinced Jared to profess his love, and so he did.
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Following a passionate kiss in the airport, however, Ashley decided to continue dating Kevin in order to give him a fair chance and see things through.
"I thought 'Okay, well that's everything I've ever wanted, but I'm definitely going to continue dating this other guy. I do like him. He's pursued me -- he's been all in the entire time and I deserve to pursue somebody else and for somebody else to pursue me after all this time,'" Ashley allegedly explained on The Story of Us.
But as Winter Games aired on television, Ashley realized her chemistry with Kevin was lacking and her heart still belonged to Jared, and so she officially ended her relationship with Kevin.
Jared then pursued Ashley with flowers and love letters.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski