Jillian Harris says The Bachelorette producers attempted to sway her elimination decisions during her season of the ABC reality dating show.
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"As far as pressure from the producers, it did happen sometimes because the producers get to spend more time with the guys than I do, so they see a different side of them (good or bad). But generally they let me do what I wanted," Harris wrote on her website recently in reply to a viewer question which asked whether host Chris Harrison or the show's producers had ever pressured her to keep or eliminate any of her The Bachelorette suitors.
"One night I did throw a fit when I REALLY wanted to send a certain guy home (no naming names) and they wouldn't let me. I refused to go back in the room until they let me send him home... and ultimately they did."
The former fifth-season The Bachelorette star selected Ed Swiderski during her season's final Rose Ceremony, which was filmed in Hawaii in May 2009, and accepted his marriage proposal.
However, shortly after the finale aired in July, two former Swiderski girlfriends came forward and claimed they had been -- unbeknownst to each other -- dating and sleeping with Swiderski before, during and even after the filming of The Bachelorette's fifth season.
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Swiderski denied the women's allegations and Harris stood by her man and moved to his Chicago hometown to continue their relationship in Fall 2009. The couple was considering turning their wedding into a televised special the following year, but they ended up calling off their engagement and splitting in July 2010.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski