The Bachelor alum Nick Viall has slammed Kaitlyn Bristowe's recent claim that The Bachelorette producers "sexualized" Nick during her season and manipulated her feelings towards him.
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As fans probably recall, Nick, fresh off his runner-up finish on Andi Dorfman's The Bachelorette season, attempted to join Kaitlyn's season several weeks into the process after exchanging messages with her pre-production.
Kaitlyn ultimately allowed him to compete for her heart on Season 11, much to the dismay of her other suitors bachelors, especially her eventual winner Shawn Booth.
"One producer said to me, after I would kiss him, she'd come to me and, like, wipe my lips and lick her lips and be like, 'Ahh, I just want to know what that tastes like -- to, like, make out with Nick,'" Kaitlyn recalled.
Kaitlyn, who was publicly scrutinized and slut shamed for sleeping with Nick before the Fantasy Suites, added, "They really, like, put him on a pedestal to me -- and that was pre glow up... That was part of their tactic... I was brainwashed."
Nick, who starred on Season 21 of The Bachelor, responded to Kaitlyn's allegation during the February 7 episode of his "The Viall Files" podcast.
"So she's suggesting that because someone asked her, I guess, what my breath smells like or how I tasted, that from that moment forward, she was incapable of decision making?" Nick asked.
Nick said while Kaitlyn's "graphic" story is "probably true," he doesn't believe such behavior would qualify as "brainwashing" her.
"I can picture who it was. I know [which producer] it was, if it's true," Nick said, before suggesting the licking comment was "probably a joke."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Nick went on to say drama with his so-called exes is "kind of dumb."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW"I don't, like, defend the show. [But] it's cherry picking that some of my peers seem to do when it's beneficial to them to, you know, criticize certain things when I'll tell you who felt really manipulated and brainwashed on Kaitlyn's season -- this guy," Nick claimed.
"And it wasn't just from producers," he added.
But Nick insisted he's "eternally grateful for how things played out" considering he hosts a podcast, wrote a book, and is currently engaged to the love of his life, surgical technician Natalie Joy.
"While angry and brainwashed and manipulated in the moment, I have said thank you to people -- including Kaitlyn -- about how things played out, whether they were deserving of that 'thank you' or not, or whether they had my best intentions in the moment or not," Nick noted.
"I'm still grateful for all of it. And so, I just try to look at it from that level and that lens from, like, 30,000 feet [away], rather than, 'Today, I'm going to play the victim because it serves me. And tomorrow, I'm going to pretend -- when it's affecting someone else -- that it's a TV show.'"
Nick has just started planning his wedding, and Kaitlyn recently joked about how Nick would probably only invite her "for headlines."
Kaitlyn, who admitted she didn't congratulate Nick on her engagement, said she would "probably" go to the wedding since Nick and Jason Tartick are friendly.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
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Nick confirmed he will not be inviting Kaitlyn to his nuptials, nor would he expect to score an invite to her and Jason's wedding.
After Kaitlyn selected Shawn and the pair got engaged during her The Bachelorette finale, Nick went on to appear on Bachelor in Paradise and ultimately star on The Bachelor in 2017.
Nick proposed marriage to Vanessa Grimaldi on The Bachelor's Season 21 finale, but their romance kicked off with more challenges than the average The Bachelor couple to come out of the show given Vanessa had been living in Canada and Nick preferred to stay in the United States.
And shortly after getting engaged, Nick competed on Dancing with the Stars, which soaked up a lot of his free time and energy.
Nick and Vanessa split in August 2017, and Nick seemingly never entered another serious relationship until Natalie in 2019. Nick and Natalie didn't go public with their relationship until reports swirled about their dynamic in January 2021.
Meanwhile, Vanessa is married to Canadian businessman Josh Wolfe and has a child with him.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
