Rachel Lindsay and Nick Viall are defending The Bachelorette bachelor Peter Weber in light of his alleged ex-girlfriend publicly accusing the airline pilot of betraying and breaking up with her to go on Hannah Brown's season.
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Peter's alleged ex-girlfriend, an Atlanta-based model named Calee Lutes, claimed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight earlier this month that Peter broke her heart -- very suddenly and unexpectedly -- in order to compete for Hannah on The Bachelorette's fifteenth season.
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But Bachelor Nation's Rachel and Nick expressed how they believe the scandal is not a big deal when they recently appeared on Good Morning America's "Strahan & Sara" show.
"Quite honestly, I think it's a lot to do about nothing," Nick said of the allegations against Peter.
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"I mean, from what I understand, [Peter] broke up with her. He broke up with her before Christmas [2018]. Final casting doesn't happen until January, so at best, all he knew was that it was an option."
Nick added in annoyance, "How long do you have to break up with someone before you can go on the show?"
"Okayyy," Rachel agreed with a playful attitude and charm.
Nick admitted while he doesn't know all of the details of the situation regarding Peter and his ex-girlfriend, "it seems like a lot of hearsay."
"I also think the timing is in poor taste. I mean, why wait this long if you were that upset about it? So I'm 'Team Peter,'" Nick noted on the show.
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Calee had claimed to ET that she met California-based Peter on a dating app in June 2018 and they maintained a "very serious" but long-distance relationship for about six months in which Peter said, "I love you," and they met each other's families.
Calee alleged Peter wanted to move in together and spoke about their future and eventually welcoming children, but then he dumped her two days before Christmas.
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"I think [Jed Wyatt] should've taken a page out of Peter's book. Like, this is the way to do it," Rachel said on GMA, referencing how Jed Wyatt allegedly left for filming still dating a woman with the intention of resuming their relationship after the show.
"Peter did it right -- he broke up with her and then he focused on Hannah, like, why are we upset about that?"
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Calee had said she felt "devastated and completely blindsided" by her breakup with Peter, especially since he supposedly offered no good reason as to why he wanted to end things.
Calee then allegedly became suspicious Peter had broken her heart so he could appear on Hannah's season when she noticed a Bachelorette producer had recently begun following Peter on Instagram and he subsequently deleted every trace of Calee from his page.
Calee had told ET that she didn't find out about Peter's casting on The Bachelorette until the rest of the world did.
But Nick argued on GMA, "At the end of the day, if Peter chose an opportunity over this other girlfriend, people do that all the time. People are allowed to break up with people, and he didn't like this girl enough to not focus on the relationship."
"And this girl has a man!" Rachel exclaimed. "Sit down and focus on your new relationship, like, why are you in the media talking about it?"
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Nick said it felt like this woman came forward about Jed because she wanted to get into the action after Jed's alleged ex-girlfriend, Haley Stevens, spoke up and got attention.
But Calee had told ET about her relationship with Peter, "We still kept in touch after the breakup [in December 2018], and we were trying to see each other again, up until early March, shortly before he left for filming. When I found out about the show, I texted him and told him that he owed me an explanation, but I never heard a word back."
"That's the most shocking part of all... I thought he would've at least had enough decency to apologize," Calee added.
"If he showed me even the smallest amount of sympathy for what he did to me, I probably wouldn't have spoken out... He definitely didn't go on the show for the right reasons. I believe he went on it for the chance at fame."
Peter is now one of Hannah's Final 3 bachelors along with Jed and Tyler Cameron.
The finale of The Bachelorette is set to air as a two-night event next week on Monday, July 29 and Tuesday, July 30, with both broadcasts airing from 8-10PM ET/PT.
Rachel previously competed for Nick's heart on The Bachelor's 21st season before starring on The Bachelorette herself on Season 13.
Prior to becoming The Bachelor star in 2017, Nick had competed for Andi Dorfman and Kaitlyn Bristowe on two different seasons of The Bachelorette. He also looked for love on an edition of Bachelor in Paradise.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski