Sarah Trott, who self-eliminated from Matt James' The Bachelor season, has denied rumors she is or was in a relationship with DJ Bijou prior to filming the show's 25th season.
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Sarah, a 24-year-old caregiver and former broadcast journalist, has been facing backlash and scrutiny amid allegations she was dating DJ Bijou -- formally known as Ben Dorman -- before and after her The Bachelor stint and therefore appeared on Matt's season for the wrong reasons.
Sarah was photographed kissing Ben, who also had his hand on her thigh, when the pair was partying on a boat in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in August 2020, which was only a month before The Bachelor began filming, The Sun reported.
A spokesperson for Sarah, however, told Us Weekly in a statement on Tuesday that Sarah "unequivocally did not have a boyfriend before, during or after her appearance on The Bachelor."
But a source claiming to have participated in Sarah and Ben's Mexican vacation told The Sun that Sarah has been seeing Ben since early July of last year.
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"She was in a relationship with Ben while she was auditioning to go on the show and up until they started filming, and they are still together now," said the source, who also claims to be close with the alleged couple.
The Sun also reported Sarah and Ben have been "inseparable" since she returned home from The Bachelor and she is "still with" the 30-year-old tattooed deejay from Arizona.
In addition, the media outlet had reported seeing flirty text messages between Sarah and Ben allegedly exchanged between August and December 2020. (The Bachelor wrapped production in late November, according to Reality Steve spoiler blogger Steve Carbone).
While the evidence appears stacked against Sarah, her management team insisted her Cabo San Lucas trip was with "a group of friends" and Ben just happened to be one of them.
"Ben and Sarah had a fun trip with their mutual friends and while there may have been some intimate moments between them, it did not lead to a relationship," Sarah's spokesperson told Us.
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"Sarah went on the trip to Cabo single and came back single, still on her journey to find love which is why she agreed to go on The Bachelor a month or so later."
The spokesperson added that "any photographs or text messages mentioned are taken out of context and a misrepresentation of the circumstances."
As The Bachelor viewers saw on a recent episode, Sarah quit Matt's season because she wanted to return home and resume taking care of her father, who battles ALS.
Sarah, who received an early one-on-one date, was also struggling with insecurities as she watched Matt develop connections with other women, and she ultimately felt ostracized and attacked by her fellow bachelorettes, some of whom she called "malicious and cruel."
Sarah's spokesperson assured Us that Sarah left The Bachelor "due [to] the deteriorating health of her father and the awful treatment she received from the other cast members; not due to a purported relationship with Ben."
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"We also know that all of this information is being provided to The Sun by a disgruntled former friend of Ben, and not someone close to Sarah as they indicate in The Sun article," the spokesperson continued.
"We've been told this former friend has a drug problem and is selling information to support that habit."
Earlier this month, an insider said Sarah was "not in a serious relationship" before traveling to Pennsylvania in order to date and get to know Matt.
"She was completely committed to finding love," the insider said.
"She's always open to finding love, which again is the reason why she went on. While she still wants to find love, her focus is on her family. She's just trying to move forward with her life and trying to help find a cure for ALS."
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But Sarah's alleged romance with Ben isn't the first time the bachelorette has made eyebrow-raising headlines.
Following The Bachelor's January 4 premiere, photos surfaced of Sarah leaving a club in Los Angeles with rapper G-Eazy in early 2020.
But Sarah insisted those resurfaced photographs are no big deal and people are reading into things.
"I have a lot of friends in Los Angeles and we are just friends," Sarah previously told Entertainment Tonight. "Those pictures were taken what feels like forever ago. We're just friends."
Matt was seemingly crushed when Sarah quit his season because The Bachelor star confessed in their final moments together, "I don't want to lose you."
Sarah, however, had been extremely emotional for days and felt confident in her decision to leave since she didn't feel she could give Matt the best version of herself.