The Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe has hinted that she slept with Ben Higgins during her round of overnight Fantasy Suite dates on her season.
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Kaitlyn eliminated Ben in third place, claiming she had stronger feelings for her Final 2 bachelors Nick Viall and Shawn Booth, after Fantasy Suites on The Bachelorette's eleventh season, which aired in Summer 2015.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Kaitlyn opened up about what happened behind closed doors during her Fantasy Suites on a recent episode of the "Guys We F****d" podcast.
"I was one hundred percent sure who I was going to pick [Shawn] but I really did care for these two other guys. But yeah I really liked three of them," Kaitlyn said, according to OK! Weekly.
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When asked how many guys she slept with on her The Bachelorette season, Kaitlyn replied that he had sex with three men.
As fans can recall, Kaitlyn slept with Nick in the middle of the season during the cast's trip to Ireland, and it's assumed Kaitlyn and Shawn slept together in a Fantasy Suite considering she picked him in the end and the couple got engaged.
Since Ben had the third Fantasy Suite date, Ben is presumably the third man she's talking about.
"Sex is important to me in a relationship," Kaitlyn explained of taking her relationships "as far as they could go" on the show.
"If I'm going to marry you and get engaged to you on this show, intimacy and having sex is going to be important to me."
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Although Kaitlyn accepted a marriage proposal from Shawn on her season, she and the personal trainer announced their split in November 2018 after about three years of dating.
Kaitlyn previously said "important fundamental values" didn't line up in that relationship, and Shawn admitted last year that he didn't think it was "real love" with the "Off the Vine" podcast host.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Kaitlyn is now engaged to The Bachelorette 14 alum Jason Tartick, who took Kaitlyn out on their first date in January 2019.
The couple got engaged in May 2021 after two years of dating and are now planning a wedding for either Fall 2022 or early 2023.
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For Ben's part, he went on to star on The Bachelor's 20th season, which aired in early 2016, after getting his heart broken by Kaitlyn.
Ben proposed marriage to his The Bachelor winner Lauren Bushnell, but the couple broke up and called off their engagement about a year later in May 2017.
Ben is now happily married to a woman outside of Bachelor Nation, Jessica Clark, whom he proposed marriage to in early 2020 and wed in November 2021.
Ben expressed in March on his "The Ben and Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast" how he's worried ABC airing old footage of his The Bachelor season could damage his relationship with Jessica, who apparently finds it tough to see Ben's past with other women on TV.
Ben and Jessica therefore also probably aren't thrilled about Kaitlyn's public admission she had slept with three guys on her season.
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Going back to Kaitlyn's The Bachelorette season, the Season 29 Dancing with the Stars winner was bullied, harassed and slut-shamed by fans for sleeping with multiple men -- including Nick early in the process -- and became known as a promiscuous Bachelorette.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
But many fans believe she paved the way for future stars of the show to be more open about their sexuality and feel less shame in expressing themselves physically.
While her season was airing, Kaitlyn wrote in her People blog what was missing with Ben and why she had decided to eliminate him in third place.
"Ben H(andsome): Ben is one lovable dude. Did you guys see how he stood up for me? We had a solid, healthy and happy relationship. I think it is no secret that I like passion and intensity. And I think that was one thing missing between us," Kaitlyn explained.
"I know that sounds crazy because I know a life with Ben would be easy and enjoyable, but I just felt a lack of intensity, and that's just me being honest. What Ben and I went through on our journey was not easy! I put him in a tough position, and I screwed up."
Kaitlyn, however, called Ben a "positive, humble and calm man." She wrote how she could envision Ben being "a great husband," someone with whom she could laugh for 40 or so years.
While Shawn and Nick were at each other's throats and distracted by each other's antics on The Bachelorette 11, Ben took a different dating approach and put all his focus and attention on the Bachelorette and their growing relationship.
Ben therefore became a fan-favorite, prompting ABC to choose him for The Bachelor role.
Ben later starred on a Freeform series with Lauren -- who is now married with one child to country singer Chris Lane -- titled Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? and also appeared on The Bachelor: Winter Games.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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