A former Bachelor contestant has opened up about the emotional toll one of the show’s challenges took on her.
Erica Rose, who first appeared on The Bachelor in 2006, told the Unpopular podcast that she was ‘in shock’ after being humiliated during the second season of Bachelor Pad in 2011.
For the challenge, the show’s male contestants were told to throw paint-filled eggs at the women that they found the least attractive.
Broken: Former Bachelor star Erica Rose has revealed that she was left ‘traumatised’ after a humiliating challenge on the reality show
The ladies were blindfolded and dressed in bikinis before having the men pelt eggs at them while host Chris Harrison officiated things, with Erica copping most of the eggs.
‘It really hurt,’ she told Unpopular of having the eggs hurled at her. ‘Emotionally, yeah it was traumatic, but physically it f***ing hurt.
‘I walked off and I was like, “I don’t want to do this anymore. This is abusive.” Like it’s not just my feelings are hurt, but that f***ing hurt.’
Degrading: For the challenge, the show’s male contestants were told to throw paint-filled eggs at the women that they found the least attractive
Erica then claimed that Harrison told her that she would be eliminated from the show if she didn’t stick it out for the rest of the challenge.
‘At the time Chris Harrison said to me, which I’m sure he was told to say, but either way he said it to me, “if you don’t finish this challenge and let the eggs keep getting thrown at you you’re gonna be eliminated.”
She then said that the male contestants were told not to throw the eggs so hard, so that the women wouldn’t be hurt.
‘The point of the game was not to injure people, it was to humiliate them I guess,’ she said.
Shocking: The ladies were blindfolded and dressed in bikinis before having the men pelt eggs at them while host Chris Harrison officiated things, with Erica copping most of the eggs
‘It really hurt,’ she told Unpopular of having the eggs hurled at her. ‘Emotionally, yeah it was traumatic, but physically it f***ing hurt’
Although Erica was told to stick it out in the egg-throwing challenge to avoid elimination, she said that just a few weeks later, several contestants were allowed to opt out of a kissing contest.
‘They let Michelle Money and a few other people I think sit that one out, because they were parents so they didn’t feel that was appropriate,’ she said, before accusing producers of ‘playing favourites’.
The Houston-based star said she was ‘in shock’ after filming wrapped on the season and compared the effects to PTSD.
‘I was definitely in shock and people brought it up since then that it was kind of like a PTSD in its own way,’ Erica said.
Don’t leave: Erica then claimed that host Chris Harrison told her that she would be eliminated from the show if she didn’t stick it out for the rest of the challenge
She went on to say that last year, she privately texted Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss and demanded an apology for the challenge.
‘I texted him and I’m like, “You know, you never really publicly apologised and you never apologised to me for the egg toss challenge”,’ she said.
‘That’s not fair to me that I had to go through that, and now they’re all into apologising and into being woke and all this stuff they do, being mindful.
‘Which is a good thing, they should be, but they should be authentic about it and not just doing it because it’s keeping up with the times.’
Happy ending: Erica is now married with two children and works as a lawyer in Houston
Erica previously tweeted about the challenge last year during the airing of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons special.
‘To say this franchise affected my mental health is an understatement!’ she tweeted.
‘Never received a public apology from the franchise or [Mike Fleiss] 4 how they treated me during Bachelor Pad where contestants were asked to throw eggs at the lady they found least attractive.’
Superstar: Erica also returned to reality TV this year for a three-episode stint on Bravo’s Below Deck Sailing Yacht
Since appearing on The Bachelor franchise, Erica has gone on to graduate from law school and now runs her own firm in Houston.
She also returned to reality TV this year for a three-episode stint on Bravo’s Below Deck Sailing Yacht.
Meanwhile, Chris Harrison recently parted ways with The Bachelor franchise after almost 20 years as the host.
Farewell: Chris Harrison recently parted ways with The Bachelor franchise after almost 20 years as the host