Is the Bachelor about to fly away with one of his producers?!
As Peter Weber’s season of The Bachelor comes to a dramatic finish, no one seems to know just how his journey will end, which has led to endless theories and rampant speculation. But one theory that the Internet has particularly latched onto his that Pilot Pete ends the season dating Julie LaPlaca, his producer. Fueling that rumor? A lot of Instagram photos together, Julie spending New Year’s Eve with the Weber fam and very recent photos of Peter and Julie out at a winery with his parents.
Would it be compelling? In the word of Billie Eilish: Duh. Is it likely? No, as producers often spent a lot of time with the lead, especially as the season is filming and airing. Plus, Julie is still employed by the ABC reality hit, which has fired a crew member in the past for having a relationship with one of the contestants.
Oh wait, you don’t remember that?
Well, The Bachelor isn’t the only reality TV series to have to deal with one of its stars having a secret romance with one of the show’s crew members, including a relationship that is playing out on the current season of MTV’s Siesta Key.
Here are six couples who ended up blurring the line between work and play…with some going on to become compelling storylines on their own show:
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David Burns and Kira
Way back in 1998, the real world was rocked by The Real World‘s secret romance between housemate David and Kira, his casting director who was 10 years older than him. After their relationship came to light in truly dramatic fashion after he spent weeks fooling the production team, delivering one of reality TV’s most iconic moments (Who can ever forget David’s sobs in the car, yelling “I love you, it kills me!”?), Kira was fired and the couple ultimately split.
“Bear in mind, I was coming from an all-male military school—I really didn’t have much contact with women. So to have a woman 10 years my senior show affection to me, I absolutely flipped my lid. I just fell madly in love with her,” he later told MTV News. “And with good reason—she’s a beautiful, intelligent woman. I’m still friends with Kira; unfortunately, she just happened to be employed by the company that was f–king filming me.”
Maddison Hausburg and Ish Soto
Not only did Siesta Key smash the fourth wall when it was revealed the star revealed her romance with the show’s former producer in its third season, but her fellow MTV cast members (including an ex-boyfriend) and her father were even more shocked because of the age difference, with more than 20 years between the couple.
Still, Madisson and Ish, who now appears on the show as her boyfriend, are still going strong, with Madisson telling E! News exclusively, “I get it. It’s a big age difference but I would hope that after everyone initially judges it, will come around and see it’s a real relationship with real feelings and he is good to me. It’s a healthy relationship.”
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Kristin Cavallari and Miguel Medina
During a recent episode of her E! reality series Very Cavallari, Kristin shocked her former co-stars Heidi Montag and Audrina Patridge by revealing that she secretly dated one of their cameramen on The Hills for months as she faked a romance with Brody Jenner on-screen.
“We dated for a few months and nobody knew,” she said. “And I was dating Brody on the show and like, meanwhile, Miguel was, like, filming it.”
She then went on to say their relationship was exposed toward the end of their time working together because “paparazzi got us at the airport a week before we wrapped the show. That’s how we got caught.”
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Amber Portwood and Andrew Glennon
The Teen Mom OG star ended up finding love in a surprising place when she fell for Andrew, a crew member, while filming Marriage Boot Camp: Family Edition with her ex fiancé Matt Baier. While they denied hooking up while the show was filming, WEtv decided to air secret footage that proved otherwise, which featured a producer saying, “We never had a crew member impregnate a boot camper before.”
A baby (a boy named James), cheating allegations, an arrest and a messy split later followed.
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Michelle Kujawa and Ryan Putz
While it’s had its fair share of scandals over the years, Bachelor in Paradise‘s first true controversy was when The Bachelor and Bachelor Pad star Michelle’s secret romance with Ryan, one of the show’s audio operators was exposed, with the ABC reality hit hilariously filming a dramatic reenactment of Ryan’s decision to jump 25 feet from Michelle’s hotel room balcony to avoid being caught by a cast handler, only to end up breaking both of his legs and losing his job.
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Julie Berry and Jeff Probst
OK, so this one is a bit of a stretch, but Survivor‘s Emmy-winning host (and now showrunner) went on to date Julie, a contestant, after her torch was snuffed out on Survivor: Vanuatu in 2004. The two didn’t begin their romance until after production on that season ended, revealing their relationship to the world at the end of the live reunion taping.
The couple dated for three years before splitting in 2008. “I definitely fell in love on Survivor,” Probst later told USA Today. “For sure. And I wouldn’t change a thing about it.”
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