Gossip Of The Week: ‘Bachelor’ Alums Talk Juan Pablo

From defensive tweets, to making controversial statements about gay marriage and not proposing during Monday’s final episode — Juan Pablo Galavis, the latest star of ABC’s “The Bachelor” went from hot to not quicker than he could hand out his last rose.

But is JP really the worst “Bachelor” in the dating franchise’s history?

On Thursday, Access Hollywood sat down with four of our most beloved contestants from seasons past to get their take on the fallout surrounding the former soccer pro and Latin heartthrob. Of course, we also got a little more gossip from the set…

Access Hollywood: On Thursday, 84 percent of the people our website polled said that Juan Pablo was their least favorite “Bachelor” of all time. But let’s get into the adjectives. How would you describe the guy you were watching after the final rose?

Sean Lowe (Star, “The Bachelor”/Season 17): Ill prepared! I don’t think he knew what he was getting himself into. As the ‘Bachelor,’ my biggest complaint about Juan Pablo is that there was no transparency. He wouldn’t tell America how he felt and I think when you sign up to be the ‘Bachelor,’ you owe it to the fans, you owe it to the network and I don’t think he was ready for that.

AH: Some people are giving Juan Pablo props that he didn’t give into the peer pressure of saying I love you [to Nikki]. He said he’d do it on his own terms. Do you see any positives in Juan Pablo?

Chris Siegfried (Winner, “The Bachelorette”/Season 9): I guess I’m happy that he didn’t give in. If he honestly doesn’t feel the same as Nikki at this point, then for him to say I love you, it would be false.

Sean: I don’t fault him at all. I applaud him because I know there is pressure there. I know the fans at home, they want that fairytale ending. The production team, they want the fairytale ending. So if he doesn’t feel it… don’t say it.

Melissa Rycroft (Winner, “The Bachelor”/Season 13): I don’t know. At least from my point of view and maybe everybody kind of takes it differently. Looking back I’m not sure any of the women had a chance. I mean, I didn’t get the vibe from him that he really wanted to fall in love and that he really wanted to find a wife and a mother for his daughter… I’m not even sure he was looking.

AH: Sean, do you feel beholden to ‘The Bachelor’ to share details of your marriage to Catherine [Giudici, whom Sean chose on the show] for the rest of your life or is there a statute of limitations?

Sean: I definitely feel [loyal] to ‘The Bachelor’ franchise. It’s a great franchise and they’ve done a lot of wonderful things for me. They introduced me to my wonderful wife. So, I have no complaints. But I’ll say this, before I was ‘The Bachelor,’ I sat down with the executive producers and they told me what they expected of me and I know they did the same thing to Juan Pablo…Yes, they want me, they want Juan Pablo to find love. But, they’ve got a TV show to make and they make that very clear. And I think Juan Pablo just neglected to really pay attention to that part of the process.

AH: Juan Pablo, he’s just getting crushed right now. Is there anything we can say in his defense? Desiree, you dated him on the show.

Desiree Hartsock (Star, “The Bachelorette”/Season 9): Yes, and you know what, deep down he really is a good person and he does mean well. I think maybe I just wasn’t a good fit because he wasn’t going to open up and share his feelings… he’s a good friend.

AH: Then why did you send him home?

Desiree: I sent him home for exactly what you were seeing. I didn’t really get to know more about him because he would just want to brush it all under the rug.

Chris: I think part of it is his inability to articulate his feelings for the females, the girls on the show, and obviously for Des. That’s obviously why she sent her home.

Melissa: I do feel like Juan Pablo is getting a lot of flak, a lot of it I think is deserved. And I think a lot of it too is we haven’t seen this before. We are used to seeing people go through the process like Sean who want to find that person at the end– and who do, and who are happy, and who are grateful for it.

AH: Chris, you know Juan Pablo well because you spent time in the man den with him [when you were both contestants on ‘The Bachelorette’]. Is he a jerk?

Chris: When I got to know Juan on the show I wasn’t really learning about his emotional side with girls. I had heard stories in the past, about how his past relationships were. But, I didn’t really get to watch him court these other girls. I think he came across as a really good guy, heavy into soccer and his culture. And, honestly it’s two different people that you get to know. But, you’re in a different position when you’re the lead and you’re trying to figure out which one is best for you.

AH: Juan Pablo took a helicopter ride with [runner-up] Clare [Crawley]. At one point he said something to the effect of ‘I don’t really know you. I don’t know who you are, but I enjoy blanking you.’ Desiree, did he ever do anything like that with you to turn you off?

Desiree: No, not at all, not at all. The one thing about Juan is he’s not going to compliment your intelligence or your personality. He’s going to compliment the way that you look, the way you make him feel. Like you can tell even when he was talking to Clare, everything turns around to him. He also didn’t ask any tough questions, like by the end I knew how many kids Chris wanted, I knew where he wanted to live, I knew his aspirations and goals.

AH: Juan insinuated that he had sex with Clare. Do contestants actually sleep with each other on the show?

Melissa: None here.
Desiree: No.
Chris: No.

AH: I guess there’s really only two questions left. This one is for Des and Chris. When are you two getting married?

Chris: We’re trying to figure that out still.
Desiree: Yeah.
Chris: Generally speaking, fall/winter. We did have our engagement party in February outside of Seattle and that was a nice taste of…
Desiree: What it will be.

AH: Will the wedding be televised?

Chris: We don’t know.
Desiree: Possibly.
Chris: Possibly, yeah.

AH: Sean, what was the budget ABC gave you to have your wedding?

Sean: They didn’t give me a budget and that was the beautiful thing. Whatever we wanted, they gave it to us so it’s amazing.

AH: Melissa, you’re pregnant now. When is the baby [with husband Tye Strickland] due?
Melissa: We’re due next month next month. This one’s a boy. We’ve got a girl at home so we’ve got one of each now.

AH: Sean, when are we having a baby here?

Sean: We’ve been talking about it. I think we’ll try in about a year or so. So hopefully a year to two years we’ll have a little Billy [Bush] on our hands.

AH: Will the delivery be on ABC?
Sean: Live, possibly (laughs).

AH: Well, you guys are all public property now…
Melissa: Fair enough.
Sean: All right.

— Genevieve Wong