MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for The Bachelorette Hannah Brown's 2019 Season 15.
The Bachelorette Season 15 fans marveled at the irony, watching Jed Wyatt confront Bachelorette Hannah Brown about Luke Parker. Jed said he cared about Hannah and wanted to see her with the best person, not someone like Luke who lies and twists words. He couldn't see how someone as amazing as Hannah could even consider someone like Luke P.
Well! Many fans threw that right back at Wrong Reasons Jed, considering what's come out about Jed and his alleged girlfriend back home during The Bachelorette. Jed will finally get a chance to share his side of things this week during The Bachelorette finale's "After the Final Rose" special. He's been contractually obligated to stay silent, it seems, with the scoop saved for TV time.
Jed was open with Hannah early in Season 15 to say he went on The Bachelorette 2019 to promote his music career. But he left out the part about Haley Stevens waiting for him back home. In Haley's words to People:
We spent the night together the night before he headed to L.A. [for The Bachelorette]. He told me [the show] was just an obstacle and we’d be stronger on the other side because of it. ... He called me when he landed in L.A. He said, ‘I love you, and I’ll call you when I get back.'
When Jed got back to Nashville after filming, he never called Haley, and she later confronted him at a music venue and he didn't know what to say.
The timing of the situation was awkward, because spoiler guru Reality Steve initially said Bachelorette Hannah would pick the popular Tyler C. in the end, with Jed as her runner-up. Then the spoilers changed to Jed being Hannah's fiancée. With all of the information Haley had shared -- plus word, separately, that Jed was cheating with another women while he was dating Haley -- it wasn't a good look for Hannah's new Chosen One.
Plus, Bachelorette Hannah had set a precedent on her own premiere night by kicking out Scott for having a girlfriend back home. Jed didn't speak up about his own relationship. According to Steve, Jed did tell Hannah about Haley -- after they got engaged in Greece. How much did he tell her? That's the kind of thing Jed can share from his own perspective this Tuesday.
After Haley's stories came out, Reality Steve updated that Bachelorette Hannah had broke off her engagement with Jed. Shortly after that, he said Hannah had broken up with Jed completely. Steve added that the break-up happened in L.A. and was filmed and we'd see it in the second night of the "After the Final Rose" special. If that's still the plan, we should see that on Tuesday, July 30.
Bachelor Nation host Chris Harrison is also going to return to serious interview mode, after his very long -- and often awkward -- talk with Luke P. during the "Men Tell All" special. Harrison told ET he is going to go in with fresh eyes to get the truth from Jed's side.
Jed, kind of like with Luke [Parker], here's your platform. You have some explaining to do, go. And tell me your story. Tell me your side of the story. I'm not going into this believing Haley. I'm not going into this believing Jed. I don't have a horse in this race… my horse is the truth.
So far, Jed has only spoken out on social media to say, in part:
Several of you have reached out with messages and questions. Please know I’m not able to answer right now, but as soon as I’m able to, I will. ... I want to thank all of you who have reached out or reserved judgement until I am able to speak openly and I can only ask for your patience and kindness until then.
Jed also asked that fans back off with threatening letters and phone calls against his own family.
It's The Bachelorette itself that has prevented Jed from trying to clear his own name to this point, since the show wants to milk that moment. Chris Harrison already sounds like he's half-defending Jed even before the "After the Final Rose" interview:
Before we indict Jed, before we throw him in prison, before we stone him, let's let him speak, and he has not had a chance to speak on his behalf. I will say that part of what she said is true -- he came on the show to promote his career. He admitted that. It's not shocking where this may have ended up, but he was as honest as anybody I've ever seen in that moment. Where it goes from there? It's up to him.
Chris Harrison told ET he isn't afraid of getting into specifics with Jed, but he doesn't plan to get too intense. (Why not? If everyone is going to stone Luke P., why not go even harder on the guy Bachelorette Hannah supposedly picked?) However, Harrison added this of Jed:
He should be prepared to have some answers coming into the finale.
He'll have his story ready, no doubt. If Chris Harrison goes easy on Jed, and the always easily led studio audience is shown and/or edited to look supportive or sympathetic or anything other than how they viewed Luke P., will that salvage Jed's reputation? If it's true that Hannah already dumped him, would she take him back if Jed was still more liked by fans? The guys in the house liked Jed well enough, and that seemed important to Hannah.
Jed is much better at communicating his thoughts than Luke P., who backtracked and accused others of misunderstanding him. So there's a good chance Jed will come out smelling like a rose, despite everything. I can't say that's what I want -- it sounds like he's hurt and humiliated more people than Luke P. ever did -- but I won't be shocked if he brushes all of this off very quickly.
The Bachelorette 2019 finale airs this Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC. Then we have Bachelor in Paradise 2019 also airing Mondays and Tuesdays starting August 5.
