The Bachelor star Jason Mesnick re-ignited interest in the television series after he was dumped on live TV by Bachelorette DeAnna.
After the Final Rose with Jason and DeAnna
Jason wasn't sold to the female audience because he was a wealthy prince charming but because he was a loveable single dad with an unmentioned profession. Women swooned and tuned in while handsome Jason made his decision between two women on national television.
"The Bachelor" Finale Sneak Peek
The finale ratings were huge. The dramatic season finale of ABC's The Bachelor
dominated the Monday night ratings, according to preliminary overnight
results. The two-hour final episode earned an impressive 15.5 million
viewers while the After the Rose special scored a knockout
17.5 million. It was the network's highest ratings in the adults 18-49
demographic in two and a half years
The real shock came when he turned into a jerk who dumped the woman he chose after proposing to her for the runner-up. Jason says he is not proud about his decision.
Handsome single dad Jason Mesnick opens up on his shocking decision to dump "The Bachelor" winner Melissa Rycroft and instead choose runner-up Molly Malaney.
Mesnick tells People magazine he would have rather delivered the bad news to Rycroft in private, but says the contract he signed with the show required him to make his painful declaration on TV.
"That was part of the deal. I signed up for it in my contract. Your relationship is -- good and bad -- in front of everybody," Mesnick says. "If I could have, I would have seen Melissa the night before. It killed me. It kills me now," he told People.
"I didn't say something right away because I wanted to figure out what was going in inside of me," he said. "There was part of me that wanted things to work out with Melissa so bad. But the whole other piece was I had these crazy feelings for Molly."
Mesnick, who was rejected by DeAnna Pappas on "The Bacherlotte" last year, says he knows a lot of viewers have a different opinion of him now and would say: "'That guy is a jerk.' But I'm not proud of what I had to do." source
Reality TV hit a new low (how many times have we said that?) Monday night when teary-eyed Jason Mesnick pulled a flip-flop on “The Bachelor” by first proposing to one woman and then dumping her for the woman he earlier rejected.
The finale of the ridiculous yet addictive series ended with Jason — clad in a hideous purple suit — presenting Melissa Rycroft (pictured) with a big, sparkly ring and making her “the happiest girl in the world.” And if you turned off the TV right then and there, you probably thought you just witnessed the proverbial fairy-tale ending.
But noooooo. Moments later, on the “After the Last Rose” follow-up show, Jason revealed that, in the weeks after production ended, “the chemistry started changing” and that he couldn’t stop thinking about the other woman — Molly Malaney.
And so what did Jason do? Did he talk to Melissa beforehand and let her down gently? No, he decided to break up on national TV with host Chris Harrison serving as a third wheel (at least producers were “thoughtful” enough to eliminate the studio audience).
Melissa was brought in and when Jason broke the news to her, she had trouble processing it all. ”I thought things were perfect,” she said. … “Why did you put a ring on my finger?” she wondered. “I trusted you with everything.”
“You’re such a bastard,” she muttered under her breath.
When Harrison left them alone, she expressed her hurt and bewilderment: “You know, I’ve been through a ton of heartbreak. You’ve been through a ton of heartbreak. That’s why I’m baffled by this. It doesn’t make sense. You should know better.”
And then she issued an order: “Don’t call me. Don’t text me any more. Leave me alone please.”
After a commercial break, out came Molly, who heard from Jason that “I ended things with (Melissa) because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
And then Jason goes on to babble something about starting over and taking it slow and blah, blah, blah. All the while, a stunned Molly sat there with furrowed brows and looking like she just got punk’d.
“I mean I’m very confused. I think we still have a lot to talk about, but my feelings never went away,” Molly said. “I think we can see where things go.”
For his part, Mesnick — who now will be fondly known by women everywhere as the biggest scum-ball ever produced by “The Bachelor” (and that’s quite an accomplishment), admits that what he did was not the “classiest or coolest thing in the world,” but, hey, you’ve got to follow your heart.
Classy and cool would be the last words to describe this reality TV whimp. Both women deserved better. source
