Remember the big pool sex drama that shut down production on Bachelor in Paradise a little over two months ago?
Corinne Olympios has now given an interview in which she appears to exonerate her co-star DeMario Jackson, and blames her own disinhibition on the fact that she “overdrank” while on new medication and blacked out.
Olympios and Jackson were said to have engaged in aquaphilic activity that involved genitals, faces, and licking after a boozy session at the bar—while the cameras were rolling.
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Full sexual intercourse was not accomplished on account of intoxication, according to TMZ’s contemporaneous report of the incident.
This apparently made one of the show’s producers so “uncomfortable” that they filed a formal complaint with Warner Bros., which immediately suspended production, launched an investigation, and “released” DeMario and Corinne from their contracts.
The Warner Bros. investigation found no evidence of misconduct, and production subsequently resumed.
Some cynics suggested at the time that this might be confected outrage; after all it was nothing more than two consenting adults doing exactly what contestants on BIP are meant to do, albeit a little more enthusiastically than storyboarded. Some suggested it might not be damaging to the show’s ratings either.
Last week DeMario gave his side of the story: When he was asked about being accused of sexual assault, he said, “It’s every man’s nightmare.”
The show was widely criticized for appearing to allow DeMario to portray himself as a victim. He said, for example, that what Corinne went through was “just a little bit more intense” than what he went through.
Well, now here comes Corinne with her big reveal interview, on last night’s episode. Yes, even though Olympios and Jackson were both “released” by the show, they’re back!
Olympios told host Chris Harrison: “This is my first time talking about what happened and my take on things and I would love for everyone to just have a better understanding of me,” she said.
“The first day, unfortunately, I don’t remember much of. I definitely overdrank, I did. I was also on some medicine that you’re not supposed to drink on, which I didn’t know. The combination of the two is just not a good combination, I am now weaning myself off that medication.”
The strangest part of the whole interview was when Olympios basically said that because she was such a “fun” person there was “no way” for DeMario or the production crew to know she was “mentally checked out... which is beyond scary, but it is what it is I guess. I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. I just think that it was, again, an unfortunate and annoying situation that had to go down and it really sucks.”
She exonerated Jackson of any wrongdoing, saying: “I honestly don’t feel like he did anything wrong,” and later adding, “I really just want people to know that I don’t blame DeMario. I never pointed fingers at DeMario. I never said a bad word about DeMario.”
