The promotional event of the Bachelor In Paradise season is upon us — fearing that she’d lose Jared, her love, Ashley I. begged Chris Harrison for an overnight date so that she and Jared could spend some one-on-one time and maybe, just possibly, she could lose her virginity to him? I don’t at all believe that Ashley I. would lose her virginity to anyone unless she was in a committed, monogamous relationship and not on a TV show — that’s what she’s been waiting for this whole time, isn’t it? — but if that’s what the producers want me to think, so be it. Jared made an appearance on After Paradise, and of course, he was asked about it. In true Jared style, he was a total gentleman about the whole thing.
Jared admitted to Chris, Jenny Mollen, and special guest Molly Tarlov that Ashley inviting Jared to a Fantasy Suite date was “a little awkward," but that Ashley and he are “both adults” who know that “time is the most valuable thing” when it comes to being on Bachelor In Paradise. They wanted to spend more time together without cameras in the Fantasy Suite, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that they were doing the hibbity dibbity. (And by the way, it’s also no one’s business.)
When pressed as to why he accepted the date from Ashley if he wasn’t even sure that he liked her, Jared said that “love works in mysterious ways”, and sometimes, you don’t realize the person that you should be with is standing right in front of you. Does that mean that Jared and Ashley are secretly married and off somewhere planning on having babies? I mean, I sure hope so, but Jared’s answer was just diplomatic enough to make me feel like it’s not true.
In any case, all of Jared’s responses on After Paradise were perfect — he was kind, thoughtful, and totally respectful of whatever actually happened between him and Ashley in the Fantasy Suite that night. Because, as I’ve said before, it’s really nobody’s business but theirs.
Images: ABC/Rick Rowell
