Trista and Ryan Sutter Get Why a Bachelor Would Jump a Fence

Celebrities

Trista Sutter (née Rehn) has seen pretty much every nook and cranny of Bachelor Nation. She was the runner-up during the reality dating shows precedent-setting first season, starring Alex Michel as the first Bachelor; she was the franchises inaugural Bachelorette; and she also swears shes seen every single season of every Bachelor offshoot. And why not? For Sutter, the show proved to be life-changing—not least because she and Ryan, who now live in Vail, Colorado, form one of the only couples from the franchise who have had a long and lasting marriage.

But that doesnt mean she and Ryan see the franchise through rose-colored glasses. Shortly before their love story—from The Bachelor Season 1, to The Bachelorettes first season, to their televised wedding special—becomes available to stream exclusively on the free service Tubi on April 1, the two told V.F. that being on the show could be total hell, thanks to the unrelenting, hawk-like gaze of its producers, and their propensity for string-pulling. As the two reflected on Colton Underwoods recent Bachelor season—and particularly his infamous fence jump—Ryan recalled a moment when he, too, had to give producers the slip.

“Especially as you get toward the end [of the season], your emotions become real,” Ryan said. “If youre a person like Colton seems to be, and like I was, you just need a break; you just need some time to think about things . . . You just need to escape.” In his case, he said, the breaking point came on the day of his proposal to Trista during The Bachelorette Season 1. A producer had arranged to shoot the requisite getting-ready footage at his hotel—but in a moment of rebellion, Ryan woke up early and left before the team could arrive. In the moment, Ryan recalls, he was thinking, “Enough was enough. I was like, This could potentially be one of the biggest days of my life. Im not gonna sit here and, like, let a bunch of people I dont know document that, and ask me a bunch of stupid questions that Im tired of answering.”

“I think thats what happened with Colton,” he added. “Hes like, There goes the girl that I want at the end of the show, and I can either stay on course and let the producers dictate where this is gonna go, and end up with the wrong person, or I can take action, jump this fence, get away, and make this the way I want it. I think its really kind of admirable that he bucked the trend.”

Any seasoned Bachelor fan has struggled while trying to discern where participants free will ends and the whims of producers begin. Trista said she was proud of the franchise and its producers this year for loosening the reins a little on Colton, and allowing his love story with the seasons winner, Cassie, to unfold Read More

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Vanity Fair

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