Katie Morton, who was on Colton Underwood's season of The Bachelor and Bachelor In Paradise season 6, recently appeared on the most recent episode of Mouthing Off with Olivia Caridi to talk about everything from her narcolepsy to her experience on The Bachelor to her recent breakup with ex-fiancée and fellow BIP contestant Chris Bukowski. In the end, however, she described a "traumatic experience" that the BIP producers put her through simply for the sake of good TV. Now that her contract has ended, she took the chance to really tell all.
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Morton and Bukowski got engaged at the end of the Bachelor spin-off show, but their relationship was a bit of a rollercoaster leading up to the proposal. The two of them basically have different love languages and a hard time communicating. At the Bachelor In Paradise reunion, the world saw Katie emerge onto the stage — without her engagement ring — as she tearfully talked about her relationship issues with Bukowski. "I just put in so much effort every day, and I love him so much," Morton told host Chris Harrison. "But I put in so much that my tank empties. And if I'm not getting it filled, I break down."
On the podcast, however, Morton revealed that while things weren't going well with her fiancée at the time she had no idea she'd be brought out by herself and put on the spot in front of Bukowski. "The producers kept me in a trailer for six hours," she said. "Their plans were to bring me on stage alone."
More importantly, they had asked for her ring and didn't know that they had also planned to keep it during the broadcast. It was completely staged. "I asked for it, and they said no. They brought it out during a time when they felt it was necessary," she continued. "Whenever I get really stressed I'll also randomly cry. So Chris Harrison said, 'I see you're not wearing your ring,' And that was a breath of like, If I could only f-ing say it... I didn't know how to say that this wasn't my choice."
When Bukowski was brought on stage, he was taken aback by the situation as well, and according to Morton, never really forgave her for not having her ring onstage, especially since Morton had vowed to not hurt him publicly. As a result, Morton said since they broke up after the show, Bukowski and she don't keep in touch — in fact, he's the only ex-boyfriend she's ever unfollowed on social media.
The experience seemed to really pain the reality star, and she underscored how much the producers toyed with her already uncomfortable and fraught relationship on purpose. And if Morton has a "traumatic" experience like this, we can only imagine what other stories other Bachelor alum have to tell when their contracts expire.