The previous episode of ABC's dating reality show "The Bachelorette" saw Kaitlyn Bristowe taking the tough decision to send home Ben Higgins, who many thought had a sure shot at love with the Canadian dance instructor.
But it has now come to light that "The Bachelorette" producers may have pressurised Bristowe to eliminate Higgins, as they wanted to focus more on the Shawn Booth-Nick Viall feud.
"She wasn't feeling a long-term connection with [the runner-up] and felt like she was leading him on," a source told Life & Style, OK!magazine reported. "But producers loved the idea of the Shawn-Nick rivalry and wanted to play it out to the end."
The runner-up, according to spoiler guru Reality Steve, is Viall, as Bristowe will accept Booth's proposal in the season 11 finale. Steve also noted in his blog that the two are still happily engaged.
Reportedly, Bristowe still feels bad about sending Higgins home, and wouldn't have taken this decision if there weren't any external pressure, the source claimed.
"She still feels terrible about it," the source said. "If she had to do it all over again, she would have insisted on sending [the runner-up] home earlier."
Meanwhile, Monday's episode will see Bristowe facing all her eliminated contestants in the "Men Tell All" special.
Previewing what's in store on Monday's episode, "The Bachelorette" host Chris Harrison told TVGuide that Bristowe will be questioned on why she didn't find it necessary to tell Higgins about sleeping with Viall.
"It's going to be a phenomenal show," Harrison said. "It wasn't a lot of catty stuff, but more dealing with questions, like why she only told Shawn [about having sex]. We talked more to Ben, who was the only one privy to the conversation with Shawn when she said, 'You're the one,' and he really exposed that whole night and what happened, which was very enlightening. And Ian will surprise people."
"The Bachelorette" airs Mondays on ABC.
