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Miss USA Insiders Reveal the Truth BehindThe Bachelor's Pageant Feud

First Miss USA, at present The Available. Photo: Craig Sjodin/ABC

We're only a few episodes deep into Colton Underwood's proverbial "journey" to find a fiancée on The Bachelor , merely right on cue, the show's producers are feeding us a feud that could've doubled as a B-plot in Miss Congeniality. Nosotros're, of course, talking about Hannah B. and Caelynn, who competed against each other as Miss Alabama and Miss N Carolina, respectively, at last yr's Miss USA pageant, and whose rivalry has become the glittery reality-Television accelerant for a falling out between the ex-friends and roommates.

The Available has leaned heavily into a sore loser narrative of the women'due south history, given that Caelynn finished as Miss U.s.'s kickoff runner-upwardly, while Hannah B. didn't identify to a higher place the pinnacle xv. Nevertheless, upon speaking with two people with close ties to Miss Us, Vulture has learned of a more than complicated backstory that sheds lite on what actually happened between them.

As a brief recap of how The Bachelor is presenting this feud: Caelynn has said in numerous confessional interviews and individual conversations with Colton that Hannah B. was "mad that she didn't identify for sure … she wasn't happy." Meanwhile, Hannah B. has been getting an increasingly unfavorable edit from the Available producers — due, in role, to being the first woman to mention her past to Colton — and hasn't minced words about her feelings toward Caelynn. "It'due south lies that are not true," she told Colton. "But freakin' trust me, I'yard telling the truth."

Austin Ryde, a makeup artist and lensman who's worked with numerous Miss The states contestants — and who says he was Caelynn's friend for near a decade earlier a recent falling out — believes Hannah B.'due south defense, and said there wasn't one "incident" that severed the women's friendship. Rather, it was a culmination of "personalities clashing" after the 2018 pageant ended, when Hannah B. sent Caelynn a text message to express her disappointment in how she behaved throughout Miss USA.

"When Miss USA was over, Caelynn came to stay with me and my girlfriend in Los Angeles," Ryde said. "She had just gotten a text from Hannah, which I saw. I can't call up the exact wording, but the general thought of the text was Caelynn made information technology a very hard time for Hannah at Miss United states of america, and Hannah, in a very nice but direct way, said, Congratulations, you lot placing so loftier is a huge deal, but I demand you to know you lot weren't a squeamish person and not very positive, and that took away from my experience. That was the falling out."

Ryde likewise believes Hannah's comments on The Available are accurate in describing Caelynn'southward off-camera personality. "I never met Hannah, just the way Hannah describes Caelynn is exactly how I would draw her," he said. "It'southward unfortunate that people are assuming Hannah is only jealous — I should clarify, she might be, you lot never know. I don't think she's overreacting, but she made a big mistake being the first person to say something, because that's always the kickoff person to get in trouble."

A third Miss USA contestant who competed alongside Hannah B. and Caelynn in the 2018 pageant, and who requested anonymity to speak freely on the subject, corroborates Ryde's account. "My roommate at Miss USA was good friends with both of them. One of them would come into my room all the time talking bad almost the other girl while I was trying to sleep," she said. "The feud didn't showtime because Caelynn was the start runner-upwardly, that has nix to practice with it. That's a topic that the [Bachelor] producers are taking and running with. That's literally the consummate opposite of how it really went down. I think Colton is kind of stupid if he can't actually meet the difference betwixt the ii. I is genuine and completely herself, and the other is manipulative."

The contestant also claims Hannah B. and Caelynn knew each other before rooming together at the pageant. "At the end of the twenty-four hours, Miss U.s.a. is a contest. Nosotros all know one girl wins. It'due south non as catty as the producers on The Bachelor are making it seem to be. I call up Hannah and Caelynn have known each other for a very, very long time and it started way before that. It started way earlier the competition," she said. "The producers are making Hannah expect crazy, and she'southward not. She'southward simply goofy."

Like whatever good pageant contestant, neither Hannah B. nor Caelynn has publicly trashed the other since Caelynn'southward near-victory — and neither has responded to Vulture's interview requests — but they had to see each other quite a fleck in the months that followed Miss U.s.a., attributable to all those requisite philanthropic commitments. Their Instagram accounts are now relics of the friendship that was, speaking to a simpler time when they would don silky sashes and glittery crowns in broad daylight just for the hell of it. Because why not!

This story has been updated throughout.

Miss USA Insiders Reveal Truth Behind Bachelor Pageant Feud