Sounds like “true love” wasn’t exactly true life for former Bachelorette couple Shawn Booth and Kaitlyn Bristowe!

On a Thursday afternoon podcast interview about his love life and past relationship with the high-profile Bachelorette alum, Shawn got very real about what it was like to be on the hit ABC dating show.

And considering Shawn has recently been in the news regarding some of his feuds that season, anyways, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect!

Related: Former ‘Bachelorette’ Star Is In Love Again… So Who Is Her Mystery Boyfriend?!

Chatting with the hosts of the health-and-fitness podcast Austin AF, the 34-year-old former reality TV competition show champion admitted that he and Kaitlyn “got put through the ringer” during and after their run on the show.

Shawn said:

“Any little thing to mess with me, mess with her, [the show] did. So I think that definitely grew our relationship, because they were trying to pull us apart the entire time. Because they needed a show. It’s a business.”

In fact, Shawn was pointedly critical of the engagement itself, claiming it didn’t “feel real” when he popped the question to Kaitlyn in the show’s final episode;

“At that point, it was like, I am so, so worn down mentally, emotionally, physically. I knew we were gonna end up together for, like, a long time on that show. I never, never really had a doubt, like, ever. I was always like, ‘Yep, she’s gonna pick me.’ And then that last night was just like, ‘Let’s just get this over with and get out of here.’ I was asking [producers], like, ‘What if I don’t propose, like, I mean, this is kind of a big deal.’ And they’re basically like, ‘If you don’t propose, then everyone is gonna hate you.'”

Wow!

We know The Bachelorette is far more than what viewers see on TV, of course, but that’s quite the assertion!

Shawn continued on from there, admitting that while he and Kaitlyn were very good on camera together, they maybe didn’t have quite as strong of a connection built-in behind the scenes:

“We were very good at having fun and showing the world that we had fun. Being in love, and doing the whole love thing, we weren’t that good at behind closed doors, and I think there was some sense of, like, a trauma bond. I’ll always be connected to her in that way. We’ll always have that bond, like, we went through something that I mean, a handful of people in the world have gone through.”

No kidding!

Related: Kaitlyn Opens Up About Her Failed Relationship With Shawn Following The ‘Bachelorette’ Run

The chat got interesting from there, too, with Shawn revealing how he and Kaitlyn were forced to hide out for more than 14 weeks while waiting for the show to air to the world.

He recalled what that lifestyle was like, explaining that they even used Disney codenames to move around undetected after they won the show but had to wait for everything to be revealed on TV:

“You’d have to fly under an alias. Somebody would come and pick me up at my house and be like, ‘Eric?’ I’d be like, ‘Yeah. I’m Eric.’ Because she was Ariel. Like on The Little Mermaid. And so then, we would travel under those names and then she would go to this house in one car. I would get taken to that house a few hours later, and the house would be like, in the middle of L.A., somewhere where it’s completely secluded — trees, fence, like, you’re not allowed to leave the property. Every counter has just booze and food and they’re like, ‘Alright, don’t leave. Have fun.’ It’s just like, alright, so let’s just get drunk, eat and do other things that newly in-love couples do.”

Damn!

We knew a little bit about that part of the Bachelor Nation lifestyle, of course, but that’s wild!

Ultimately, though, Shawn revealed that because of his own experience on the show, he was entirely skeptical of every future Bachelor Nation couple. Brand deals and social media promotion don’t help either, he said:

“Now I don’t trust anything. It’s a whole different ball game with that. You do have brand deals. And that’s why I look at relationships now from The Bachelor [and] I’m like, ‘Are they actually happy?'”

We wonder the same thing, man. We wonder the same thing…

What about U, Perezcious readers??

Share your thoughts with us down in the comments (below)!

[Image via Joseph Marzullo/WENN]

The post <i>Bachelorette</i> Winner Shawn Booth Laments Being 'Put Through The Ringer' By Show's Producers appeared first on Perez Hilton.