Usually, when a former Bachelor is put out to pasture, the denizens of Bachelor Nation quickly move on to more timely matters.

Sure, we might hear occasional updates about the ex-rose-distributor’s love life, but it’s not often that they continue making tabloid headlines.

But Nick Viall has been in the news a lot lately for reasons both good — and not so pleasant.

First, Viall got engaged to Natalie Joy, a development that the couple announced with a collection of sultry engagement photos.

But shortly after Nick and Natalie shared their joy with fans, the podcast host found himself enmeshed in a strange controversy involving his time on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season of The Bachelorette.

As you may recall, Nick joined the season in week four, and he and Kaitlyn really made a connection.

In fact, they hit it off so well that they wound up having sex before the Fantasy Suite round.

At the time, Kaitlyn received some backlash for the decision.

And in a recent interview, she claimed that producers seemed to encourage her to get it on with Nick.

“They really sexualized Nick to me. … One producer actually said to me, after I would kiss him, she’d come in and, like, wipe my lips and, like, lick her lips and be like, ‘Oh, I just want to know what that tastes like — to, like, make out with Nick,’” Bristowe said on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast.

“They really, like, put them on a pedestal to me. … That was part of their tactic. … I was brainwashed,” she alleged.

Kaitlyn didn’t allege any wrongdoing on Nick’s part, but not surprisingly, he’s not a fan of the accusation that she was brainwashed into sleeping with him.

He addressed the issue on the latest episode of his “Viall Files” podcast.

“Was she suggesting because someone asked her, I guess, what my breath smells like or how I tasted, that from that moment forward, she was incapable of decision making?” Nick asked.

He went on to suggest that that’s the sort of banter that takes place on camera, and he even claimed that a certain producer has a reputation for making that sort of remark.

“I can picture who it was. I know [which producer] it was, if it’s true,” he said.

Obviously, this isn’t the first time that a former Bachelor or Bachelorette contestant has complained about feeling manipulated by producers.

In fact, just about every one of the show’s leads has claimed that they realized rather quickly that they were there not to find love, but to make compelling reality TV.

That’s just the nature of the beast.

But Kaitlyn’s allegation struck a nerve with a lot of people, as the idea of producers coercing a female star into having sex with someone crosses the line between ethics violations into potential criminal territory.

Now, we don’t think that Bristowe intended to accuse anyone of breaking the law, or even pressuring her to do something that she didn’t want to do.

Still, there’s an undeniable ickiness to this story, and we hope the Bachelor crew will keep allegations like this in mind when interacting with the show’s current stars.

Nick Viall: Kaitlyn Bristowe Was NOT Brainwashed Into Having Sex With Me! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.