The fine folks from past seasons of Bachelor Nation are re-living their time on camera… again!

Let’s toss it back to 2015 for this one — back when Kaitlyn Bristowe took the helm as the romantic lead on season 11 of The Bachelorette. That year, the Canadian-born starlet brought contestant Nick Viall all the way to the very end of the show’s run before eventually picking Shawn Booth as the one she wanted to love forever.

Of course, things with Booth didn’t work out. Bristowe has since moved on to fellow Bachelor Nation alum Jason Tartick. But she’s still down to talk about 2015, even eight years later. And Viall is, too. The drama never ends! LOLz!!!

Related: Kaitlyn Got So NSFW About Sex On Her Podcast That Fiancé Jason Tartick Lost His Job!

So, this all (re)started late last month. The 37-year-old Canadian went on Amanda Hirsch‘s podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat and spoke openly about how she was manipulated into pursuing Viall during her Bachelorette run. The ex-lead raised listeners’ eyebrows by saying this about how the 42-year-old man was “sexualized” to her by producers during filming:

“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 — who infamously slept with Nick before the show’s fantasy suite capper — also claimed she was “brainwashed” behind the scenes by producers prodding her for a storyline:

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

Well then!

Now, more than a week after Bristowe’s podcast comments first hit the air, Nick is making some of his own. In the most recent episode of his podcast Viall Files, which first hit the airwaves on Tuesday, the Wisconsin native admitted he was a little confused by Kaitlyn’s comments. He said:

“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?”

Oof…

And the season 21 Bachelor didn’t stop there. In fact, he admitted Kaitlyn could be telling the truth as far as nosy manipulation from producers is concerned. He explained how he doesn’t think what happened was “brainwashing,” but nevertheless he has an idea about which behind-the-scenes staffer could have been responsible:

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

Hmmm! Very interesting!

The Don’t Text Your Ex Happy Birthday author had one more bone to pick with Kaitlyn, too. In her Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast chat, Bristowe joked about how Nick might invite her and fiancé Jason Tartick to his wedding to Natalie Joy following Viall’s recent engagement — but only “for headlines.”

Related: Nick Relives ‘Uncomfortable’ Moment Corinne Olympios Went Topless On Group Date!

Nick wasn’t feeling that humor, though. He said he will not be inviting Bristowe to his nuptials with Joy, and also let the world know how he feels about that joke:

“It doesn’t make any sense. I think the whole thing is kind of dumb. … I don’t, like, defend the show. [But] it’s cherry picking that some of my peers seem to do when it’s beneficial to them to criticize certain things. I tell you who felt really manipulated and brainwashed on Kaitlyn’s season: this guy. And it wasn’t just from producers.”

He continued on, too, tying Kaitlyn’s comments to the bigger picture he sees with some of the problematic looks former show stars tend to take at old Bachelor drama:

“While angry and brainwashed and manipulated in the moment, I have said thank you to people — including Kaitlyn — about how things played out. Whether they were deserving of that thank you or not, or whether they had my best intentions in the moment or not, I’m still grateful for all of it. And so, I just try to look at it from that level and that lens from, like, 30,000 feet [away], rather than, ‘today, I’m going to play the victim because it serves me well and tomorrow, I’m going to pretend when it’s affecting someone else that it’s a TV show.'”

Inneresting! Do U agree with Nick’s take on how these reality stars attempt to manipulate and morph the stories of their time in the public record long after the fact? Or are U cool with where Kaitlyn took things during her prior podcast chat?!

Sound OFF about all this with your thoughts down in the comments (below), Perezcious readers…

[Image via Joseph Marzullo/WENN/Instar]

The post Nick Viall Responds HARD After Kaitlyn Bristowe Claimed <i>Bachelorette</i> Producers 'Brainwashed' Her! appeared first on Perez Hilton.