Maria Georgas is sharing her side of the story.
The former Bachelor contestant – who appeared on season 28 of the long-running franchise alongside the most recent Bachelorette, Jenn Tran – issued a lengthy statement via TikTok after she was pulled into Jenn and Devin Strader‘s breakup drama earlier this week.
“Last night was hard to watch, and my heart goes out to Jenn,” Maria began, referring to the After the Final Rose episode, in which it was revealed that Devin broke off his and Jenn’s engagement in a phone call. “I can’t speak on her relationship. The only two people who can speak on her relationship are her and Devin.”
She continued, “I’m over coming to defense for my character … I know who I am and my friends and family know who I am. The fact that I had you guys watch me through a screen and still be able to see how real I was, I have no words. I understand Jenn having to speak up about it – say your piece, girlfriend, I respect it. I just think without the full context, it leads people to believe a whole different narrative.”
“Yes, Devin followed me on Instagram,” she added. “I don’t pay attention to who follows me and who doesn’t. I had no clue about that, until people brought it to my attention. I didn’t know. And by that time, when I found out, he had unfollowed. Let me clear the air on something. I have never met Devin before.”
During AFR, Jenn confronted Devin, questioning why he followed Maria on Instagram the morning after their split. She also alleged that he went “clubbing” with fellow contestant Jeremy Simons instead of mourning their breakup.
“I never went clubbing out with him,” Maria claimed. “He did his own thing. Did I go out with Jeremy – a night with friends, a bunch of us together? Yes, I did.”
Noting that she’s “meeting people through friends” and “that’s very normal,” Maria said she would “not apologize” for mingling.
“I can’t control who follows who,” she continued. “But what I can control is what I do about it. And what I’m doing is not following back. And I never followed back. Now seeing how things transpired, I will never follow that man. And people knew that. So the fact that this whole thing has come out now, and the story has changed, is beyond me. I have nothing to do with the ending of the relationship. Like I said, that is on them to speak about.”
“My character, my innocence, my peace is important to me. And I will not f–k that up for no one,” she concluded. “This is the last thing I want. Let’s just put it to rest.”
