Well, this is becoming a disturbing pattern.
Earlier this week, it was revealed the controversial winner of season 21 of The Bachelorette, Devin Strader, had a dark past involving abuse allegations — and several temporary restraining orders. Now there’s a contestant on the first-ever season of The Golden Bachelorette with a similar issue!
Joan Vassos‘ season of the new ABC dating show premiered on Wednesday — and just ONE day later, People uncovered that one of her suitors has a past including stalking and harassment allegations! Jeez!
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On Thursday, People obtained legal papers describing accusations Gil Ramirez had stalked and emotionally harassed an ex-girlfriend. A temporary restraining order for “harassment — emotional” was granted on June 11, per a court filing. Yes, June of THIS YEAR! This basically just happened a few weeks ago! Yikes! In the docs, the woman said:
“Despite telling him to not contact me, come to my house — he made repeated unwanted contact with me, family members and friends. […] 25 attempts daily via phone, texts, video. Although lives an hour away — showed up at places I frequent to confront me on a daily basis.”
She clarified that he never physically harmed her. That said, the harassment had allegedly been going on for a “two week period thus far.” She requested Gil not contact her and stay away from her home, her workplace, her vehicle, and her children’s school. Yeesh! Sounds scary! A judge granted the temporary restraining order on the same day, setting a hearing for July 2.
The hearing was ultimately postponed as the order was unable to be served to the educator. A new date for the hearing was set for July 24 and the temporary restraining order stayed in place. But by the next hearing, the woman was “sworn and testifie[d]” and “the case [was] dismissed without prejudice for lack of prosecution for lack of service,” the court minutes noted. The temporary restraining order was also dropped.
What’s concerning is that this legal matter seemingly slipped past the Bachelor producers! Just like Devin! A source close to the show told People that “this filing occurred in the brief period between completion of our thorough background investigation and exhaustive vetting process, and the beginning of production.” In fact, the source said it was filed JUST DAYS before production began. Jeez. So that means, he was still allegedly stalking this woman right up to heading to the mansion for the first rose ceremony??
It’s kinda concerning that this was going on and producers didn’t know! They owe it to their stars to be even more thorough about matters like this in the future!
Despite not catching onto the legal drama until after the fact, the insider shared that now that the info has come to light, the series has “further edited his already limited screen time and minimized him in promotional assets moving forward.” Guess that’s better than nothing.
Spoiler alert: the 60-year-old from Mission Viejo, California did receive a rose at the end of the first episode. But if it’s so easy to edit him out, then he must not last much longer. That’s certainly better than being the final one standing!
Thoughts? Share them in the comments (below).
[Image via Bachelor Nation on ABC/YouTube & ABC]
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