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After months of rumors about why ABCs hit Bachelor in Paradise shut down production after allegations of possible misconduct between contestants Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson, the show which was cleared in an investigation finally provided some answers Tuesday night in a sitdown with host Chris Harrison and the cast.

It was an educational experience, as Harrison led a lessonon sexual consent (Ifsomebodys passed out, unresponsive, can they give consent? If somebodys drunk, can they give consent?). The contestants shared their thoughtson whether race was a factor because the alleged controversy was abouta black man and a white woman. (Unfortunately, yes.)

The episodewas also pretty cringeworthy damage control, relieving the show of any responsibility, complete with a dose of media-bashing. Here are some other takeaways:

[Bachelor in Paradise addresses scandal in most frustrating way possible in the premiere]

1) Bachelor in Paradiseis a beautiful show with only pure intentions to help people find love.

Did you think Bachelor in Paradise was just a seedy Bachelor spin-off where former contestants try to extend their 15 minutes of fame and drink and hook up? Then thats your problem, because actually, it is truly a life-affirming experiencefor lost souls just trying to find a partner.

The episode started the wedding of Evan Bass and Carly Waddell, who met and got engaged last season. Even though our production was technically shut down, we didnt want anyone to miss this joyous occasion, Harrison explained. How annoying when producers on your showare so disturbed by a situationthat they have to file complaints about possible misconduct before a made-for-TV wedding can happen.

Luckily, the wedding took place. This is going to be the most beautiful wedding ever. Carly and Evan are completely a testament to what Paradise can do for people, sighed contestant Sarah Herron in an on-camera interview.

2) Bachelor in Paradise producers and ABC are completely blameless.

The gist of the controversy:Production shut down after anincident in a pool between DeMario Jackson and Corinne Olympios, or, as People reported,possiblya drunk sexual encounter with a female contestant who may have been too intoxicated to consent. Olympios hired a lawyerand said she was a victim; Jacksonsaid the reports were false and character assassination. An investigation found the footage showed no misconduct. Production started again, though without Jacksonand Olympios.

The second half of the episode kicked off as Harrison gathered the cast around for a Very Serious Talk. On Monday, viewers briefly saw footage of Jacksonand Olympios laughing and cuddling in the pool; Tuesday, there was no such footage. But producers really want the audience to know that they did absolutely nothing wrong.

Warner Bros. hired an outside firm to look into everything that supposedly happened here, Harrison said. They looked at all the video footage, sent people down here to interview all of you, our staff. They concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct by cast on the set. So lets talk about that. Do you trust that conclusion?

There was a large chorus of Yes! and Absolutely. I was confident that nothing happened between DeMario and Corinne that was bad, and I trusted everyone that worked here, so I knew everything was gonna be okay, declared Raven Gates.

My biggest worry was for not only production, because I felt like they were kind of blamed, shecontinued. And then my worry was for DeMario and Corinne because we knew what happened, but it was so unfair the way that people were speaking about DeMario and the blame he was getting and the horrible things said to him, and Corinne both.

3) Bachelor in Paradise producers would never coerce contestants to do anything, especially drink, and how dare you even think that.

After the Paradise shutdown, theseries got a lot of backlash for the amount of booze on the show,as former contestants have describedhow producers will encourage cast members to drinkto help provoke drama. After the shutdown, the show implemented new safety policies, and one was reportedly a limit on alcohol.

The Bachelor in Paradise cast, however, was incredibly offended that anyone would think the producers dont have their best interests at heart.

I feel like it was tough on all of us emotionally producers, crew, cast. So, for me, it was nice to see all of us kind of, like, come together, said Taylor Nolan. The divides in the roles of producers versus cast kind of blended, and we all, like, supported one another.

Thats a good point, Harrison agreed. I know you guys get close, but a lot of tears were shed that night. It was a really rough, emotional not even just that night. The days that followed as well, on the men and women you see standing behind the cameras right here. It was brutal. It was really rough, and in the 16 years Ive been doing this, easily the most emotional time that weve ever been through as far as a show.

Derek Peth jumped in to agree that the producers are certainly not at fault.I think theres a weird perception that exists out there, that were not in control of ourselves when were here. And that theres this puppet master thing occurring

Evil, manipulative producers, sneered one female cast member.

We all know how, like, realistic the friendships are amongst the cast and then the crew and the producers, Pethcontinued. I mean, its not some sort of crazy

You guys arent mindless robots? Harrison interruptedsarcastically.

Right, Pethsaid, as everyone laughed appreciatively.

Nolan who emphasized that she doesnt drink and the producers have never tried to encourage her rolled her eyes at viewers who come up to her and say that they love her character.

Like, were all real people just being ourselves, she said. Everything that we do here and that we say here is because we decide to.

4) Its all the medias fault, anyway.

A popular opinion these days, and the Paradise cast rolled with it.

It was just hard going back home and seeing, like, the media blow it so out of proportion, Alexis Waters explained.

I think there was a lot in the media regarding the producers as if theyre not our friends and that theyre just using us to make us do things, like were gonna just do whatever they say, Alex Woytkiw agreed.

They also blamed on the press for how Jacksonand Olympioswere portrayed.

Iggy Rodriguezsaid of DeMario,He has his faults. I think we all do. It was just really hard to see him typecast as this individual who sort of almost created the event, right? I think it was a really unfair representation of what happened.

5) No one is sure why Olympiosreferred to herself as a victim.

Before Olympiosstated that her own investigation into the incident was completed to her satisfaction, she released this statement: I am a victim and have spent the last week trying to make sense of what happened on June 4as a woman, this is my worst nightmare and it has now become my reality.

In one bizarre segment,Harrison asked, In Corinnes statement, she referred to herself as a victim. Why do you think she did that?

There was a pause. Maybe she wanted to try and save face, offered Danielle Maltby. That was kind of what I took from it.

It was a very vague statement, and it was left to interpretation by design, Woytkiwadded. And its unfortunate.

I dont think Corinnes statements came from her, Peth declared. It was a very vague lawyer statement and so it was really interesting to see how that vague statement was turned into an opinion, right? Which wasnt said. There was no statements about who was in the right, who was in the wrong. But instantly people made their decisions about that.

Read more:

Rob Kardashians meltdown, Bachelor controversy: This summer is exposing ugly truths of reality TV

Bachelor in Paradise host says theres a lot of misinformation out there about show shutdown

Bachelor in Paradise star hires lawyer after alleged misconduct that shut down the show

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'Bachelor in Paradise' somehow sinks to new low with media-bashing damage control - Washington Post