‘The Bachelor’: Arkansas ABC affiliate talks cutting Raven Gates’ story about her ex

On Monday night’s new episode of “The Bachelor,” we had what was arguably one of the more entertaining one-on-one date moments we’ve seen in a long time as Raven Gates chose to inform Nick Viall of some of her relationship history while at dinner — namely, an ex who cheated on her. When she saw him in bed with another woman, she had a reaction that involved taking a stiletto heel to the guy.

While this is obviously not the sort of behavior you ever want to endorse, at the same time it could make for great television … provided that everyone had a chance to see it. As we reported yesterday, a local ABC affiliate in Gates’ home state of Arkansas chose to censor the entirety of the date, and at the same time did not offer up too much of a reason as to why they made said move … at least until now.

Speaking to the Washington Post in a brief interview on the subject, KATV General Manager Mark Rose chalks up the mistake to just that — a mistake, as someone in the master control department mistimed when the show was meant to go to commercial:

“I’m obviously not pleased [with] what happened … We’re trying to put things in place so it doesn’t happen again.”

We’re not going to question Rose’s story, but we do have to say that if this is the case, it’s a case of VERY bad timing. How many occasions have there ever been in the history of “The Bachelor” for Little Rock, Arkansas to be the focal point of a date? Pretty much never, and yet, that was precisely what ended up being the case here. Right when the area starts to get a little bit of publicity, something like this happens.

The one reason that we have to buy into what Rose is saying (beyond, of course, doing the polite thing and taking him at his word) is remembering that he doesn’t gain much of anything from hiding Raven’s story about her ex. EVERY OTHER STATION out there is broadcasting it, so it’s not a secret to anyone in this age of social media. Also, you can find the clip of the story online. It’s not a secret.

What do you make of this whole situation, and of Rose’s response? Share some of your reactions to it in the comments!