Bachelor in Paradise cancellation not official after DeMario Jackson incident

There has certainly been plenty of talk surrounding a Bachelor in Paradise cancellation over the past 24 hours. However, nothing is official just yet.

Let’s backtrack for a moment to the origins of this story, for those who haven’t heard the latest. Production was suspended over the past several days following an incident on the show’s set in Mexico between contestants Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson. There are multiple accounts surrounding what happened, but it was reportedly sexual in nature and extreme enough that it led to a producer not showing up to work and suing production for misconduct in the workplace. Given that there are so many different reports out there, it doesn’t feel right to present any side of the story without an accurate opposing viewpoint. What seems to be universally true per reports is that the incident was fueled largely by alcohol, which tends to flow freely around the show’s set.

Per Entertainment Weekly, ABC head Channing Dungey had the following to say in a statement:

“Warner Horizon produces the show so we have to wait for them to conclude their investigation before any next steps.”

This certainly can be viewed as ABC shirking all responsibility for the incident and handing it over to the studio, but that’s also accurate given that they are the people down on set monitoring what was going on. Network executives were likely not present at the time of the incident.

Effectively, ABC is waiting to see the results of the investigation before determining the future of the show. There are obviously good things that have come out of the Bachelor in Paradise franchise, including one wedding (Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert) and another between Evan Bass and Carly Waddell that seems to be coming in the near future. This franchise also pushed Nick Viall towards being The Bachelor this past summer. Yet, if this incident was serious enough to the point that a crime was committed, this is enough to upset the apple cart and ruin the show’s future. It certainly seems as though Paradise season 4 is no more, and beyond that everything remains to be seen.

What ABC and Warner Horizon need to do now is be patient and careful with the information they release, and realize that depending on the results of the investigation, the entire Bachelor franchise could be at stake.

Once more news is available, you can find it over at the link here. (Photo: ABC.)