Warning: Spoilers for the Bachelor in Paradise Season 8 finale ahead.
Bachelor in Paradise Season 8 may be over, but the drama’s just getting started for Victoria Fuller and Greg Grippo.
On Part 2 of Bachelor in Paradise’s two-night finale event — which aired on Tuesday, November 22 — fans watched Season 8 contestants Victoria Fuller and Johnny DePhillipo get engaged after falling in love on a beach in Mexico. The finale and proposal were picturesque, but when we checked back in with Jesse Palmer, who was hosting a live finale viewing in the studio, he somberly revealed there was more to the couple’s story after that happy ending.
Palmer explained that over the past few weeks “there’ve been numerous social media threads, there have been posts, photos, and videos from all across the globe” related to rumors that Victoria cheated on Johnny with Greg Grippo, a contestant from Season 17 of The Bachelorette. For those who don’t know, famous Bachelor Nation spoiler Reality Steve has been sharing rumors, updates, and information pertaining to this drama for weeks. Photos and video of Victoria and Greg in Rome started popping on social media. Then Johnny and friends started writing cryptic Instagram comments. And on October 25, Reality Steve finally shared footage on Twitter captioned, “Victoria Fuller and Greg Grippo near the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy earlier this morning.”
Jesse Palmer assured the audience that they would find out what happened between the three by the end of the finale. Then he called Johnny out on stage solo, which wasn’t a great sign.
Are Johnny and Victoria Still Together After Bachelor in Paradise?
First things first. Is this couple still engaged? Long story short? No. But if you want the long story in full, keep reading.
When this finale episode recorded in front of a live studio audience on November 4, 2022, Johnny and Victoria were officially done. “As of right now, me and Victoria are not engaged anymore. We broke up,” Johnny explained. “I want to say I’m good, but it really does break my heart that she’s not sitting next to me as my fiancé right now. In that timeframe of stepping out of filming to that one month of being engaged, I started to feel not good enough for her, and then we started arguing…and rumors started surfacing. And I really wanted to trust her, but I don’t know.”
When Victoria came out on stage, she shared her side of things. “I think that when we were on Paradise, things were rainbows and butterflies for us. And unfortunately when we got into the real world, there were a lot of concerns and ups and downs… I expressed to [Johnny] that I wasn’t happy and I wasn’t going to be engaged if I wasn’t happy.”
Victoria claimed she let Johnny know they were no longer engaged about three weeks after leaving Paradise. Johnny said that’s not when their relationship actually ended, but it “fits her narrative.” When Victoria asked what narrative he was talking about, Johnny said, “The narrative for what’s out in the public…rumors saying you had cheated on me and decided to start dating Greg — something you constantly told me was not true.”
Did Victoria Cheat on Johnny with Greg Grippo? And BTW, who is Greg Grippo?
As noted in Decider’s longer explainer, Greg Grippo was a contestant on Season 17 of The Bachelorette in 2021, where he dated lead Katie Thurston. He was a front-runner and fan favorite contestant for a majority of the season, but he had a controversial exit after hometown dates and ahead of the finale. Thurston explained that she felt “gaslit” by Grippo and she’s since shared that she found his behavior “immature” and “verbally aggressive.” After his departure, Grippo came under fire again when rumors claiming he was an actor who only went on the show to further his career started to spread.
So did Victoria cheat on Johnny with this dude? Here’s what we learned from the Bachelor in Paradise finale.
After Johnny brought up the cheating rumors, Victoria said, “I know you know that to not be true…I think it’s very easy to blame another situation and other people for us not working out. And I totally empathize with you — maybe it is hard for you to see me moving on, but what is the appropriate amount of time to move on when you called me a [bleep] when we were supposed to be in a very happy, loving relationship. Not only that, but you said, ‘You don’t cook. You don’t clean. What do you provide to this relationship as a woman?’”
Johnny defended himself, and the two went back and forth for a few minutes before he brought things back to the cheating rumors. “You can’t make these accusations that I cheated on you when you know damn well that’s not true,” Victoria said. Johnny claimed she was flying all over the world, posting videos of Greg immediately after their engagement. Then Jesse Palmer got down to business and asked Victoria point-blank if she and Greg are dating. Here’s what she had to say.
Are Victoria Fuller and Greg Grippo Dating? And How Did Victoria and Greg Meet?
When Jesse Palmer asked Victoria if she was dating Greg, she said, “Yes. Greg and I are together.” He asked if the two started dating while she was still engaged to Johnny, and she said, “Absolutely not.” Then she said she absolutely did not cheat on Johnny with Greg. But before Johnny left the studio he said, “I still consider talking to someone else while we’re working on our issues cheating or emotional cheating.”
After Johnny made his way to the parking lot, Greg Grippo himself joined Victoria on stage to explain how they started dating. “We’ve been friends for a while. We met last year through mutual friends, stayed in touch, she ended up going to Paradise, getting engaged, and through the weeks after Paradise we ended up just rekindling and trying it out,” he said. “I asked her…’I want to take you out for a drink, so you want to go to Rome in two days?’” Victoria chimed in to say, “Obviously we couldn’t go and get a drink in New York City or Nashville, and so we were like, ‘OK! We’ll go to Europe and maybe test it out.’” O…K????!
“At the end of the day, nobody has to understand it or get it and that’s OK,” Victoria said of her new relationship. “Everyone can hate us if they want. I don’t give a [bleep] cause I’ve got this [bleep].” Before the unexpected couple said farewell to the Paradise finale, they revealed they got matching tattoos on their arms that say, “CIAO.” (Yes, really. Can this get any more bizarre? Yes, reader. It can.)
For their final words, Greg said, “It’s not the best look in the world, but…” Victoria simply screamed, “AHHHHH!” Folks, this might just be the most awkward, confusing, uncomfortable love triangle in Bachelor Nation history.
The post Are Johnny and Victoria Still Together? ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ Finale Addresses Greg Grippo Cheating Rumors appeared first on Decider.
