‘PARADISE’ LOST
‘Allegations of misconduct’ stop ‘Bachelor’ spinoff with Delray cast member.
“Bachelor In Paradise,” which sends attractive and minimallyclad castoffs from ABC’s dating franchise to drink and flirt at a Mexican resort, is not known for its taste and decorum. But after “allegations of misconduct” on the set, the production has reportedly shut down indefinitely and sent the cast, including Delray Beach’s Vinny Ventiera, back home.
A statement sent to BuzzFeed News by Warner Bros., which licenses the show to ABC, reads “We have become aware of allegations of misconduct on the set of ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ in Mexico. We have suspended production and we are conducting a thorough investigation of these allegations. Once the investigation is complete, we will take responsive action.”
ABC has yet to respond to inquiries about the offending incident, including those from The Palm Beach Post, but TMZ and Entertainment Tonight have reported that it concerns Miami’s Corinne Olympios, a villain of the most recent season of “The Bachelor” and DeMario Jackson, last seen being booted off the current season of “The Bachelorette” when his girlfriend showed up and busted him.
According to the reports, Olympios and Jackson, who sources say were encouraged to get together because of their drama-filled histories on their pre-
The show must go on. And so must Bette Midler’s speech.
Midler thanked everybody including her hairstylists after she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical on Sunday night.
She yelled for producers to “shut that crap off ” when the music started playing — the cue to wrap up her speech.
Midler’s star turn as Dolly Gallagher Levi in “Hello, Dolly!” is the hottest ticket on Broadway. You’ll pay $800 for a decent seat.
And though she told Billboard she’s “having a great time,” she added that the best benefit might be her 30-pound weight loss.
“I’ve gotten thin, which I can’t believe happened,” she said.
The presence of Midler, 71, on the same stage at Radio City Music Hall as Glenn Close, 69, was something of a marvel.
Close, who presented Midler with her Tony Award, wraps up a limited-engagement revival of “Sunset Boulevard” on Broadway on June 25. She first played Norma Desmond in that musical 20 years ago.
Midler’s career is having a revival beyond Broadway. Last fall, she helped coach Blake Shelton’s team on “The Voice.”
“I thought, ‘He’s really cute, he’s really funny, he has a tremendous amount of personal charm, and I would like to be in his orbit, so why not?’… I’m a fan of his music,” Midler told “Extra.”
“I was a little bit freaked out to have to do this ’cause I thought, ‘What the hell am I gonna tell these kids?’ I d seen other coaches and their riffing and running and I’m like, ‘I can t do that,’” she said.
It’s hard to say you can’t do something after performing in “Hello, Dolly!” eight times a week. (On Tuesday nights, two-time Tony winner Donna Murphy plays Dolly at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre).
“It’s a very, very tough schedule, and I’m a woman of a certain age. I’m at death’s door, so I wasn’t really keen to put these dancing shoes on again, but he (producer Scott Rudin) made it sound as though I had missed something in life, and I would be a changed person from this experience and indeed I have been,” she told reporters after the Tony Awards.
Midler, who turns 72 on Dec. 1, has got a few years to catch up to Carol Channing, 96, who originated the role of Dolly on Broadway in 1964.
Channing revived the role in 1995 — when she was 74.
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Midler told The New York Times after her first performance as Dolly. “Can you believe Carol Channing did something like 7,000 performances of this show?”
vious shows, began drinking and wound up engaging in some sort of sexual activity in a resort swimming pool.
The incident, which was taped, apparently spurred a produce rtoreportitasmis- conduct because Olympios “seemed so drunk” she might not have been able to consent. According to TMZ, Jack- son has told others that the contact was consensual.
The season of “Paradise” that was just suspended was the spin-off ’s fourth. It encourages cast members, who have all been on “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette,” to go on dates with each other and pair up.
West Palm Beach real estate agent Ryan Beckett, who appeared on “The Bachelorette” and the third season of “Paradise,” told us earlier this year t hat“Ididn’tthink I would have gone on (the show). (But) I was at a wedding in the Bahamas when a producer (reached out) to me, and I was waffling about doing it. My fri end said ‘Let me get this straight. They’re going to pay you to go to a beautiful resort, date beautiful women and drink tequila.”
Ventiera, who appeared on the 2016 season of “The Bachelorette,” became a fan favorite on “Paradise” last summer when he fell for fellow contestant Izzy Goodkind, who later broke up with him on the show but who he’d been seen with after taping. The Post has reached out to Ventiera and to ABC.