Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Stars On Mars episode "Leaks In The Hab." Read at your own risk!
Ashley Iaconetti wasn't on Stars On Mars for long, but even her short stint was enough time for someone to bring up her past reality television runs on The Bachelor and Bachelor In Paradise. Fellow new celeb to the habitat and NBA star Paul Pierce summarized Iaconetti's run on the show in a somewhat rude way, though she stressed to CinemaBlend that she wasn't that upset about it at all.
For those who don't remember the moment, Pierce's comments came not long after the four new celebrities had a chance to settle in and meet the existing celebrity crew. The former NBA superstar was seen loudly explaining who Ashley Iaconetti was to Marshawn Lynch and others while giving the following summary of her run on The Bachelor:
She was on The Bachelor. Dude on The Bachelor chose another girl. She stole him after the show.
Ashley Iaconetti was quick to correct that she actually met her current husband, Jared Haibon on Bachelor In Paradise, but Stars On Mars viewers only saw Pierce and Lynch burst into laughter after her clarification. She didn't seem happy after the exchange during the episode but revealed in our interview that wasn't the case.
I had a chance to ask Iaconetti about the moment and if his words were hurtful or something she's had to deal with as a veteran of The Bachelor. Iaconetti said she wasn't phased at all by the former ESPN analyst's comments, and explained exactly why she's proud of her television run:
If you never watched the show, I understand the stereotype around it. I'm not really easily offended, especially about stuff like that. Like, thank God for the Bachelor. For me, It's changed my whole life. I have no idea where I'd be. I got married, I got a career and had a child out of the process. So I couldn't be happier or more proud that I went through it, and I love the friends and the extended family basically that we have through the Bachelor family. So I don't care if that's how he thinks about it at all. Truly. Truly. It doesn't phase me, but I understand how, like, stereotypically, if you've never seen the show and have no involvement in it, why you kind of make fun of it.
Had she spent more time in the Stars On Mars' habitat, Ashley Iaconetti might've been able to share more about how The Bachelor changed her life with Paul Pierce and others. Unfortunately, she was the first of the newbies sent home after a successful mission with zero faults made her – as the person who had the easiest job – the most obvious candidate for dismissal. Perhaps had Iaconetti not chosen the part of the challenge that only required her to lay down and stick her finger in a hole for two hours, it might've been a different story.
Tom Schwartz shared how Stars On Mars came into his life at the right time.
With Iaconetti gone, recent drama on Stars On Mars has given the rest of the newcomers a solid chance at surviving the next couple of eliminations. Lance Armstrong's controversial comments about trans athletes needing their own division put a serious target on his back and more than a few celebs have complained about Ariel Winter's bossiness and tone.
If the original cast of Stars On Mars remains divided, I like the odds of Andy Richter, Paul Pierce, and Cat Cora going far in this game. Now all they have to do is lay low and continue to let the chaos unfold, and they could change their lives similar to Ashley Iaconetti after working in The Bachelor franchise. Okay, that might be a little much for this show, but hey, no denying there's value in laying low while others fight.
Stars On Mars airs on Fox on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Catching up with a Hulu subscription is advised as the show is only a couple of weeks out from the season finale. I'm excited to see who ultimately wins, and what other interesting perspectives we'll learn from the stars as they speak out about their experience.
