Bachelor in Paradise's Demi Burnett was "so shocked" when the show bent its rules for her same-sex romance

The Hollywood Reporter

"I had been suppressing the whole coming out thing for a while," Burnett tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It’s the same concerns that any person in the LGBTQ community goes through: Fear of judgment, people not understanding or, just because you don’t like the same thing they like, people seeing you differently because of that. That’s the concern." Burnett recalls host Chris Harrison telling her that Bachelor franchise outsider Kristian Haggerty would be invited on the show to explore their romance. "I thought that I was leaving that day," Burnett recalls of Harrison's surprise visit. "I thought Chris was taking me to the top of the stairs so I could go walk my butt to an SUV and leave to go find her. I was so shocked. I could have never expected that."