Dean Says The Ball Was In Kristina's Court On 'Bachelor In Paradise,' But Was It?

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Dean Unglert was once a fan favorite in Bachelor Nation, but that favor has faded. On Bachelor In Paradise, he got himself into a love triangle with Kristina and Danielle L. Schulman and was unable to choose between them while leading both of them on. During BiP's airing, fans have been pretty upset with him for his actions towards both women. Fortunately, it seems like Dean learned from what happened on Bachelor In Paradise — but it was just too little too late.

When he spoke to Bustle at a Bachelor star charity event benefiting Restore Dignity, Dean admitted that he didn't handle things in the best way with Kristina and Danielle. "I never realized how messed up it was," he says of his actions at the time, where he displayed his interest in both women in front of both women and wouldn't commit to either one of them. Dean says he was kind of hoping Kristina would make the choice for the both of them, which she eventually did several rose ceremonies later when she left the show. "I thought that being honest to Kristina about my feelings for Danielle would kind of like put the ball in her court to be like, 'OK, I should stay in this relationship or I should leave this relationship?'"

Of course, that decision wasn't really Kristina's to make, nor should she have been asked to do that. In fact, she was clear that she was all in with him, but he was the one being wishy washy about committing. Finally it grew to be too much for her and she left him behind. (Still, an episode later, Dean tried to take credit for making a decision to explore his relationship with Danielle, when in reality Kristina very much made that choice to leave on her own).

But, watching back, Dean realizes where he went wrong and is owning up. "I learned that just because you're up front about your feelings doesn't necessarily make your actions appropriate ... I realize now that the decision on my part and maybe the unwillingness to maybe end things when I should have led to more hurt on all three sides."

Now, Dean just wants to use the experience to better himself. "The only thing I can really hope to do is like, digest this and hope to grow from it," he says. "I promise to do better moving forward or at least put my best effort in it.

And, that best effort better not include leaving it up to his partner to make decisions he should be making — because the ball was always in his court in Paradise and he should have picked it up

Reporting by Mallory Carra.