Clearing the air. Cassie Randolph, who is currently vying for Colton Underwood’s heart on The Bachelor season 23, has a good relationship with her ex-boyfriend Caelan Tiongson, who came to her defense after she faced backlash for their relationship airing on another TV show concurrently as the ABC dating series plays out.
The duo, who dated on and off throughout college, have been candid about their struggles on the series Young Once. The first season follows their friend group’s journey to forge friendships and romances while attending the very religious Biola College, and the second season picks up years later, around the time of graduation.
“I’m posting this here so no words can be misconstrued. As many of you know, my ex girlfriend is currently a contestant on the tv show The Bachelor. The both us have also appeared on a documentary series called Young Once. The show catches you up on our lives as the first season was shot at Biola University while we were still going to school there,” Tiongson explained in a heartfelt Instagram post on Wednesday, February 6, alongside a photo of himself, Randolph and two other friends. “They happened to catch the closing of mine and Cassie’s on and off relationship during the recording of this show. Make no mistake that Young Once was filmed before The Bachelor, and the fact that they are airing at the same time is a strategy to attract viewers.”
Tiongson then revealed why he and the speech pathologist, 23, weren’t meant to be. “Both Cassie and I made mistakes in our relationship, but I think we’d both agree it dragged out much too long anyways. This is because I persistently pursued a reunion and she knowingly kept the door open at times because of indecisiveness, neither of which matters because it has been over for good since before she went on The Bachelor,” he noted. “However, it can be said without a doubt that her and I were not a good fit for each other. … The reality of the situation is Cassie is a great girl.”
The basketball player expressed his support for Randolph’s journey to find love on national TV. “Her decision to go on The Bachelor was a decisive moment in my life to move forward so why couldn’t it serve as that for her as well? If I met my dream girl a month after our final closing this summer that would be how God had planned it for me,” he continued. “Nobody has the right to tell her whether or not she has good intentions. So although the full truth may not be out…not everybody’s business needs to be on reality tv. Cassie will eventually explain her side and I endorse whatever she says because there is no reason for her to hide the truth.”
He added: “I wish her nothing but success and happiness moving forward. I post this because of the outlets who reached out to hear ‘my side’ and because I heard Cassie was receiving a lot of negativity for our past relationship.”
Tiongson’s post came hours after Randolph shut down rumors that Bachelor producers made her choose between him and competing for Underwood, 27. The Southern California native clapped back at a commenter on an Instagram account that claimed she was still dating Tiongson before filming started.
“My ex and I have been broken up since before I graduated from Biola in 2016. I will say that yes, there was a time that we rekindled our friendship to see if we should get back together, but we never did. There were some unhealthy aspects to our relationship, chichis why we never got back together,” she disclosed on Tuesday, February 5. “We attempted several times to be friends, and it was just too hard — as is typical of many breakups with a lot of history. I think Caelan is a great guy and we respect each other, but it just didn’t work out for us. He remains friends with my family and we have many friends in common, so it wasn’t like most breakups where you can just disappear from each others lives. That said, The Bachelor and my ex have nothing to do with one another.”
Randolph then clarified the timelines between the two shows, noting that she filmed season 2 of Young Once before she was cast on The Bachelor. The blonde beauty is a front-runner on the former NFL player’s season after their PDA-filled one-on-one dated in Thailand, which aired on Monday, February 4.
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