‘Bachelor’ not fixed, producer says

NEW YORK — Was Jason Mesnick’s change of heart on “The Bachelor” staged for the cameras to capture big ratings? Not so, according to the show’s executive producer.

Mike Fleiss said Wednesday that producers of the ABC dating show did not create the outcome of Monday’s season finale that prompted viewer outrage when Mesnick dumped his first choice for the runner-up.

Mesnick, a 32-year-old single dad from Seattle, proposed to Melissa Rycroft in New Zealand. But in the subsequent “After the Final Rose” special, taped six weeks later, he dumped Rycroft because he still had feelings for runner-up Molly Malaney. He and Malaney are now dating.

Fleiss said producers have “zero” influence in selecting the woman who wins the final rose and they, too, were caught off guard by his actions.

Mesnick has been the target of passionate discussion on Internet message boards and forums for rejecting Rycroft in public. An angry torrent of viewers overwhelmingly supported Rycroft, a 25-year-old sales rep from Dallas, who’d fallen in love with Mesnick and planned to be step-mother to his 3-year-old son, Ty, from a previous marriage.

She bristled with anger as she cursed at Mesnick, gave him back his ring, told him never to call her again and walked off the stage. He then asked Malaney, a 24-year-old department store buyer from Grand Rapids, Mich., for another chance and she agreed.

Mesnick later defended his actions, saying his relationship with Rycroft went sour when the cameras stopped rolling.

“It just wasn’t working out for them,” Fleiss said. “She knew it. She didn’t know that it was about Molly — I think that was the thing that caught her off guard.”

Mesnick said he had to break up with Rycroft on camera because of his contract with the show.

“There was no contractual obligation,” Fleiss countered.

“You can check the contract. … How would you put that in a contact anyway? Like, everything you do in your life must be shown on ABC. It’s impossible.”