Pieper James has something to say.
The Bachelor alum took to social media on Wednesday, March 19, with a cryptic message seemingly responding to her ex-boyfriend Brendan Morais’ hard launch with his new girlfriend Serene Russell.
On her Instagram Story, James posted a mirror selfie in a leopard print dress with a caption that read: “Guess it’s time for a story time 👀” She didn’t follow up with any more details and later took the story down before its 24-hour expiration.
Morais and Russell, who also gained fame while on The Bachelor franchise, shocked their followers when they shared a collection of 20 photos and videos in a joint post earlier that day.
The simply captioned it: “ 🤍”
Fans in the comments reacted to the news, with one user writing, “this was NOT on my bachelor bingo card.”
“Ummmmm listen. This made me absolutely gasp. 😂👏🏽,” commented another.
Other members of Bachelor Nation even chimed in to share their thoughts on the announcement. Host Jesse Palmer wrote, “So happy for you Serene!!!”
The Bachelorette season 17 runner-up Justin Glaze also left some emojis: “🥹🥹👏👏👏”
Morais and James were a controversial pairing when they got together on season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise in 2021. When James joined the group in week 3, Morias had already formed a connection with Natasha Parker but cut things off to pursue James.
As the season progressed, fellow cast members speculated that Morais was holding out hope for James’ arrival after meeting her prior.
“Natasha and I had a certain connection that was void of any romance and I tried to get there and I never promised Natasha that we were going to be anything more than what we were,” Morais said at the time.
Parker, however, felt differently, saying Morais “completely manipulated” and “completely lied” to her. “He completely downplayed their relationship to me to wait until she got here,” she claimed.
Morais issued a public apology, and he and James went on to date after the show, although it is unclear when they broke up.
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Russell, on the other hand, appeared on season 8 of Bachelor in Paradise, which she left engaged to Brandon Jones. In May 2023, less than a year later, they broke things off.
“After many months, today we have ultimately decided to end our engagement,” the pair revealed in a joint Instagram statement, which has since been deleted. “We have tried to work privately on our relationship which has been incredibly challenging in the public eye. This has been immensely hard to accept and painful, as there is a lot of love between the two of us.”
The statement continued, “We are deeply hurting and can only ask that there be no hate. The best path for us at this time is to try and move forward and heal from this as individuals.”
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