Jordan Mauger rejects Naz Khanjani in the final episode of the Bachelor. Photo / Supplied
Jordan Mauger rejects Naz Khanjani in the final episode of the Bachelor. Photo / Supplied
Jordan Mauger's hard-hitting interview with Woman's Day has hit the shelves - and the star of The Bachelor doesn't hold back.
In it, he fires up at the show's winner, Fleur Verhoeven, and runner-up Naz Khanjani, for their behaviour following the controversial finale.
Mauger has been largely silentover the past several weeks, avoiding the fallout of the romance reality show when he was vilified for dumping Fleur Verhoeven less than 48 hours after she was crowned the winner.
Verhoeven gave a tearful tell-all to TV3's Story just hours after the split. She was interviewed on her own again by NZH Focus the following day.
In those interviews, she claimed the break-up had surprised her and she'd wanted to continue to pursue a relationship with Mauger.
But in a four-page interview with Woman's Day, Mauger claims Verhoeven's solo appearance on Story was when everything went "pear-shaped" for him.
"That's the part that hurts because I had no idea Fleur was going to do that interview. If I had been approached ... I would have been there next to her," he says.
Mauger claims the interview set off a "hurricane of hate" on social media that affected his family to the point where his mother stopped going to work.
He also claims Verhoeven wasn't truthful in her post-show interviews, saying he was open and honest about the fact he was having doubts about their relationship after filming finished.
"To have a broken heart, you have to be in love first. And we definitely weren't in love," he tells WD.
But Mauger doesn't stop there, firing up about Khanjani's antics during interviews following the finale.
Khanjani raised eyebrows when she revealed she and Mauger had slept together "more than once" to several publications. "I think I'm the only girl (to admit to it)," she told one radio station.
Jordan Mauger accepts Fleur Verhoeven in the final episode. Photo / Supplied
Woman's Day editor Sido Kitchin said the brutal public social media attacks on Mauger were shocking, and revealed the magazine also received plenty of criticism for featuring Khanjani on the cover.
She said: "I feel Jordan is a good Kiwi dude who tried but failed to find love in a manufactured world - and was vilified for it".
Meanwhile, Khanjani said she agreed with Mauger, tweeting: "Get your copy of @WomansDayNZ - great read! I completely agree with Jordan & support him 100% in everything he says."
As for Verhoeven, she hasn't been in the country to read the story - she's currently holidaying in Fiji with fellow Bachelorette Shari Flavell.
