TV

Ally Thompson shockingly claims that Bachelor NZ producers tried to limit her food intake

Already struggling with body issues, this intervention pushed Ally over the edge.
Ally Thompson The Bachelor NZ

Ally Thompson, who vied for Zac Franich’s affections in the last season of The Bachelor NZ, has shockingly claimed that producers told her she had gained weight and suggested she didn’t eat dessert.

Ally has made the claims in a blog post about her time on the show.

Loading the player...

She began the post by saying “this is in no way trying to bag out anyone or anything. This is just my experience.”

Ally described how much she loved her time on the show. The 24-year-old yoga teacher and cosmetic tattoo artist had bonded with her fellow Bachelorettes and had developed genuine feelings for Zac, who is now happily dating Erin Simpson.

But things came to a head when the cast travelled to Thailand for filming, and three intruders were introduced to the mix.

“There was a moment in Bangkok where me and Claudia (Hoskins) were banned from having dessert because they thought we had gained a couple of kilos,” Ally writes.

“I already had low self esteem but this really made me crack. Competing with stunning girls, especially ones who looked like models and I got banned from desserts. I started to feel really self conscious. I just wanted to go home at that point and hide. Let alone be filmed and aired to the nation.”

Ally during filming in Thailand.

But the intervention by producers didn’t end there. Ally claims she was told to watch her weight.

“Me and Claudia were called in to hair and makeup. They (the producers) told us we needed to watch our weight, because a couple of kilos weight gain looks like 20kgs on TV.”

“I was a size 8 at the time, admittedly I had probably gained a little bit of weight, but me and Claudia were both still slim. I already had a history of body dismorphia, so this was so hard to brush off. I just remember crying and not being able to stop. I felt like a whale.”

She refused to eat that night. It affected her time with Zac. She says she struggled to enjoy their individual date because she felt uncomfortable in her own skin.

“I probably held back a lot, in hind sight, I don’t think I was confident enough to be myself. I felt uncomfortable in my skin and it reflected in my demeanour,” she wrote.

Ally and Zac shared a date in Thailand, but she has since opened up about how she was struggling with her self esteem after being told by producers that she’d gained weight.

“I knew I needed to go home after that,” Ally writes. “If I had of stayed it would have escalated. But simultaneously I wanted to spend more time with the girls and Zac.

“I couldn’t talk to Zac that Cocktail Party because I felt so disgusting. My face was puffy from crying, I felt fat and uncomfortable ( I really wasn’t fat! I wish I could go back to a size 8 now!).”

Ally ended the post by saying how grateful she was for the experience. “It led on to other things, made me friends for life and truly made me a stronger person,” she concluded.

Ally went on to appear in The Bachelor Winter Games earlier this year along with fellow Bachelorette Lily McManus and season two’s Bachelor Jordan Mauger.

While Lily found love with fellow contestant Courtney Dober, Ally walked away alone, having failed to find a lasting connection with love interest Josiah Graham.

Related stories