"The Bachelor" star Corinne Olympios is speaking out on how Sacha Baron Cohen duped her into saying she helped Ebola-afflicted people in Africa, claiming she tried to leave the interview multiple times but was "trapped."
The reality TV star appeared on "Who Is America?" on Sunday night with Sacha, although he was in heavy makeup, pretending to be "Gio Monaldo," a white-haired Italian billionaire. Corinne was duped into claiming she spent a month in Sierra Leone to help kids stricken with Ebola. She also filmed a pro–child soldier PSA.
On July 23, Corinne spoke to TMZ, saying she didn't want to lie to her fans and claimed she told producers that she wanted to leave several times.
"I said it numerous times, whether they showed it or not, I'm visibly confused, visibly upset," she said. "I did try to get out of there, but when you're in a situation and you're scared and you don't have a cell phone and they're holding it captive, telling you you just need to finish and they'll get you out of there, you're going to do whatever you have to do to get out."
Somewhat justifying why she made those false claims on video, Corinne doubled down on not having a cell phone and said her manager was also sent away.
"I was trapped, I was scared, I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible and unfortunately that had to consist of me doing what they had asked of me," she said, "because I had made it very clear that I wanted to leave and they were not letting me leave until I finished."
Some people are bringing up her past in which she was accused of lying about an alleged sexual assault that she said happened while filming "Bachelor in Paradise" last year. The man in the middle of that scandal was cleared of any wrongdoing.
She said, "I think it's really, really two totally different situations and people that would even think about bringing up my situation in 'Paradise, now you're being ridiculous and [insensitive.]"