The Bachelor Jake Pavelka and his ex-fiancee Vienna Girardi, who split up amid great fanfare last week, stole 30 minutes of The Bachelorette tonight to dissect the bitter end.
And it was ugly.
There was crying, shouting, finger-pointing, allegations of infidelity, and nothing that really was unexpected for The Bachelor fans who were shocked when Jake picked Vienna in the first place. But even show host Chris Harrison seemed to be at a loss to the petty bickering between the once-betrothed Jake and Vienna.
Harrison seemed to be particularly disappointed that Vienna ran to a magazine to tell her side of the story instead of waiting until ABC could cash in on the debacle.
"Either way, our relationship has been public," Vienna said, as the finger-pointing hit full swing. "I know Jake, and I knew as soon as we broke up he was going to run to a media outlet and tell his side of the story. I wanted people to know I did try in this relationship. It kept getting worse and worse and worse."
Jake took Vienna to task for taking a money for her magazine interview. Harrison estimated the payment at $90,000, but Vienna denied the amount.
"You sold me out to a magazine for payment," Jake said.
Previous coverage:
• Bachelor Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi break up, engagement is off
"It wasn't about the money. I wanted people to know the real reason that this did not work. I knew that he would do it if I didn't," Vienna said. "I was just laying it out. This is what's going on in our relationship."
Throughout the dual interview, Vienna continued to interrupt Jake with her own account of each silly incident -- from whether he flew Vienna's dog to Los Angeles to be with her, to whether they properly planned the size of their bedroom furniture. What was obvious, is that they were destined to fail.
"I guess it started about a month after we were dating. Everything started changing. He was crazy about me and then it just went straight down hill," said Vienna. "It felt like a relationship when cameras were rolling. I just wanted him to want to be around me and kiss me and hold me."
As Jake moved straight from the Bachelor to ABC's Dancing with the Stars, Vienna said they continued to grow apart and Jake's true colors outside the dating show continued to surface, and intimacy faded.
"He's got a little bit of a temper. There was no emotion with us," Jake said. "I'm in a relationship with somebody who's just emotionally and physically not there with me. I have to literally ask to be kissed."
But Jake said it all came to a boiling point when he left for a weekend and pictures surfaced of Vienna dancing with another guy. Then he learned another single guy was at their apartment (Vienna said he is gay).
"The boy you were hanging with told everybody you were cheating," Jake asserted, this time without interruption.
"Can't we get a polio-graph test?" Vienna asked, begging the question if she was seeking string-cheese, or a lie-detector. "We've never, ever had cheating or trust issues."
As to who initiated the break-up, more disagreement:
"I did break up with you Vienna," Jake said.
"I broke up with you Jake," Vienna responded. "You're a liar. You are the biggest fake liar I've ever met in my entire life."
"I'm not having the argument." Jake said.
"He's going to drag it out as long as he can and stay in the spotlight," Vienna said.
"You are a fame whore is what you are," Vienna continued in a separate rant. "That is the entire reason for what has happened."
The relationship was short-lived by just about any standards.
"We've only been together for six months. How do you get sick of someone in six months? The second month that we were together, you stopped.
By Vienna's count, the couple split twice before the big public dis-engagement.
"We've broken up twice. I've given you the ring back twice," Vienna said bitterly.
Jake downplayed the previous spats as lover's quarrels as he described them to Chris Harrison.
"She would throw little temper tantrums and take the ring off twice," Jake said. "She would test me. She would take the ring off and go sit and sulk in the bathroom."
Vienna said despite hating Los Angeles, she has landed a marketing job there and plans to stay, a move Jake said is motivated by her quest for fame.
Jake said the relationship ended because Vienna continued to tear him down.
"What guy in America would ever want to be with a woman that undermines him, emasculates him and doesn't respect," Jake said. "Everything that I do is wrong."
As for Vienna, "He was always mean to me and treated me like a child."
Harrison asked both to share what they learned from the relationship and it just provided another opportunity for them to blast each other.
"I'm sure Chris, that I don't want a selfish woman," Jake said.
When it was Vienna's turn:
"I am sorry that I went about it the way I did, but I know you, the real you, and I knew you would do it if I didn't," Vienna said, alluding to her decision to go to a magazine about the break up.
"You don't know me," Jake said, as Vienna started to interject. "Please stop interrupting me."
"I'm done with this," Veinna said, while storming off, shedding her microphone.
"Unfortunately, that is what one of our arguments looks like," Jake said, now alone with Chris Harrison. "It's kind of embarrassing. It gets to a point where you can't get a word in. Somehow in our communication, we got lost along the way.
Get caught up on this season's The Bachelorette:
• Week 6: (part 2): The Bachelorette: Justin has two girlfriends, Ali is ready to wrestle
&bull Week 6: (part 1) The Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky learns Justin has not one girlfriend, but two
• Week 5: The Bachelorette Iceland edition: Kasey's tattoo gets the cold shoulder
• Week 4: The Bachelorette N.Y. edition: Kasey gets a tattoo, Joshua Radin performs
• Week 3: Bachelorette week 3: 'Wrestler' Justin stays, Roberto appears to be front-runner
• Week 2: Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky gets a Hollywood kiss, a 'dangerous' man goes home
• Week 1 Bachelorette 2010: Ali Fedotowsky meets her 25 bachelors in season premiere