Bachelor contestant Cass breaks down on Sunday Project interview: ‘I feel like a joke’

IN EMOTIONAL scenes, The Bachelor contestant Cass breaks down as she speaks about her treatment by Nick Cummins.

BACHELOR contestant Cass Wood breaks down mid-interview on The Sunday Project tonight, struggling to speak as she reveals she feels like a “joke” following her treatment on the reality dating show.

The emotional scenes come after Thursday’s shock finale, in which this year’s Bachelor Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins chose neither of the two remaining contestants.

Wood had been evicted from the competition two episodes prior, after having slammed the show for allegedly editing her to come across as a clingy stalker.

Related: Alex Nation, Cass Wood on behind-the-scenes drama

Related: Nick Cummins describes moment he made decision

Related: Bachelor contestant Cristy Caserta has died at 38 in Florida

“I feel like a bit of a joke,” Wood tells interviewer Lisa Wilkinson in the interview, to air tonight.

From there, Wood breaks down, tears streaming down her face. Wilkinson asks her if it’s been “easy to move on.”

Cass says she feels like 'a joke.'

Nick Cummins speaks out about THAT finale.

“Like it hasn’t been … it hasn’t been … sorry.”

In a separate interview with Wilkinson, Cummins insists that he didn’t want to hurt any of the contestants vying for his affections.

“I hate seeing a girl hurt like that. The mouth changes, the eyes jump, the lip moves, and you just go: I’ve brought this pain on this human being,” he says.

Many viewers criticised Cummins for declaring he wasn’t ready to commit to a relationship when explaining his decision to reject the final two contestants — and Wilkinson took him to task on the statement.

“You do understand on The Bachelor you’re meant to be at a place where you’re READY to have a relationship?” she asked him — a question that provoked a rare moment of defensiveness for the usually jovial ex-rugby star.

“Why would I go in and start something that has a high potential of three months down the track breaking her heart?” he asked.

Nick Cummins cops a grilling from Lisa Wilkinson.

Cummins also details the moment he says he realised he wouldn’t be able to fulfil his Bachelor commitments, saying it hit him like “a thunderbolt.”

“It was just like, you know what? Out of respect to these women, if I can’t stand here and say ‘I’m picking her and I love her,’ why would I start something with someone?” he says.

The girls may be reeling, but some have pointed out the signs were there even before the season started that Cummins wasn’t setting out to find true love.

And in a news.com.au exclusive today, several contestants from former seasons have spoken out about the manipulations that go on behind the scenes of the show — from “brain washing” to getting contestants drunk.

- Lisa Wilkinson’s full interview with the Bachelor cast will air on The Sunday Project, 6:30pm on Ten.

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