"In Touch Weekly" magazine photo with Jenna Burke (r.) courtesy Kari Friedlander/Bauer-USA and In Touch Weekly©
Blogger Jenna Burke’s over-the-top, overemotional behavior on the first episode of The Bachelor was the talk of the Web for days, with fellow bloggers calling her everything from “crazy” to “codependent” to “bunny boiler.”
Even departing contestant Amber Tierney got into the act, referring to Jenna as a “hot mess” and suggesting that Ben Flajnik, 28, may have given her a rose simply to keep her from having another meltdown.
But while Jenna did lock herself in the bathroom and sob after a bizarre confrontation with fellow contestant Monica Spannbauer, during which she angrily suggested they “share a tampon sometime,” a friend of hers claims the Jenna we saw on-screen is a far cry from the sweet, down-to-earth girl she knows. “It was nerves,” Jenna’s friend Maggie Maskery insists to In Touch, adding that a few glasses of wine on an empty stomach didn’t help matters, either. “Jenna said she overheard Monica saying she didn’t like her, and so she confronted her,” Maggie explains. “But she isn’t crazy. It was all brilliant editing.”
Still, Maggie admits, there was a bit more to it than that. Shortly before she began taping the show, 27-year-old Jenna ended a long-term relationship — and was carrying some extra emotional baggage. “It was a really hard breakup,” Maggie reveals.
And combined with frayed nerves, heavy competition — and Monica’s smirking comment, “We’re both girls” — it was a recipe for disaster… and one of the oddest quotes ever to emerge from a reality show.
Maggie insists Jenna was simply joking about lending Monica a tampon, should she need one. “She wasn’t talking about her used tampon, that’s disgusting!” But on the other hand, Jenna should have expected some confusion.
When you’re on a show that thrives on drama — and “brilliant editing” — it’s always a good idea to think twice before saying anything at all.
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