The reality TV world of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" has some pretty strong connections with the NFL. Several former football players have attempted to find love (or fame, at least) on the show, including Jesse Palmer, Colton Underwood, Clay Harbor and, of course, Aaron Rodgers' younger brother, Jordan.
But this weekend the NFL gained another tie to the "Bachelor" universe, and it might be the greatest success story of them all. Former Bachelor contestant Jade Roper Tolbert reportedly cashed in big over the NFL's Wild Card playoff weekend, winning $1 million after placing first in a DraftKings daily fantasy contest.
Some daily fantasy players spotted Roper Tolbert at the top of the leaderboard and suspected it was the former Bachelor contestant, and she confirmed as much via Twitter on Sunday night. The MVP of her winning squad was Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf, who hauled in seven catches for 160 yards and a touchdown, earning 32 fantasy points in the contest.
Doesn’t even feel real over here! Officially speechless. LIKE WHAAAAAAAAT. 🤯🥳🥳🥳😵 https://t.co/7yMFZtI4Au
— Jade Roper Tolbert (@jadelizroper) January 6, 2020
Hahaha that’s me! And Tanner told me I shouldn’t play DK Metcalf! 🤣🤪 https://t.co/Ry25Kuq4k9
— Jade Roper Tolbert (@jadelizroper) January 6, 2020
.@jadelizroper will you accept this 🌹 as this week’s millionaire? Congrats on taking it down 👏 https://t.co/eBPPjNRWEh
— DraftKings (@DraftKings) January 6, 2020
The 33-year-old Roper Tolbert appeared on the 19th season of The Bachelor, which revolved around Chris Soules, and she placed fourth. She also went on to appear on "Bachelor In Paradise," where she met her now-husband, Tanner Tolbert.
But just like in reality television, there is some drama and controversy surrounding this big win. A cursory stroll through Twitter and Roper Tolbert's mentions will show that plenty of people aren't happy with the victory and are accusing her of colluding with her husband (or one of them operating both DraftKings accounts) in order to circumvent the entry rules and submit multiple lineups to enter the contest.
Some have pointed out that Roper Tolbert and her husband both entered this particular contest with the maximum allowable 150 lineups per person, and that their lineups very conveniently delivered 300 unique combinations.
She and her husband cheated, end of story. pic.twitter.com/WmRLAKAn4K
— huitcinq (@huitcinqDFS) January 6, 2020
According to DraftKings' community guidelines, it's against the rules for multiple contestants to team up in a coordinated effort to maximize their chances of winning.
"Team-building complementary lineups which serve to work together AND executing a strategy that may create any unfair advantage over individual play. (Example A: You and 2 of your friends coordinate the makeup of the lineups you build AND coordinate which contests you enter using them.)"
Perhaps the collusion talk is a bunch of haters being sore losers, but the evidence does seem to be somewhat damning. It'll be interesting to see what DraftKings' response is regarding the very loud outcry about the couple potentially skirting the rules in order to maximize their chances of winning.