'Bachelor' fans think 'Queen Victoria' was hired by producers, but Becca Kufrin and Ben Higgins disagree

• Many viewers — and a few alums — think contestant Victoria Larson is a producer plant on "The Bachelor."
• But "Bachelor" stars Becca Kufrin and Ben Higgins told Insider they don't agree.
• Both Kufrin and Higgins said they've never known the show to use actors before.

Matt James' season of the "The Bachelor" has only been on-air for a few weeks, but his contestants have already stirred up plenty of controversy.

And no "Bachelor" contender has made more headlines than Victoria Larson, who has been at the center of drama ever since she walked in and called herself a queen during the premiere.

Larson has been the subject of much Twitter debate, with many viewers - and even a few "Bachelor" alums - claiming that she must be a hired actress.

But "Bachelor" stars Becca Kufrin and Ben Higgins told Insider that they think she's authentic.

"I always think it's so funny when people say producer plant," Kufrin said. "Producers don't need plants, there are many very outgoing, funny, witty, charismatic, crazy girls that they can find each season. So the fact that people think that there's producer plants - there's really not."

Victoria Larson started making waves the moment she arrived

By the second episode, Larson was already telling her fellow "Bachelor" contestants that she was "so sick" of being with them at the Nemacolin resort, where James' season was filmed due to pandemic restrictions.

"I hate this girl power s---," she said at one point during the episode. "I'm not here to be in a sorority."

Larson then turned her attention to her roommate Marylynn Sienna, who she called "toxic" and "manipulative." She brought up her concerns to both James and the other women - all of whom seemed surprised by the claims. Sienna was sent home by James in the following rose ceremony.

Some former 'Bachelor' alums have wondered if Larson is a producer plant to create drama on the show

J.P Rosenbaum, who won Ashley Herbert's season of "The Bachelorette" in 2011, said he thinks there's "no way" that Larson is "just a random contestant."

Ashley Iaconetti - who has appeared on "The Bachelor," "Bachelor in Paradise," and "The Bachelor Winter Games" - also wondered whether Larson was "a hired actress."

"Seriously! I'm actually wondering about this," she wrote in her recap for Cosmopolitan. "Because for someone who waltzed in calling herself a queen, I thought she'd have a sense of humor about herself, but nope, she has zippo!"

"For the record, during my involvement with the show and based on everything else I know, there has NEVER been such a thing as a hired plant," she added.

But Kufrin and Higgins both believe that Larson is 100% authentic

"In my years of being around the show I have never known someone to be planted by producers," Higgins, who starred as "The Bachelor" in 2016, told Insider. "I think it's easy to assume that producers planned for someone to be there as a 'planted character within the show' but I have never heard of that."

"There is still a lot to the behind-the-scenes of the show that I do not know, but I would imagine if the show casted actors I would have known about that by now," he added. "As a result, I don't think she was asked to be anything other than herself."

Kufrin - who starred as "The Bachelorette" in 2018 - agreed, adding that the show gets a wide variety of applicants to choose from for every season.

"People are just outgoing," she added. "I'm sure people go on like, 'I'm going to make a name for myself and be the villain or the wild card.'"

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