Who Is Jade Gilliland, the 'Bachelor' Star Vying for Peter's Heart?

Even before Peter Weber's 'Bachelor' season began filming, drama began circling about one contestant in particular: Jade Gilliland.

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Spoilers for The Bachelor ahead. Well, that was fast. Peter Weber's Bachelor season had not even started filming yet, and drama already came for one of the contestants: Jade Gilliland, the flight attendant who (spoiler alert) used to be married and immediately started getting flack for it when she was announced as a contestant. It's gotten so bad, her ex has already had to make a statement—which may either be really bad for her chances with Peter or make for an intriguing, multilayered character. Contestants have been divorced in the past—Tayshia Adams, for example, who is beloved by fans—so it's far from a deal-breaker. With that in mind, let's investigate what we know so far.

She's a flight attendant.

Based on the bare bones info we have so far, Jade is 26, from Mesa, Arizona, and a flight attendant for Allegiant Airlines. That makes sense—she's one of two attendants, and one of Peter's women is apparently a pilot. I'm sensing a theme from this season.

Jade's sister-in-law has been calling her out.

Apparently until last year, Jade was married (her maiden name is Gilliland, married name McCrary). Things got very real, very fast. The full post is below, but the gist is that Jade's ex-sister-in-law found out about Jade's presence on the show and...had some thoughts, let me put it that way. There are allegations about her failure as an influencer, how she broke up with her ex, and her behavior even when they were married:

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This is, like, the most extreme version of "not there for the right reasons" that I've seen in a while. Again the fact that contestants have social media before the show, and thus verifiable pasts that don't go away even after they scrub them, has kind of been a problem.

And her ex-husband responded.

In contrast to the vitriol of his sister, Mike McCrary merely said that the relationship was "broken" and that he wasn't interested in the negativity back and forth. He didn't offer specifics, but said that he was in a good place and thankful to Jade for that. Here's the full statement:

Which I think bodes well for Jade—there are potentially as many as three contestants who may be cut from the show before it even airs, and producers are generally looking for drama, but not too much. This might have tipped into too much drama, but with this note from Jade's husband, it may be deemed juuuust dramatic enough (especially because Peter himself is not particularly all that interesting, #sorrynotsorry). We also may see Jade for the first episode and then see her get cut immediately, but either way—we'll update when we know more.

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Katherine J. Igoe
Katherine J. Igoe
Contributing Editor

Katherine’s a contributing syndications editor at Marie Claire who covers fashion, culture, and lifestyle. In her role, she writes stories that are syndicated by MSN and other outlets. She’s been a full-time freelancer for over a decade and has had roles with Cosmopolitan (where she covered lifestyle, culture, and fashion SEO content) and Bustle (where she was their movies and culture writer). She has bylines in New York Times, Parents, InStyle, Refinery29, and elsewhere. Her work has also been syndicated by ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Seventeen, Good Housekeeping, and Women’s Health, among others. In addition to her stories reaching millions of readers, content she's written and edited has qualified for a Bell Ringer Award and received a Communicator Award. 

Katherine has a BA in English and art history from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in art business from the Sotheby's Institute of Art (with a focus on marketing/communications). She covers a wide breadth of topics: she's written about how to find the very best petite jeans, how sustainable travel has found its footing on Instagram, and what it's like to be a professional advice-giver in the modern world. Her personal essays have run the gamut from learning to dress as a queer woman to navigating food allergies as a mom. She also has deep knowledge of SEO/EATT, affiliate revenue, commerce, and social media; she regularly edits the work of other writers. She speaks at writing-related events and podcasts about freelancing and journalism, mentors students and other new writers, and consults on coursework. Currently, Katherine lives in Boston with her husband and two kids, and you can follow her on Instagram. If you're wondering about her last name, it’s “I go to dinner,” not “Her huge ego,” but she responds to both.