Now that the dust has settled over Bachelor in Paradise and the great eviction of Chris Conran and Alana Milne, it's time for the cast offs to speak their piece. And they've got something to say. After sharing some anti-bullying resources on his Instagram stories and largely staying out of the discourse, Chris called on Joe and Riley to apologize to Alana for what happened on the beach.

After allegedly "finally" watching the episode, Chris spoke out on the BiP scandal of the week: Joe and Riley effectively forcing Chris to leave Paradise after betraying Jessenia with Alana. "First and foremost, I take complete accountability for my blatant disrespect towards Jessenia, and handling the situation poorly," he wrote in a lengthy Instagram Story statement. He went on to claim that he had already reached out personally to Jessenia to apologize after filming had ended, and "it was never my intention to maliciously or purposefully hurt anyone on the show." He also added that he was working on his "communication skills."

Chris also insisted that he had not had prior relationships with either Jessenia or Alana before Paradise, something both of them have also said in the past week. "I was by no means in a relationship prior to the show. Nobody in the 'San Diego Crew' was in a relationship beforehand," he wrote, before asking fans to stop sending hateful messages to Alana, alleging that she has even received death threats.

Speaking of his experience being confronted on the beach, Chris said it felt like he was "getting ganged up on in high school by the 'cool kids,'" and he called out Joe and Riley for not allowing Alana to defend herself on the beach. "It also takes a huge level of disrespect for grown men to shut a woman down when she's trying to use her voice. You two know she deserves an apology. We cannot have a culture where we silence women on the show."

I've gotta say, I'm inclined to agree with Chris on this one. I'm willing to give Jessenia, Joe, and Riley the benefit of the doubt and say that they stopped Alana from butting in because they weren't actually that mad with her (maybe Jessenia excluded). However, that doesn't excuse their actions, and as funny as that moment was for TV, IRL, it's really not a great look.

In the end, Chris said that while he was sorry for being "disrespectful to Jessenia," he didn't "regret following my heart" to pursue a relationship with Alana on the beach, even if it didn't work out.

As for Alana, she reposted Chris' message, adding a few clapping emojis and writing, "@ChrisCornan deserves an apology as well. Thank you for standing up for me." And on Wednesday, she also opened up about how she feels looking back at everything that happened in Paradise. "It was, in my opinion, an overreaction on everyone's part," she told Becca Kufrin on The Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, adding, "No one gave me any grace."

Alana backed Chris up, denying that they had any prior relationship, telling Becca that if those on the beach had been willing to hear her side of the story, she would have said that none of what they were saying was true. "Chris and I were friends, as far as I'm concerned there was no plan here," she said. "I really just wanted the opportunity to say that this was not planed." Alana added, however, that she wouldn't have spent time defending Chris' actions towards Jessenia. "If the roles were reversed, I would feel the same way. I don't think that he made all the right decisions, I'm not going to say that he did," she emphasized.

Still, she said, it's painful for her to watch the episodes back, especially when she can take a step back and see how people were talking about her. Like Chris, she didn't specifically call out Joe and Riley, but she did hint that she's still waiting for an apology from people on the beach. "It's kind of hard to see people talking about me now and saying things that are upsetting and having them not apologize for them," she said. "That's hard to let go."

Alana and Chris did not leave things well in Paradise (Chris, that was her van!), but she told Becca that he reached out multiple times after they went home to apologize, and they've since reconciled. "He is in my life and I've forgiven him," she said. She tried to keep the nature of their post-BiP relationship vague, but Becca got her to admit that they have gone on "a bunch" of dates. "I'm very scared to talk about it because I feel like it'll look a certain way, but the fact is that we weren't dating before."

In other words, Alana and Chris are not Brendan and Pieper, and they would really like to be excused from this narrative. Here's hoping Brendan and Pieper are held accountable next week.

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Image: ABC/Craig Sjodin