DraftKings has announced that they will be probing the $1 million win of a former contestant of the reality show “The Bachelor” after allegations of potential cheating emerged. The Bachelor is one of the top reality TV shows and contestants who do well in the show tend to gain a lot of the spotlight immediately after.
Jade Roper-Tolbert, a former Bachelor contestant who was also part of the 2015 “Bachelor in Paradise” series will not be very happy with the media attention she is getting because of this cheating scandal. Jade has been accused along with her husband Tanner Tolbert — also a “Bachelor” alum of colluding with each other to win DraftKing’s “Millionaire Maker” event.
Jade’s emerged victorious from a field of over 100,000 entries to garner the top prize. While Tolbert has long been an avid fantasy sports player, her fantasy sports betting play became regular only in the current NFL season.
Us Weekly
Jade Roper-Tolbert Beats Field of 100,000
To win, Jade had to create a lineup from four wild-card NFL games last weekend. She ended up submitting an entry that included Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook and Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. However, the player who contributed the most to her win was Seattle Seahawks wideout D.K. Metcalf, who turned in a massive performance.
Some fantasy sports players have criticised Jade’s win as the product of an unfair advantage. According to reports, the couple submitted the maximum 300 entries in total—150 each—with virtually all entries containing a unique roster of player combinations, ensuring that their accumulated entries would contain most of the NFL’s fantasy stars.
Since each of the couple’s 150 entries have barely any overlap between all their respective lineups, some vocal members of the fantasy sports community have argued that Jade and her husband must have colluded with each other, which is expressly forbidden under the DraftKings rules. The company has launched an internal review into these allegations.
Couple Denies Cheating Allegations
The couple released a statement to celebrity news website TMZ where they denied any wrongdoing and described Jade’s win as “pure luck”, a win that they speculated would be less scrutinised if she were not female or a non-celebrity.
James Chisholm, spokesman for DraftKings said the company is following protocol and not singling out Jade. Chisholm confirmed that it is the policy of the firm to conduct an internal review after every major event before paying out, ensuring that all rules and regulations are followed. Currently, no timeline has been offered by Chisholm for the conclusion of the review.
