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Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. Once Said He Was ‘Really Good Friends’ With Jef Holm

Long before Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Jef Holm‘s feud, the Bachelorette alums were close friends.

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“Jef and I had a pretty cool relationship because we could really talk about what was going on in the house pretty openly to each other, whereas some of the other guys in the house, [it was] difficult for them to hear about the dates that were going on,” the race car driver, 35, told Us Weekly and other reporters during a conference call in June 2012. “So yes, Jef and I had a pretty cool relationship [and] friendship going.”

Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Jef Holm attend KIIS FM's Jingle Ball at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles on December 3, 2012.
Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Jef Holm attend KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles on December 3, 2012.

Luyendyk Jr. and Holm, 33, both starred on Emily Maynard‘s season 8 of The Bachelorette in 2012. She ultimately gave her final rose to Holm — though they split in October 2012 — while Luyendyk Jr. finished as the runner-up. Throughout the season, the two guys often pulled pranks on Maynard’s other suitors.

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“I definitely was really good friends with Michael [Nance] and definitely really good friends with Jef,” Luyendyk Jr. said at the time. “It was just kind of funny how you had a little separation in the house. You had what we called the football team, and then it was, like, Jef and I versus everybody. It was interesting because you really had so many different types of personalities, but we all meshed together pretty well.”

Fast-forward five years later: the X Games bronze medalist is now the lead of season 22 of The Bachelor and he’s no longer chummy with the entrepreneur. Shortly after Luyendyk Jr. was named the next Bachelor earlier this month, Holm took a dig at his former pal. “I stopped being friends with him years ago because he’s disgusting,” Holm tweeted.

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Maynard, however, had nothing but nice things to say about her ex’s latest chapter. “I can’t think of a better person to be the Bachelor than Arie and I’ve been hoping this day would come since season 8 ended!” she told Us in an exclusive statement. “He’s a gentleman through and through and all the girls on his season are lucky to have him.”

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