Ben Higgins was dropping pounds about as fast as he was dropping girlfriends while appearing on "The Bachelor" in 2016.

In a new interview, the fan favorite Bachelor said he lost 30 pounds while filming his season due to a stomach parasite he contracted just before leading the show.
"The craziest thing that ever happened to me on this franchise, which I can speak to you openly [about] now, is I had a massive parasite the whole time I was on the show," he said during an appearance on Fubo Sports' "Drinks With Binks." "I was in Honduras — which is a country I love — for a wedding. I get a parasite in my gut. It hits me the week that filming starts."

Ben said producers wanted him to keep the internal issue under wraps, forcing him to fib about his weight loss.
"It was blamed on being stressed and anxious," he said. "You can't really share this after the show because that isn't a great look for 'The Bachelor,' it's not a great look for the contestants. It's not a great look for the show that I was sick the whole time."
Ben, 31, said he would often feel ill during romantic scenes and was forced to run away from the women.
"That's the craziest story that I've kind of kept hidden," he said.

Ben ended up getting engaged to Lauren Bushnell at the end of the show, but they split a year later. She is currently pregnant and married to country singer Chris Lane. Ben, meanwhile, is engaged to Jessica Clarke.