Producer: 'Bachelor' finale wasn't fixed

NEW YORK -- The executive producer of "The Bachelor" says that Jason Mesnick's change of heart was not staged.

Mike Fleiss says producers of the ABC dating show did not create the outcome of Monday's season finale that prompted viewer outrage when Mesnick dumped his first choice for the runner-up.

Mesnick, a 32-year-old single dad from Seattle, proposed to Melissa Rycroft in New Zealand. But in the subsequent "After the Final Rose" special, taped six weeks later, he dumped Rycroft because he still had feelings for runner-up Molly Malaney. He and Malaney are now dating.