So you heard Tanner Pope at the Men tell All standing by his earlier assertions that Wes had a girlfriend. Wes, in his new interview with Reality Steve, says the show put Tanner up to it and said he couldn’t backtrack. (You can listen to the 35 minute interview here.)

Is Wes telling the truth? Well, above is a video Wes he has put on You Tube, with his live phone call with Tanner, in which Tanner admits it, and confirms he knew then and knows now Wes didn’t have a girlfriend.

Old hat, by now? Maybe. But if this is true, it appears Wes not only got a bad edit, he got a false one. No reality tv show should be that deceitful.

Tonight is Jillian Harris’ “Men Tell All Episode” on The Bachelorette. Everybody knows Reid, Ed and Kiptyn won’t be there and neither will Wes. You’ll see lots of Dave, Jake, Tanner and Juan, more talk about “man codes” and more gratuitous Wes Hayden bashing. And Dave talking about how he thought Melissa was going to be the Bachelorette and how he was being considered for the Bachelor over Jason. Plus, an update with Jason and Molly.

Why watch? For the preview of next week’s finale. The latest sneak peek commercial talks about a bachelor coming back to propose, which of course is Reid. But, in the episode description of tonight’s show, ABC writes:

It’s the bachelors like you’ve never seen them before! The show includes a special sneak peek at the season finale and the final two bachelors, Ed and Kiptyn.

They’ll show Ed and Kip but not Reid? Would that be true if he were her final choice? Uh-Oh, Reid.

Back to Wes. If you read Claudia Grisales’ interview with Wes Hayden and want more, here are some additional excerpts from their conversation. He explains why he’s not at the “Men Tell All.”

Why didn’t you attend the taping of the “Men Tell All” episode?

I had talks with them and I told them that I wasn’t going to come on the show. I didn’t trust how they were going to edit me.And then when I saw the very last episode (I was on), I realized that I had to go back to defend myself. I called them and … their words to me — they were kind of abrasive — were “Oh, so now you want to come on the show?” They were pretty rude. I said, “I’ve got to defend myself.”

Their exact words to me were “You can’t come on the show and say the things you have been saying on all these other interviews,” basically the truth. And I said, “You mean I can’t come on the show and defend myself?” That’s not right. What do you expect me to do? To go in there and say I have a girlfriend when I don’t have a girlfriend? I’m on there for my career when clearly there were several different reasons why I was on the show? … They said, “OK, we’ll call you back.” And my manager talked to them on (July 10) and the “Men Tell All” was the next day … and they said, “Look, we don’t think it’s a good idea that Wes come.”

But, will they give Wes an opportunity to say something at the end? There’s been rumors of an end-of-show appearance, not filmed when the rest of show taped last weekend, so stay tuned for in case that happens. More likely it will just be another undeserved Wes-bashing.

Jillian did two interviews at the MTA taping, one with Mario from EXTRA and one with Kristen from Entertainment Tonight. Here’s Kristen’s:

Want to get a better sense of Ed? Here’s here’s a video Ed posted of himself and a friend on You Tube 9 months ago — toilet humor, frat boy stuff (from a just-turned 30 year old.)

The tricky editing continues. Thanks to the sleuthers at FORT, next week we’ll see one guy visit Jillian in her room at the Fairmont Orchid before she leaves for the Final Rose Ceremony, which takes place nearby at a private residence. We’ll see Kip arrive first and Ed second. Which means, Kip for sure is being rejected.

Now, the tricky part. Jillian says the last five minutes provide her happy ending. So, does Reid arrive to propose between Kip and Ed and get turned down again, leaving Ed as the final one standing? Or, does she turn Ed down after Kip leaves and then Reid arrives to propose and save the day? And, will be get a resolution at the finale or a cliffhanger where we’ll have to wait until the next night’s “After the Final Rose?” The jury is still out on that one.

Last item for now: Jillian will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tomorrow night.

Hayden was portrayed as a ruthless player who wasn’t on the show to find love, but instead had a secret girlfriend and a larger motive to promote his singing career. Now Hayden says he’s on a mission to clear his name. He is denying that he had a girlfriend while taping the show, and he says he’s a victim of creative editing.

“I signed a contract with them, so I knew they could portray my character any way they saw fit,” Hayden said. “But they have totally slandered me and taken my words and put them out of context. They cut, they paste, they left vital sentences out.”

Sounds like Wes has lawyered up and a battle may be brewing. I’ll bet it’s good for both Wes and the show. Jillian Harris may have moved on to Ed, Kip or Reid (yes, he may return, remember it’s the revolving door season) but Wes is between a rock and a hard place. Either he stays silent and endures hate mail and concert cancellations due to the allegedly phony editing, or he plays David to Goliath and fights back against ABC.

He’s got a growing following on Facebook, My Space and Twitter. And, he’s ramping up his media interviews.

Hayden has booked interviews in recent weeks with People magazine, the New York Daily News and others. He said he will continue telling his side of his story. “The gloves are off,” Hayden said.

From his Facebook page today:

Saturday Night! I need every fan I have (if any! lol) in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to come to the show at Spencers Corner in Fort Worth this Saturday night! Let’s show Fort Worth that there ARE people in Fort Worth that understand that this was a “TV” show for ratings. I need fan support on the Fort Worth show! Try to make it!

Update (7/9): Don’t miss Reality Steve’s interview of Wes Hayden (podcast link here) .

Via The Examiner: Wes Hayden gave an interview today to Bobby Bones on KVET radio about what really happened between him and Jillian and the other guys. Editing is a b*tch, and he’s right, people should think twice before going on these shows. You can listen for yourself here (part1) and here (part 2.)

Did you have a girlfriend when the show was going on?

Wes: I had a girlfriend last summer. She’s still a very good friend of mine. Every now and then we’ll go out and do lunch or something like that. I mean, I did some work for her mom, I’m good friends with her family. They used her name on the show. And I just called them two weeks ago and was like, ‘Look. I don’t care what y’all do to me. You can say I’m the worst guy in the world and I’m here for my publicity, I’ve got a girlfriend. But don’t mention anybody’s name. Because as soon as you mention her name, people in Austin are going to know her, because we dated for a long time. Sure enough, they mentioned her name the very next day. The very next day, People Magazine called. She gave a great article.

Jillian…the end of our date that we had, it didn’t end like you saw it on TV. It was actually a very good date that we had.

It looked like it was all fighting, by the way.

Wes: Exactly. It wasn’t like that at all. We sat down and had dinner for about an hour and a half. And we chatted, we laughed. We BS-ed each other. And when I left, I remember telling Jillian, ‘We’re buds, right?’ She said, ‘Oh yeah. We’re more than that, Wes.’ And I said okay, because that’s the most important thing to me is our friendship, and that we’re honest with each other. I told her I didn’t have a girlfriend. The actual conversation was based around was I here for my career or not.

I think everybody needs to remember that this is a TV show, and it’s here for ratings. If this thing is true, I want to see somebody get married at the end of it. If there’s a marriage at the end of this thing, I’m a total liar and this thing is built around love. I mean, you can get one girl to make out with 30 different guys for two months and then whiddle this thing down to ‘let’s get married.’ I’m just saying, I’d like to see it.

Wes, when you’re in the limo last night, and you say it’s pieced together, how exactly do they get a clip of you saying, ‘I’m the only guy in Bachelor history who’s made it to the top four with a girlfriend.’ How do they get that clip?

Wes: They don’t play what I say after that. I said, ‘I’m the only guy in Bachelorette history to make it to the top four with a girlfriend. Get real, dude. If I had a girlfriend, I’d be home with her right now, and I wouldn’t be putting up with this. They said stuff like that all the way through. They can take whatever they want and just play what they want. It’s not rocket science. I promise you. I do have a career. I’ve been a musician for 14 years and I would never go on national TV and sink myself.

What did you mean by ‘My acting days are over?

Wes: I was in the limo and I was just tired of the whole thing. There were two to three different times on that show where I was ready to go home. Trust me, it’s not what you think. If anybody wants to go on any kind of reality show they really need to consider what could happen to them, and think about it long and hard. And if you do go on, don’t say a whole lot, because they can pretty much do what they want. If I went on there and said, ‘I don’t hit women,’ they could take the don’t out and say, ‘I hit women.’

Look, there had to be drama. There had to be ratings. They picked me for it. And if not, the show would have been boring.

Is Jillian hot in person?

Wes: Jillian’s a cute girl. She really is. But what makes her so cool is that she’s got a really good personality. She’s kind of like the kind of girl who you could go out and have three or four beers with and hang out with the guys.

Was it really necessary to talk trash about the guys who were left?

Wes: Here’s the deal. All the guys talked trash about me for 8 episodes. As soon as I stepped out of the limo, they were already accusing me of things and saying, ‘Wes is a snake. He’s here for the wrong reasons.’ But to be perfectly honest with you, I’ve got in my phone about 30 text messages from the guys. We were all really good friends. None of us didn’t like each other at all. We call each other almost daily. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to Reid, if any, but hypothetically, I could have spoken to him a few times.

Editing is key to The Bachelorette. The producers have been throwing country singer Wes Hayden under the bus, big time, since the beginning. The episode guides keep asking when Jillian will catch on to him. Does he deserve it, or has he been honest about why he went on the show? Even if he went on the show for publicity, does that preclude him from developing real feelings for Jillian?

One other thing the promo gives away: It’s Robby that goes home next week. Those of us following the screencaps knew that already. He’s on the train to Banff, but he doesn’t get a Home Town Date. Bye, Robby. (Say goodbye to Jake too next week, although he will make another appearance at a hotel in Austin when Wes has his hometown date.) And it looks like break-dancer Michael will be the 5th with a home town date — in addition to Reid, Kip, Wes and Jesse.

If you are a Wes hater, don’t despair. Wes will go home at the rose ceremony following the home town dates. He doesn’t get to Spain. (Update 6/22: Maybe not.) Kip and Reid are in Spain for sure, and it looks like Ed makes his comeback there. Jesse probably makes it as well, but it’s doubtful he goes any further.

Final three prediction for Hawaii: Kip, Ed and Reid.