The Bachelor Winter Games Cast Weighs In On Luke & Stassi's Breakup

While Luke Pell tries to convince Bachelor Nation that he's not the worst guy in the world following his cold-hearted treatment of former flame Stassi Yaramchuk during the Bachelor Winter Games: World Tells All special, his reality star friends are breaking down his bad behavior.

The Luke-Stassi breakup dominated the conversation on the most recent episode of The Ben & Ashley I. Almost Famous Podcast. Co-host and Bachelor Winter Games winner Ashley Iaconetti described the pairing between Pell and Yaramchuk as a "Nicholas Sparks romance" that somehow turned into a "showmance."

Though the podcast guests, including Iaconetti's boyfriend Kevin Wendt and international lovebirds Courtney Dobler and Lily McManus, tried to be impartial and make it clear that they considered Pell to be a "genuinely good guy," the consensus was that he had handled the break up poorly.

"He definitely needed to make it clear to Stassi how he was ending things and he definitely should have kept in touch with her," Iaconetti said, with show producer Amy chiming in that Pell "freaked and didn't know how to handle" ending things with his Russian-born sweetheart.

"If he had feelings for her, and then he comes to the realization that she lives in another country, he doesn't have to be friends with her or follow her on Instagram or talk to her," Amy added. "But what he should have said was, 'I flipped out, you live a bajillion miles away, and I can't do it, no matter how much I like you.' And that would have been fine with me."

Wendt took a more diplomatic approach, pointing out that Pell and Yaramchuk had spoken between the show's finale and the live World Tells All special. He added that Pell, at age 34, was understandably hesitant to take on a long-distance relationship, and that he regretted the situation.

"[It's] really easy to trash the one who made the mistake, but Luke was the first one to tell me the day after we filmed the live show that he made a huge mistake," Wendt said. "It's not like he's some big... he's a great guy."

The group added that the couple's language barrier may have contributed to the lack of communication. McManus noted that they also "didn't really address" the long-distance nature of a possible relationship.

This all may be moot, though: Pell himself said he ended things with Yaramchuk because he wanted to get back together with his ex-girlfriend. The challenge facing him now: Smoothing things over with the fans.

As Iaconetti and company pointed out, Pell's getting a lot of online hate. But if Dean Unglert can redeem himself, maybe there's still hope for this heartbreaker?