Fans first met Pieper James on Season 25 of “The Bachelor,” and after her time on the show, she was spotted out and about with Brendan Morais from Season 16 of “The Bachelorette.”

Both made their way to “Bachelor in Paradise” for Season 7, and fans saw their relationship drama unfold after Brendan seemingly used fellow cast member Natasha Parker for her roses in order to stay and meet Pieper.

Throughout Pieper’s short time in “Paradise,” she was seen having conversations with Brendan about Instagram followers, articles written about them, and opportunities for promotion after their time on the show.

This got fans talking about whether she and Brendan were “there for the right reasons” and if they had only come on the show to pursue fame after already finding a relationship together off-screen.

Brendan and Pieper ended up leaving the beach together, and on this week’s episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, she revealed that they are still together despite rumors that they split up.

She also clarified what she meant during those conversations about followers and using “Paradise” as an opportunity for exposure.

When “Bachelor Happy Hour” host and fellow “Paradise” cast member Becca Kufrin asked Pieper about those now infamous conversations, she claims that it wasn’t meant to be taken so seriously.

When referring to “Paradise” as an opportunity, Pieper explained, “By that, I was purely making a joke. I came down excited to see him. I was like, ‘Oh, thanks for holding down the fort. I’m happy to see you here.’ It wasn’t indicative of a plan or anything like that. It was just a joke.”

The Bachelor Nation star continued, “I think there’s this whole conspiracy that we were just there for followers. That’s not that case. In the context in which I told Brendan about the article and told him about his follower gain, I was only telling him because as somebody who’s never been in a public relationship, that was really shocking to me. It wasn’t to be like, ‘Look, we can use this opportunity for XYZ.’”

Becca agreed that it can be shocking to go from being a private person to people caring about your relationships overnight. She said it’s a weird experience that “no one can really prep you for.”

But regardless, Becca confronted Pieper about telling Brendan, “Thanks for playing the game” while in “Paradise,” because for others on the beach it wasn’t a “game” and there were real feelings involved.

Pieper agreed and apologized, but despite how everything went down, she said that she doesn’t have regrets about coming to “Paradise” just for Brendan.

“I don’t think that I gave myself a genuine ‘Paradise’ experience because I did go in knowing what I wanted. I think there was amazing guys on that beach and maybe that’s something I missed out on, but at the end of the day I’m happy with my decision. I’m happy with Brendan. As controversial as that might be to say, so I just followed my gut and my heart and that’s the experience I got,” Pieper said.

To hear more about where Pieper and Brendan stand now and why they haven’t gone public with their relationship, click here.

Listen to Pieper’s entire conversation on “Bachelor Happy Hour” below.