A thorough investigation into what actually happened between The Bachelor's Irena and Bella.

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Last week on The Bachelor we watched former close friends (and frontrunners) Bella and Irena absolutely lose it at each other with a confrontation at the cocktail party ending in an epic storm out.

In the episode, Locky and his remaining bachelorettes re-entered the Bachelor mansion after weeks in lockdown. During that time, the contestants had virtual dates, rose ceremonies via Zoom, and kept in close contact with Locky with frequent texts and phone calls. 

WATCH: Locky decorates a cake while answering rapid fire questions.

But upon reuniting, we saw Irena complain about Bella boasting about her amazing family date, and Bella complain about Irena lying about "getting calls from Locky every day" and "exaggerating" her connection and time with him.

Then in a confrontation, Bella accused Irena of being a backstabber before declaring, "I don't trust you anymore. I'm sorry."

"And I don't trust you," Irena replied.

"I'm f**king over your bullsh*t, to be honest," Bella said as she walked away. "You're a manipulative little b*tch." 

Back when Irena and Bella were friends. Image: Ten. 

But, it turns out the 50-minute episode left out a lot of important gossip information. 

While the drama was fuelled by jealousy around Locky, it exploded into a messy high-school-esque fight with a body-shaming comment according to eliminated contestant Steph Harper. 

It all started when Irena told Steph that Bella had body-shamed her, so Steph asked Bella who denied it.

"I was good friends with Irena before lockdown and we remained friends into lockdown. She told me quite a few things that Bella had said about her that were quite nasty," Steph told Mamamia.

After Bella told Steph it was all made up, she confronted Irena and called her a liar. The mansion then became divided into two camp - Bella, Izzy, Maddy, Bec and Steph against well, Irena. 

"I think we were both like 'oh ok, we don't like this'," Steph explained. "We don't really want to associate with her [Irena] anymore." 

The 'mean girl' clique decided on a plan, where Izzy attempted to tell Locky 'the truth' and throw Irena under the bus. Apparently one of Irena's lies was her 'secret plan' to destroy Izzy.

On Thursday, Irena and Bella had a very intense fight. Image: Ten. 

When speaking to Now To Love, Steph explained that there was much more to their falling out than just this one situation.

"I do think we’re seeing a lot of reactions about how Bella acted on the show – but there’s a lot of stuff that happened that wasn’t shown at all," she told the publication.

"I’ve had contact with the girls off the record and I’m aware a lot of stuff was said about Bella that wasn’t very nice, so I understand where she’s coming from.

"There’s a lot of stuff that you don’t see between Bella and Irena – so much happened." 

And it seems fellow contestant Izzy agrees.

When a fan commented on a photo of Bella with "insecurities are ruining her chances with Locky Gilbert," Izzy replied, "Or maybe you’re just not seeing the full story."

According to a friend of Irena, who spoke to The Daily Mail, the 31-year-old nurse was left feeling 'isolated' in the mansion after the confrontation.

"Basically everyone turned their backs on her after her fight with Bella. She didn't really have anyone to talk to," they said.

Kaitlyn Hoppe, who left the mansion on Thursday night's episode, told Mamamia that Irena was "excluded" in the mansion.

"There was definitely a divide [in the mansion] and that's why I bonded with Irena," the personal assistant shared. "I don't like to leave people out and isolate people and I don't have sheep mentality. [Irena] was 100 per cent there for the right reasons."

"I think she was [excluded] because her connection [with Locky] was so strong," she added.

But there's more. 

According to the So Dramatic! podcast, the new girl gang apparently only decided to join Bella's vendetta against Irena in an attempt to get more airtime and stay on the show. The women took the 25-year-old's side because they believed she was destined to be the winner (and would therefore be the most famous from the franchise, which would in turn help them get more opportunities post-show).

And apparently the showdown between Bella and Irena will continue right to the end of the season - and gets nastier. 

It gets so nasty the other girls end up distancing themselves from both Irena and Bella, who still to this day remain on bad terms.

"I kind of took the road of I'm just not going to be around Irena, because she doesn't bring out the best in me, and Bella just took a different road," Steph told Mamamia.

In a recent interview with TV Week, Bella said of her fight with Irena, "Although I lost a friend, I'm grateful it all got brought to the surface. It ended up being the beginning of some beautiful friendships with the other ladies that I'll have for the rest of my life.

"I'm usually not one to allow petty behaviour get to me, but when someone falsifies stories, it tips me over the edge, especially when I felt she was using it as a way to get in between Locky and me," she added.

"I'm absolutely devastated that we couldn't continue with our friendship, but too much has happened," Irena told the same publication.

Feature image: Ten.