Remember way back in 2019 when the internet went wild hypothesizing whether or not Rachel Bilson and The Bachelor's Nick Viall were a couple? Well, as it turns out, they never actually dated. 

On Thursday, the actress and the reality star admitted to faking a romantic relationship for the sake of a joint project that, sadly, never came to be. "No, Nick and I never dated," Rachel said on Nick's podcast The Viall Files, to which he replied: "We did troll the internet." 

They certainly did. Given their flirty Instagram comments ("He slid into her...dms #sheaccepted") and captions ("Will we choose to forgo our individual rooms..."), we were definitely under the impression that they were more than just friends.

The whole ruse was Nick's idea after he and Rachel hit it off following her appearance on his podcast in 2019. The pair thought of doing a spin-off show, but it never ended up happening. "It was going to be called Making Love With Nick and Rachel," Viall went on to explain. "I had an Instagram saved already for it. Then she got some gig, and then she bailed on me." He jokingly added that the two were "epically single" and "wanted attention." 

"It was literally to get attention for the podcast," Rachel confirmed. "It was like, 'OK, it's a tease-up to what we're doing.' Even though it didn't come to fruition, that was the intention." 

With the demise of the podcast, their fake relationship followed. Soon after, Rachel was linked to actor Bill Hader, who she dated for nearly a year, while Nick began dating his now-fiancée Natalie Joy.  

"It all worked out," Nick concluded. "You're thriving, we're thriving."

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