Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon Feel Like 'Failures' After 'Bachelor in Paradise' Guest Role Criticism

Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon expected their time on Bachelor in Paradise season 8 to look a bit differently.

After the former Bachelor in Paradise couple's relationship was spotlighted on season 8 of the show, Ashley, 34, and Jared, 33, spoke about the unexpected backlash from fans — who said they felt the show was taking time from the Bachelor Nation singles who deserve it.

"It makes us feel like failures because the show took a chance with us, and we didn't ask for them to, but the fact that they wanted to means the world to us," Jared said in a conversation with Entertainment Tonight.

"Honestly, I thought we'd go down there and ... it would be quick little scenes and they would show us on the date and it would be fast and quick and, 'Oh, so cute,' and then move on."

That's not how it happened, though. Ashley and Jared's visit to Mexico had the most screen time of any person or couple in episode 4. Data collected by Bachelor Data Analyst showed Ashley and Jared for nearly 17 minutes of screen time. By comparison, the next highest screen time for any other beachgoer was just eight minutes.

Ashley addressed how big of a role they had in the episode. "We're quite honored that they thought our footage was good enough to show in its entirety. But also what makes us sad is if you guys don't like the farting jokes and stuff like that, I totally get that," she said.

"It's not really jokes, it's real life. Like, real life as of, like, 15 minutes ago," Ashley joked. "But we are kind of sad that we heard a lot of people are fast forwarding through our date scene, which actually was very meaningful to us. I think it would be relatable to a lot of people in serious committed relationships."

Fan criticism of the episode focused on the fact that Ashey and Jared already found their happily ever after on the show.

"Who else feels personally victimized of being forced to watch Ashley and Jared on BIP?" one comment on the Bachelor Data Analyst Instagram post said.

"Ashley and Jared could've had their free vacation off air and just had a small cameo to talk about how a friendship base works for love," another wrote, adding, "Move it along BIP!"

Ashley and Jared met on season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise, though they didn't officially begin dating until three years later. The friends–turned–lovers were married in 2019. They welcomed their first child, Dawson Demitri Haibon, in January.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.