SEMINOLE, Fla. – The fiance that "bachelorette" Mary Delgado was arrested for punching Wednesday night was "bachelor" Byron Velvick, the fisherman who chose Delgado to be his bride on the 2004 season of ABC's "The Bachelor," TMZ has confirmed.
Delgado, a former cheerleader with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was arrested just after midnight on Wednesday on charges she punched Velvick in the mouth, causing his upper lip to bleed, Pinellas County authorities said. Original reports said Delgado had assaulted her live-in fiance of three years, but it was not clear if the victim was Velvick.
Velvick, a professional bass fisherman, proposed to Delgado on the show at the close of the 2004 season.
Delgado, 40, was arrested in Tampa and charged with battery. She was under the influence of alcohol when she was arrested, according to a police affidavit.
According to TMZ, the former cheerleader had been living with Velvick "as a family" for the last three years. Sheriff officials said Delgado was released Wednesday afternoon.
She gave her name as Maribel Liliana Delgado. A telephone listing for the pair could not be found.
Ironically, the pair appeared together Tuesday in a special episode of "The Bachelor" called "After the Final Rose."
During the show, Delgado told the audience she had taken up her fiance's sport of fishing, that the pair was doing a lot of traveling and that they planned to get married in November.
"I love this man so much that I have fallen in love with the sport that he loves," Delgado said.
Delgado actually appeared on "The Bachelor" twice, the first time during the show's fourth season in 2003. She returned the year after and met Velvick.
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