Detroit TV station mistakenly airs mock 2020 election results during 'Bachelorette'

DETROIT – On Tuesday night’s airing of “The Bachelorette” in Detroit, the shocker wasn’t Clare’s big fight with Yosef or the teaser for next week’s appearance of Tayshia.

It was the fact that WXYZ-TV mistakenly posted what the station called randomly generated 2020 election results that showed President Donald Trump getting a rose from Michigan voters.

Fact check: Election Day isn't until Tuesday.

The blooper took place during an episode of "The Bachelorette" that aired at 8 p.m. local time. A graphic appeared on the left side of the screen that showed mock results for several races.

With 100 percent of the vote reported, according to the mock graphic, President Donald Trump won, receiving 50 percent of votes over Joe Biden's 44 percent.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Real-life polls are showing Biden ahead of Trump at this point.

The week in polls:Trump gains in 9 of 12 swing states, but Biden still leads in 10 of them

'The Bachelorette' bombshell recap:Clare calls Dale Moss her fiancé. And Tayshia. Is. Back

The graphic also had Republican challenger John James beating Democratic U.S. Senator Gary Peters in the Michigan senate race by 50-46 percent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin defeating GOP contender Paul Junge by 52-46 percent, and so on in several other completely made-up tallies.

The error was almost as riveting as Yosef confronting Clare about that strip dodgeball game. Almost.

WXYZ-TV vice president and general manager Mike Murri apologized Wednesday morning for the accidental testing of systems that will be used next week for actual election night coverage. 

"WXYZ inadvertently aired an election result graphic this evening as part of our testing of the systems we will use during election night coverage," Murri said via email. "The results displayed were randomly generated by that system. We apologize for any confusion. We have taken steps to ensure this will not happen again."

Follow Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds on Twitter: @juliehinds

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