-Even just in the 15 minutes or so since Clayton’s apology was posted, I’ve had responses of “Good, he needed to!” and “it’s about time,” and it just goes to show that even though this show has been on 19 years and 46 seasons, how many people still do not even understand how TV works or what they’re watching. I’m sorry, but if THAT was your response to Clayton’s apology, you’re missing the point. I’m not here to say it was the greatest apology ever written and Clayton is a saint, I’m just saying a “finally he said something” reaction is so misguided. First, of course Clayton couldn’t come out with an apology until now BECAUSE ELIZABETH DIDN’T GET ELIMINATED TIL LAST NIGHT. He obviously had to wait for that to happen before he could address it publicly or else he’s giving away a spoiler. And secondly, he didn’t even HAVE to do this. When in the history of this show did a lead ever address a current storyline happening on TV where he’s publicly reaching out to a contestant and basically saying I should’ve kept you over someone else? I certainly can’t remember a time where that happened. So props to him for doing that.
-The last thing in regards to his apology kinda goes into what we saw last night when the show started. He had pulled Elizabeth and Shanae aside to try and get them to hash things out, and all Shanae did was continue the attack, speak over her, raise her voice, and talk about shrimp was Clayton sat there helpless. He got up, excused himself, cancelled the cocktail party, then went straight to the rose ceremony. Shanae’s big thing was that the other women weren’t acknowledging her when she walked in a room, and I guess she felt Elizabeth was the ring leader behind that? Not sure. Elizabeth asked her for names, and Shanae said she was done talking about it. Ok, well, that helps nothing. It’s almost like the chicken and the egg theory with this. Maybe Shanae is right that the women were ignoring her. But maybe they were ignoring her because they couldn’t stand her behavior and felt she was toxic. What came first? Put it this way, I highly doubt that anyone in the history of this show was ostracized from everyone else in the house because they did nothing, said nothing, and acted perfectly. So 17 women are wrong, and the 1 in question is right? I really do find that hard to believe. Because while it’s focused on Elizabeth and Shanae, every single other woman is backing Elizabeth’s claims. So clearly Shanae had done something that pissed the rest of the house off.
-And lets be real, this had nothing to do with shrimp. Bc if that’s what Shanae’s argument is about, she’s losing. Big time. If her whole complaint (which seemed to be the case last night) is that when she offered shrimp to the group, they wouldn’t look at her, I mean, isn’t that just factually incorrect? Didn’t we see the clip last week of her offering that to some of the women in the jacuzzi and at least one or two acknowledged her? So no, not everyone was ignoring her. And again, maybe some did, but it was because of her behavior long before any shrimp was made. Shanae seems to be completely unaware of her surroundings, completely unaware of how people perceive her, and completely unaware of how this shows dynamics work. And I’ll bring it up again because it’s important, her actions on social media post show have shown zero remorse, and basically double down on what she did and said on the show. That should tell you all you need to know. Almost every other woman is supporting Elizabeth, donating to charity on her behalf, and Shanae has done and said nothing publicly, nor has she privately contacted her according to post by Sierra. So there you go.
-I know the cool, chique thing to do nowadays is to go online and talk about this show and defend the villain. Say that it’s not as bad as it looks, say that you’ve heard from people who think they’re great, say that it’s just TV, etc. Look, I don’t necessarily doubt any of that. And anyone sending Shanae death threats, or calling her names, or making her life miserable on social media deserves to have their social media account banned. All we’re doing is pointing out the inaccuracies in what she’s saying vs doing, and pointing out what she’s done post show, which shows a lot about how she feels. And while of course people in her own camp will defend her (one has to me), I can say that the day the cast was announced back on Sept. 25th, I had 3 DIFFERENT PEOPLE contact me that knew Shanae (and not just in passing or indirectly) who said the exact same thing “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s this seasons villain.” If people are saying that about you before filming even begins and just by knowing you’re gonna be on the show, don’t you think that says something?
-So what happens? She gets on the show and she’s a major villain, gives off some serious mean girl vibes, clearly doesn’t vibe well with anyone in the house…but the 17 other women are wrong, and the people who knew her who contacted me before the show predicting this would happen are all wrong too? Shanae doesn’t deserve death threats or name calling or social media bullying. She does deserve any criticism for things we’ve seen her say and do on the show though, and that’s what these last few paragraphs are for. If she can’t see that, if her defenders can’t see that and say we’re being too harsh, then they are looking at it through a biased lens. She has every right to be criticized for what we’ve seen. How anyone cannot see that is beyond me. You know who I didn’t get emails about preseason saying they think they could be the villain? Eliza. Or Gabby. Or Susie. Or Sierra. Or Genevieve. Or Elizabeth. I think you get my point. There was only one other one that preseason I got emails about which centered around kind of a “watch out for her” vibe: Cassidy. Now you might say it’s convenient to be saying this after the fact when those are the two who ended up being the villain but, 1) When I first posted about Shanae being a villain during filming in October I did mention it then as well, and 2) I have no reason to lie or make this up. Again, I have the emails. I have the proof. But to protect sources, I can’t post them. However in this situation, I feel it’s absolutely relevant to the situation, which is why I’m bringing it up. If you choose to think it’s just a crazy coincidence these people knew before filming who they thought could be a villain and those people ended up being the villains, you have every right to think that as well. I just like to deal in reality.
-And the final thing in regards to the Clayton/Elizabeth/Shanae deal and him deciding to keep Shanae over her that again so many people seem to keep overlooking, is that Clayton does not see the ITM’s until they air. He even admitted it in his apology. If he knew this was more than petty drama, he wouldn’t have kept Shanae. Now, you can absolutely criticize Clayton if you want for being a producers puppet and he was most likely told to keep her over Elizabeth. That’s fair. I’m sure he was too. And I’m sure he didn’t put up much of a fight about it because, as he said in his apology, at that moment in time he thought it was petty drama and no idea the extent of what Shanae was saying, especially in the ITM’s where she clearly is acting differently, saying she’s winning, saying she basically tricked Clayton. HE DOES NOT SEE THAT UNTIL WE ALL SEE IT. So criticize him for licking his lips too much. Criticize him for maybe not having a ton to say. But this lazy take of, “He’s a moron for keeping Shanae over Elizabeth! Worst Bachelor ever!” is very misguided, ignorant, and not as black and white to him at the time as it is to us now. And he’s basically admitting that with his apology today. If he knew then what he knew now, Shanae would’ve been gone. Is most of this on production? You bet your ass it is. But since they never do interviews and the show never gets called out to address it publicly, and no podcast in their cute little Bachelor Nation circle will ever address it publicly, I just felt I needed to bring it up.
