Bachelor 25 - Matt James - General Discussion - *Sleuthing Spoilers*

As someone who stopped watching 3 weeks ago, I completely understand her decision.

Not sure where to add this but I just posted this on another forum so I would like to know what you guys think ...


So Bri’s mom accepted my friend request and on 11/23 she made a post for Bri’s birthday and said she has not spoken to her and to hurry home cause her new adventure awaits. We all know her and Bri are joined at the hip. Sooooo what does that mean ? If anything

I stated this already about Bri not posting for her birthday and someone said it may be because she was heart broken. So idk

And also she started adding songs (like 11 of them) on her Spotify on 11/27

@Thatgirl31109 It has been sleuthed in the past the F2/F3 have to remain for a couple of days after the FRC. The lead and their F1 spend time together.

If filming ended Nov 21st as we think it did, it's possible she had to stick around and couldn't leave. It was noticed on Nov 27th she deleted over 30 posts on her IG.

There were a few that surfaced all on the same day, Nov 23rd? iirc, she might not have been home yet, which is confirmed by her Mother JMO's.

Is it strange that the bachelor Instagram page didn’t post any pictures of Bri’s HTD ? A few of Michelle, one advertising Rachel’s parachuting date and Serena’s doubts. I forget what has happened previously?

Food for thought. We’ve seen the stats on viewership and on screen representation. Given the “tendencies” of Bachelor Nation, if a black woman had been spoiled as the winner, would viewers have tuned out? I’m seeing how quickly people are turning on Matt at the thought of him dumping Rachael. His happiness was never the goal, was it?

luvnunity wrote:Food for thought.  We’ve seen the stats on viewership and on screen representation.  Given the “tendencies” of Bachelor Nation, if a black woman had been spoiled as the winner, would viewers have tuned out? I’m seeing how quickly people are turning on Matt at the thought of him dumping Rachael. His happiness was never the goal, was it?

Certainly not by tptb and I doubt by BN since they frequently want their favourite to win and screw the lead.

I have no idea if viewers would have tuned out, but I doubt it. I don't think most people are spoiled and usually the last few episodes get the highest numbers.

Are people turning on Matt? WTH do they want him to do? Stay with someone who is racist whether consciously or unconsciously? Even if she is serious about learning and changing, that all takes time and she didn't end up like that all on her own. It is not his responsibility to help her change and protect her image. Do they want him to help CH too?

luvnunity wrote:Food for thought.  We’ve seen the stats on viewership and on screen representation.  Given the “tendencies” of Bachelor Nation, if a black woman had been spoiled as the winner, would viewers have tuned out? I’m seeing how quickly people are turning on Matt at the thought of him dumping Rachael. His happiness was never the goal, was it?

I’m not sure what may or may not have happened. What I’ve observed throughout BN on social media is that the majority of POC with the exception of a couple (like Tayshia) doesn’t have a high volume of followers. Look at Rachel Lindsay who was a Lead and she’s still under 1 million.

luvnunity wrote:Food for thought.  We’ve seen the stats on viewership and on screen representation.  Given the “tendencies” of Bachelor Nation, if a black woman had been spoiled as the winner, would viewers have tuned out? I’m seeing how quickly people are turning on Matt at the thought of him dumping Rachael. His happiness was never the goal, was it?

I don't think viewers would have tuned out. I think in the end fans want to see a love story. Regardless of Matt's connection with them, Bri, Serena, and Michelle are all lovely, charming, suitable women. If Matt had selected any one of them, I think fans would have been happy. The fans didn't tune out when Clare selected Dale. They didn't tune out on Tayshia, who delivered one of the most satisfying franchise seasons in a very long time.

Here's the thing -- I never expected Matt to last with his F1 any more than I expected it of Pilot Pete. One always hopes, but the weight of the evidence seemed to point in the other direction. So it was not a surprise to me at all that Matt decided to dump Rachael. My question about it has to do with the timing. A member of Reddit posted a timeline that shows Matt appearing to be supportive of Rachael ("rumors can be dark and nasty") in the February 4th ET interview. (At that point the Tik-Tok story was already out, as were most of the photos except for the Old South photos.) There was a possible safe house visit around Valentine's Day. Things seem okay up through February 19th, with the breakup possibly happening around the 20th. By February 22nd, Matt posted his statement at which point he was clearly over it.

I have to wonder what tipped him over the edge, since he seemed to be more understanding/forgiving to begin with. He seemed to be giving Rachael time. Maybe it was a process, and maybe it took that long for the metaphorical scales to fall from his eyes. Maybe it took that long for him to fall out of (puppy) love. But I can't completely dismiss the idea that there is something a little too convenient about the timing of it. If he is upset at Rachael's racism now, why wasn't he more upset or at the very least concerned a few weeks ago? I guess my question is, how did he get from there to here?

I definitely think Matt’s image & how the story blew up to epic proportions after Chris’ disastrous interview played a huge role in Matt’s decision to dump Rachael.

But if I take my personal dislike for Matt out of the equation & give him the benefit of the doubt, I could walk myself through his thought process. I think it’s possible he intended to stand by her initially but more stuff kept coming out & with each thing came more public scrutiny. It forced him and Rachael to have tough conversations. Then as those tough conversations progressed he realized the gulf between what’s acceptable to him as a black man, & where Rachael is currently. & not just her, but her family as well as her friends. & if we think the stuff that we know about Rachael is bad, the stuff I’ve seen from a few of her friends that she’s still close with to this day is even worse. Then he has to examine if this is all worth it to him. At the end of the day, he barely knows this woman. Why should he put himself through the emotional labour of being in a relationship with someone who may or may not do the work of anti-racism, & then even if she does will the people she surrounds herself with do the same? If they don’t, is Rachael prepared to cut ties? I think that’s a lot of ifs & maybes, when he could end it & hold out for someone who simply isn’t racist or has already done the work of unlearning racist behaviour they were taught was acceptable.

All jmo.

@ReneeM Your post makes a lot of sense as always.

The part that baffles me is Matt’s IG story on Sat of a sermon clip with the black pastor basically saying Christians don’t need to be concerned with combating racism but rather to just focus on salvation. This is a truly shocking and extreme position to take.

Then, today Matt is seen wearing a “Destroy Racism  Racist People Are Not My Type Of People” T shirt.

Obviously, he’s been under an incredible amount of pressure and stress and I definitely feel for him with the terrible way he’s been treated. How Matt went from one extreme view to the complete opposite in a matter of days has left me baffled though. Something went down in the last few days to prompt this switch but what I don’t know.

I certainly can understand his breaking up with Rachael and think it was likely best for him even if she really has changed.

jmo

I think Renee has probably described what happened accurately (although I realize we may never know). Haven’t you ever been in a relationship where you are infatuated with someone, really want to be in a relationship with them but there are red flags? It may take you awhile to figure out that the red flags can’t be explained away and you eventually break up. In Matt’s case, he’s doing all of this questioning under a spotlight. I’m guessing he probably got to the point where he couldn’t excuse her behavior anymore and decided to move on.

I have had his thought for the past couple of weeks and have to throw it out there:

Don’t you think that Matt and his F4 had conversations about their political leanings at some point? After all, our presidential election happened during filming.

And let’s not get political here...but I just think that conversation, especially in today’s world, would be important.