Boycott the Bachelor and Bachelorette (Reloaded)

By Maya Mackey

Hopefully, you’re all caught up on the drama following the finale of Jenn Trann’s season of The Bachelorette. If you need a breakdown, check out my report from last week’s taping of “After the Final Rose” on https://inglewood.com.

Since the fall out, ABC has tried to put a bandage on the situation by rushing to add Jenn to the 33rd season of Dancing with the Stars.  Just like ABC’s announcement of Jenn Tran as The Bachelorette, it was not very mindful or very demure of them.  ABC continues to give Tran, the  “here, damn” treatment, constantly treating her as an afterthought. The only planned Bachelor Nation star scheduled for the DWTS season was Joey Graziadei, this year’s former Bachelor. 

However, that’s not the biggest jaw drop to take place since last Tuesday. Today, Devin Strader (the crowd’s favorite villain on Jenn’s season) posted a lengthy Instagram video, detailing the highs and lows of their relationship and exposing a huge lie that Jenn told at “After the Final Rose”. In order to connect the dots, let’s rehash what Jenn shared on the After the Final Rose finale. 

One of the greatest shocks on Jenn’s finale was that Devin had “canceled” a sponsored couple’s visit over a month ago and ended their engagement over the phone, stating he just didn’t love her anymore and “regretted getting engaged.” Jenn also shared that Devin had “ghosted” her since leaving Hawaii and that a day after the breakup, he had followed Maria Georgas (the woman Bachelor Nation cannot seem to let go of) on Instagram. Needless to say, the audience was just as confused as Jenn , as moments later, we watched Devin express that he “loves [Jenn] with all of [his] heart and never wants that to go away.”

That brings us to today, September 10th. Devin exposed several text messages shared between he and Jenn that paint a slightly different story than the one shared on their finale. Originally Jenn had expressed that Devin “didn’t  want to go to couples counseling. He didn’t want to fight for the relationship anymore.” However, Devin shared screenshots of text messages clearly showing that he was attending couple’s counseling.  He asks Jenn for the zoom link to attend their virtual sessions. Furthermore, he shared a text exchange detailing that Jenn fired their couple’s counselor—without his consent—because “she didn’t like her” and found the therapist to be “inexperienced.” Certainly, therapy is a delicate process and you should absolutely be comfortable with whomever you’re sharing your deepest, darkest secrets with but couple’s counseling involves two people and the hiring or firing of a couple’s counselor should not have happened without talking to her partner. Full stop. There’s no way to defend or justify that. 

Secondly, Miss Tran, also expressed on the finale that, “[she and Strader]  were full-blown engaged and in love and now you’re ignoring my text like I mean nothing to you.” Today, Devin debunked that myth as well. The slew of text messages show that Jenn, actually, was pretty negligent with her responses to her then fiance. You can see several double and triple texts sent from Devin with no response, but he seemingly shrugs it off and tries not to take it to heart. 

Strader’s credibility could be called into question due to how choppily the video is edited. He starts off sharing text messages from early August detailing the breakup and then jumps to messages from early June showing little tiffs they seemed to have over scheduling visits and whether or not they were receiving enough attention from the other. Why we needed to see as many text messages as we did remains only sensible to Devin himself. I understand his wanting to defend himself against the allegations  and rumors. That is certainly his right but when the allegations were “ghosting Jenn” and “being unwilling to do counseling and work on the relationship”, screenshots of call logs and a request for the counseling zoom link would have sufficed. We didn’t need to see text messages hashing out unrelated arguments.

The “loopholes” in what caused their ruin remain. There is about a 2-3 second flash of text exchanges towards the earlier half of his recent Instagram video. I tried several times to pause the video in time to be able to read the messages but it moves incredibly fast. I’m skeptical of anybody who chooses to fast forward through the alleged “proof” they have of their innocence. If you’re innocent, show it all, without manipulation or editing. What I could catch from the video is that Devin was indeed demonstrably attentive to Jenn. Whether it was genuine or not, we’ll never know. Even on “After the Final Rose,” Devin admitted that he repressed his authentic feelings of doubt for two months in order to try and make their relationship work (also double verified by his text messages shown on the Instagram video).  

Looking at the situation as sensibly and as mature as I can, the Tragedy of Jenn Tran and Devin Strader is nothing more than a tale of two adults with insecure attachment strategies, attempting to find love in a hopeless place (the hopeless place being Reality TV). Jenn very much seems to have a Fearful-Avoidant attachment style. Both craving love yet being skeptical of it when it arrives. In the penultimate episode of her season, she all but admits that Devin scares her because she has never received as much attention, positive affirmation and dedication as Devin displayed on the show. Devin, who had a breakdown during the final stretch when Jenn hadn’t confessed to being in love yet, is likely an anxious attacher, feeling lower in worth when his feelings aren’t reciprocated.  You mix two people with insecure attachment styles and a conniving production team, who’s bottom line is scandal and viewership, and you get the plethora of reality dating competitions we currently have at our disposal.

I do not believe Devin is a good person but two things can be true at once. He did not ghost Jenn and they had several conversations before the After the Final Rose show (Jenn claimed that ATFR was the first time they’re speaking since the breakup). 

Jenn did not need to lie to gain sympathy from viewers. Devin (who posted an Instagram update at 6 PM saying he shouldn’t have and “didn’t mean to” air their dirty laundry and that he “gains nothing” from posting these text messages, which you would have to be a damn fool to believe) is manipulative at best and a covert narcissist at worst. Jesse Palmer, the show’s host is sorely lacking in practiced empathy (even if he experiences it internally). The producers clearly have a vendetta against her and it’s time to throw this whole season and frankly the whole show in the trash.