Arie Luyendyk Jr. and his beautiful bride-to-be Lauren Burnham have finally found a way to win the admiration of those who resent them.
Just kidding! They’ve decided to use social media to shame people at the gym.
And yes, that includes recording total strangers just so that they could ridicule them. Ugh.
So, following Arie’s brutal breakup with Becca Kufrin … which audiences saw right before being treated to the sight of Arie proposing to Lauren Burnham … Arie and Lauren fled the country.
Those were Arie’s words, partially in jest. The two of them headed off for an Iceland adventure.
They are, in all seriousness, probably having an easier time as a newly engaged couple while in Europe than they would in the U.S. It’s not that other countries don’t watch The Bachelor, but … they’re going to run across fewer haters in Iceland.
(It’s a good thing that they weren’t planning on vacationing in Minnesota, where Arie is banned … sort of)
They might have less luck avoiding haters in Spain, however.
Because Arie and Lauren filmed themselves and some Spanish gym patrons … for the express purpose of ridiculing total strangers who were just minding their own business at the gym.
In his Instagram story, Arie zeroed in on gym-goers who are exercising in brightly colored shorts.
“This is how they work out here in Spain,” Arie says.
He seems totally floored by the clothing.
“What is he wearing?”
And to no one’s surprise, unfortunately, Lauren seems to follow his lead, saying:
“I cannot handle it.”
Anyone else reminded of a certain body-shaming Playmate who snapped a nude pic of an older gym patron just so that she could ridicule the woman’s figure online? Sure, that was nude, but the principle is similar.
One prevailing theory is that this is the couple’s attempt to re-brand themselves as “funny.”
(You might be surprised at how many people in the world think that you can just decide to be funny)
It does seem like the two of them are hoping to be the late Joan Rivers, or possibly the infamous muppet duo Statler and Waldorf.
Instead, their grating sense of “humor” comes across like whoever writes Mike Huckabee’s tweets.
As one fan wrote on reddit:
“He’s trying so hard to craft a narrative for them after the season but just isn’t smart or self-aware enough to successfully pull it off.”
So, if this is a rebranding attempt, they need to … try something else.
Other members of the Bachelor Nation, however, have other theories about what was behind this poorly conceived stab at humor.
This may have had nothing to do with branding, one fan suggests, and may have everything to do with character.
“Um… has anyone thought that maybe he and Lauren are just privileged a–holes?”
That person might be right.
Fans were generally horrified.
“God they are such nasty people. Who makes fun of strangers to their large Instagram followings? Wtf.”
The ire isn’t directed solely at Arie, either. Lauren was part of this, too.
“They are seriously irredeemable.”
A few fans seem to believe that Lauren is actually to blame for this.
“She seems like a mean girl and it really rubs off on him.”
Lauren struck many viewers as a somewhat quiet person and as a follower rather than an instigator.
It’s curious to see people believe that she is guiding Arie’s behavior rather than the other way around.
Bekah Martinez, who got to know Arie pretty darn well, assessed that Arie prefers to be in charge in his relationships.
But maybe they’re both insensitive jerks.
