Arie ended his season of The Bachelor by choosing Becca Kufrin … and then, a few weeks later, calling ABC so that their cameras could watch for 25 brutal minutes as he broke up with her.
Since then, Arie"s tried to explain that away — claiming that he did all of that for Becca. So that she could still be liked and so that she could become the next Bachelorette.
In the video below, Becca doesn"t sound like she"s buying that. At all.
It"s true that Becca Kufrin is the new Bachelorette. That season is currently in production, and she"ll sort through a a crowd of suitors to find the man of her dreams.
Or, at least, to find a man who"s better than Arie Luyendyk Jr. So … just about any man at all. Even the guy in the chicken costume.
(If you"re not familiar with that goofiness, you"ll get a glimpse in the video below)
But … did Arie really break up with her for 25 agonizing, unedited minutes on camera just so that he could make it clear to audiences that he"d ended the relationship and to let her star on The Bachelorette?
Plenty of folks have called B.S. on Arie"s explanation.
Becca has her doubts as she tells Entertainment Tonight: "Well, that"s news to me!"
In fact, Becca doesn"t believe that Arie planned it out like this at all.
"I don"t think he ever expected me to be [the Bachelorette], or how everything played out."
Hindsight is twenty-twenty. It"s easy to claim that you planned for things to work out a certain way, after the fact.
Especially when you realize that the audiences found your actions to be cruel, and when they can"t imagine what would have possibly motivated you to go out of your way to capture it all on film.
"So that"s his side," Becca says. "I don"t know."
That"s … nicer than she needs to be, all things considered.
Becca and Entertainment Tonight also note that Arie claims that he plans to watch Becca"s season.
(First of all … wow. Second of all, we have to wonder how Lauren Burnham feels about that? Though critics might say that Lauren feels however Arie tells her to feel)
As you may recall, Arie"s ex Emily Maynard said that she didn"t plan to watch Arie"s season … though she had enough to say afterwards that it sounds like she caught an eyeful of the finale, at the very least.
Becca"s response to hearing that Arie may be watching her season is, initially, an awkward "meh."
But she does elaborate, saying:
"I mean, i figured. Actually, we had conversations, back when we were together, like: "Who do you think it could be as the next Bachelorette?""
And so she assumed that her status as his ex wouldn"t deter him from watching.
"So I figured he would watch the show."
There"s no telling if the knowledge that Arie may be watching will impact Becca or play on her thoughts during filming.
But … it has to, right? Knowing that you"re on camera is not the same thing as knowing that your ex is one of the millions tuning in.
So far, from the few glimpses that the Bachelor Nation has gotten from Becca"s season, we know a few tidbits from her first night.
-Becca is wearing a stunning white dress
-One of the men has his hair in a "man bun," which is literally just a bun that does not need a gendered prefix
-One of the men is in a chicken suit and … people have so many questions about that
Something to consider as we watch this new season of The Bachelorette when it begins in May is that Becca has fresh emotional wounds from her horrible Bachelor breakup.
It"s difficult to say how this will impact her.
She may be very wary of her suitors for what may strike audiences as minor flaws or even favorable statements.
When you"ve known betrayal as Becca has, it"s easy to see red flags everywhere.
At the same time, it may be that, compared to Arie, a lot of sub-par men could end up looking like princes.
We"ll all have to tune in and find out.
