Throughout this season of The Bachelorette, where Becca Kufrin got a second chance at love after Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s season of The Bachelor, last season’s Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay has been blogging recaps at Us Weekly. For her recap of last night’s finale, Lindsay accused the franchise of mishandling her finale versus Kufrin’s. As the franchise’s first black suitor, Lindsay’s season was fraught from the get-go, but she says nothing compared to the stress she felt during her finale. “Becca did not sit on stage for three hours and watch the finale for the first time in front of a live audience,†she wrote. “Becca did not have to deal with someone telling her she would live a mediocre life. Becca did not have to deal with being baited with real time questions about her emotions watching certain scenes. Nope, that was me.â€
Whereas Lindsay’s finale was riddled with controversy and sympathized with the runner-up Peter Kraus, Kufrin’s hardly touched on the problematic posts her now-fiancé once liked. “She was protected and I was placed on display for three hours and labeled an angry black female,†Lindsay continues.
After The Bachelor’s painful ending, where Kufrin and Luyendyk’s nightmarish breakup was aired, they let Kufrin have her happy ending this time around. Lindsay feels she was never afforded that. “So in regards to a future on-camera happy ending and whether or not I will get married on TV,†Lindsay poses, “I have no idea but they damn sure owe us one.†What could possibly go wrong?
Update, August 8: Becca Kufrin has responded to Rachel Lindsay’s complaints, telling Us Weekly that the way her finale was portrayed in comparison to Lindsay’s was out of her control. “To be quite honest I didn’t remember that that even happened last year, but every show format is a little bit different,†Kufrin says. “You know last [season], we had the two-night finale where they showed the breakup and then everything after that in two nights, so I think it’s just always different. I don’t really have much of a say in that.â€