It takes a special man to go from being the winner of the first impression to the winner of the worst impression in six weeks The Bacheloretteand the man’s name is Sam McKinney.
Much to the delight of Bachelor Nation, who named the 27-year-old construction contractor from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the villain of Season 21 after Episode 3, Jenn Tran bid a long-overdue farewell to Sam M. in Episode 6 after a truly embarrassing appearance. The man waved red flags all season, but in the decade-plus I’ve been watching this franchise, I can’t remember another episode that had me gasping, screaming, and yelling “What?!” at my TV screen as many times as Sam M.’s train wreck in Episode 6.
The elimination also meant that the winner of the first rose would not get a date in his hometown, but that did not stop Sam M’s family from participating in the Bachelorette Chat. According to Reality Steve, the show’s famous spoiler, the contestant’s relatives have been speaking out about his negative portrayal on the show for weeks, and although the series is edited and viewers only see snippets of Jenn’s entire journey, most of the complaints about Sam M. stem from his own actions, words, and apparent inability to “keep what’s most important in sight.”
Before Sam M. disappears from our screens for a week (assuming he returns for the episode “Men Tell All”), let’s look back at his chaotic evolution in Season 21 to remind ourselves how he got here.
A hopeful first impression 🌹
On the first night, Jenn offered Sam M. the first impression rose, gave him the first (and only) kiss, and told him she felt there was something real between them. “I think for me, a first kiss means a lot. It takes a lot to feel affection towards someone and to reach that level,” Tran told Decider in a Zoom interview ahead of her premiere. “So I knew in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to kiss anyone unless I really felt that spark and that connection and felt like the relationship could reach that level that night.”
The spark felt real and Sam Ms Bachelorette Journey started strong! His sexual chemistry with Jenn was palpable, but at some point the extremely physical connection started to disgust the viewers. And when Sam stopped considering the most important thing as the main thing and started arguing with Devin, his beautiful “Top Gun 3“-Image really started to crumble.
The Endless The debacle surrounding Sam M. and Devin…To be continued
Following Devin and Thomas’ disagreement in Episode 2, Sam chimed in, accusing Devin of being “backstabbing” and “here for the wrong reasons.” Instead of settling the argument and focusing on Jenn, Sam continued to stoke hatred toward Devin, calling him “an instigator” and “an ankle-biting dog” while displaying incredible immaturity and an obnoxious level of confidence. Before Episode 3 ended, Sam M. called Devin a bully, prompting producers to shade him with a “gotta look up the definition of bully in the dictionary” sound. In Episode 4, when Sam and Devin both went on one-on-one dates, tension between the guys increased. And Sam and Jenn have reached new heights.
The Terrible, Horrible, Not Good, Very Bad Single date
Did Sam M. emerge from his one-on-one date with a rose on his chest? Yes. But before he won Jenn’s heart back over dinner by telling her that his fiancée had cheated on him, she and the viewers were more than ready to send him away.
For their date, the pair went to the Auckland Sky Tower – New Zealand’s tallest building – where Sam, in an incredibly insensitive way, challenged Jenn to face her massive fear of heights. When asked if she’d like to jump off the building, Jenn politely declined, opting instead to enjoy the view from the SkyWalk. But Sam wasn’t having it. He ignored her concerns and confirmed that they would both jump, arguing that he wanted to get her to overcome her fears and grow. Jenn understandably saw his insistence and disregard for her feelings as a huge warning sign and said he needed to understand her better. As the pair stood 195 metres above the ground, she physically burst into tears before he came up to her, hugged her and told her it was OK to skip the jump.
Following the episode, Sam posted a comment on social media claiming that the show was using “tricks” to manipulate fans’ feelings toward the contestants, but during an interview on I love to see it podcast, Jenn shut down his attempts to change the narrative. “Listen, nobody can put words in your mouth,” the season 21 lead said. “As much of a TV edit as that is, nobody can give you a villain cut in any way, which is what some people are saying. You have to own your words because nobody is putting words in your mouth… You are the person who is saying those things and so I want to say that sometimes you just have to take responsibility for the things that come out of your mouth.”
“It’s very, very interesting for me to rewatch that moment and process it with a lot of different eyes on the situation, and I was definitely upset when he made the decision that we were both jumping,” she continued. “I don’t want a partner that’s just telling me what to do and not being there for me and not being emotionally supportive in that way… So it was hard to rewatch that because it’s also like, that’s not the message I want to send to people, like little girls looking up to me, that’s not what you should allow your partner to do.”
Not to be reached with words 🥀
Before their one-on-one dates in Episode 4, Devin told the camera that Sam M. said four sentences a day to be serious with Jenn, but if he ever had to have a real conversation with her, he would probably slip up and blow his cover. Basically, that’s exactly what happened.
During the radio station group meeting in Episode 6, Sam botched what should have been simple answers to simple questions. He said “aggressive” when asked to name a word he associated with “fantasy suite,” which caused Molly Mesnick’s jaw to literally drop. He said, “I got out of the limo and I was like, ‘This girl is not my type. I thought the Bachelorette was going to be Daisy or Maria,'” when asked about his first impression of Jenn. I mean, how can you screw it up? The bad?
When the pressure got too much, the “wild” kisser reminded Jenn that physical touch is his love language and distracted her with a big peck. And when she pressed him for the cocktail reception later that night, he dodged her very legitimate questions by bringing out the big guns and saying, “I love you.” But the declaration sounded more like a desperate attempt to distract from his genius than a genuine declaration of love, so Jenn took him aside before the rose ceremony and continued to pepper him with questions.
A “terrified” Sam tried to fight for a rose but failed miserably. He admitted that words weren’t his strong suit (we see that!) and persisted with his “I love you” despite not being able to properly back up his feelings. After seeing how many chances this man had to redeem himself in this episode alone, it was hard to feel anything other than disappointed, insulted, and incredibly confused about Sam M. at the end. Jenn sent him packing after realizing he reminded her too much of a relationship she had relegated to the past, and Bachelor Nation rejoiced.
Just as Devin predicted, Jenn saw Sam’s true colors in time, and although Bachelor Nation was deprived of the guys’ reaction to Sam M’s elimination, the social media celebration delivered what it promised. Normally, we’d say we’d look forward to seeing an eliminated contestant in paradise for a redemption arc, but honestly? Given Sam M’s manipulative, immature, disrespectful demeanor, we’re not even sure he’d get an invite.
While we will see some “villains” in season 21, paradise Comebacks, it feels like Bachelor Nation would rather keep Sam M. the main thing, the main thing, far away from their television screens. Plus, we have a new Bachelor Cause for excitement – and it’s not Sam!
New episodes of The Bachelorette The season 21 premieres Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, streaming the next day on Hulu. Be sure to read Decider’s interview with Jenn Tran ahead of the premiere for more exciting information.
