There’s nothing like a nice physical challenge for all the hunks on the early-season episodes of The Bachelorette to show off their fine physical attributes… but did this one go too far?
On Tuesday night’s ep of the popular ABC reality TV dating competition show, leading lady Clare Crawley sat back alongside (flustered) host Chris Harrison to watch the boys get naked in a game of strip dodgeball!
Related: Clare Is Still REALLY Keyed In On One Early Suitor This Season
Splitting the men into two equal teams of Blue and Red uniforms, Crawley surprised the group of men with her request to raise the stakes a bit, adding the nudity component to it on the fly:
“I feel like I want to up the ante here. I think we should play strip dodgeball. This is my game. These are my rules.”
Um… wow! And she wasn’t kidding, either!
By the time the game ended, the losers — the poor Blue team — were forced to remove everything. One team member backed out, telling the star, “I love you, but I can’t,” but aside from the lone defector, these guys got NEKKID!!!
It made for funny TV as the poor suitors had to take a very naked walk of shame back to their hotel rooms, but very quickly thereafter the entire thing left viewers with a poor taste in their mouths.
Instagram commenters responding to a teaser clip of the dodgeball action called the incident “disappointing,” and asked the show to “do better” as far as the “double standard” of objectifying the men’s bodies was concerned. Another user got straight to the point on that topic, writing (below):
“This show would be cancelled if the bachelor asked female contestants to play strip anything.”
Probably not wrong!!!
And it wasn’t just Instagrammers calling out the production decision to go through with the strip dodgeball game, either. Even alums of the world-famous reality TV franchise were quick to call bull s**t on what they saw!!
Related: From ‘The Bachelorette’ To Betraying Her Friend…
Most notably, criticism came from former leading man Ben Higgins, who noted the “obvious” double standard on his podcast in response to the episode. The Colorado native said:
“If this was a Bachelor season, no way this happens, no way they get away with it, no way it’s appropriate, no way this just becomes a weekly topic. I think the show is super smart. They knew this wouldn’t shut down the show, but it’s pushing the envelope a little bit here. There would be no shot that [I would get naked], though … This is all fun and games until my buddies and I are naked on national television. They push the envelope every season, but this felt like a lot.”
Wow!
Always interesting to hear feedback from inside the very tight-knit Bachelor Nation fam, ya know?!
And it wasn’t just them. Super fans, including popular Bachelor Party franchise podcaster Juliet Litman, didn’t feel too great about the whole thing, either. Commenting on the “cringeworthy” scene, the podcast host said:
“If it was women in that position, it would be completely unacceptable, absolutely scandalous and there would be this huge outcry. The double standard of objectifying mens’ bodies like that and asking men to be in that position really bothered me because I would not accept it for women.”
Again, all these people have a point, not gonna lie!
BTW, here’s a quick recap clip of last night’s episode (below), in case you missed it and want to get caught up:
Thoughts, Perezcious readers?
Did the show go too far with their objectification in this case? Is the double standard a real thing here or was strip dodgeball just a bit of harmless fun??
Sound OFF with your take about it down in the comments (below)…
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