We usually tune in for quite a ride. After all, it’s Bachelor in Paradise, we have lives of little importance, few things to attend to and this, you see, is our escape.
(I’m using inclusive language for obvious reasons. You’re embroiled in this, too.)
But tonight? Tonight felt… mean. Nasty. Immature. Like the 12-year-old boy who hounded you since you were 11 finally realised you didn’t like him and retaliated with the force of schoolyard-worthy of humiliation.
Of course, we’re talking about the fake ‘love’ letter Eden wrote Elora.
It was a love letter signed with American Jared’s name, but American Jared didn’t write the letter at all.
Public sentiment was decisive:
Eden is the guy you go on a date with and have to call your bestie for a fake emergency halfway through #BachelorInParadiseAU
It says a lot that I genuinely can't tell if this was a poor construct by the #BachelorInParadiseAU producers, OR if Eden just naturally operates on a level of pantomime douchery?
Oh Eden, you idiot. Not a fan of Elora but that’s a pretty lousy thing to do in the circumstances. Meanwhile Jared feels bad for something he didn’t even do. #BachelorInParadiseAu
Of course, we should be clear: if this was a set up on behalf of the production team, then perhaps that’s a nastier turn of events than if Eden had actually written the letter of his own volition.
But if it unfolded as the show detailed, then that was truly one of the most cruel pranks we think we’ve ever seen.
You can glean a lot from a person in how they respond to rejection: Are they calm, kind, considered and dignified when you turn them down? Or instead are they nasty? Do they retaliate? Are they vindictive? Do they turn out to be the villain to your victim?
Does their maturity – or perhaps immaturity – rise to the surface faster than you have time to say you’re not interested?
If so, congratulations. You’ve got yourself an Eden.
A man who thought it would be a quaint and funny prank to humiliate a woman on national television.
