BACHELOR fans insist key scenes with Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell were “edited out” of tonight’s episode as the contestant is accused of “racist” behavior.
As the final three women headed into the Fantasy Suites, viewers pointed out that conversations previously shown in teasers were cut from tonight’s show – notably Rachael’s comments about race.
Finalists Rachael, 24, along with Michelle Young, 27, and Bri Springs, 24, got to spend their first overnight date with Matt, 28, on tonight’s episode.
After Michelle went on a spa day with her man and Bri spent time in the outdoors, both ladies gave up their individual rooms to spend the night with Matt.
As is typical Bachelor tradition, the contestants did an interview the morning after but did not reveal any intimate secrets.
Third to go on her date was Rachael and the Georgia native teared up at the beginning of the date after having difficulty hearing the other women spend their time with Matt.
She pushed passed the pain with Matt during a pottery date and ended the evening during a romantic sit-down dinner.
The duo then began making out on the bed of their Pennsylvania farmhouse as fireworks blasted behind them.
As cameras returned the following morning, Rachael’s expected interview was completely cut out of the show.
Instead of the contestant talking about their experience the night before, as Michelle and Bri did, Rachael was simply not shown and the scenes went straight to the rose ceremony.
Fans were taken aback by the move, with one exclaiming: “THEY SKIPPED THE POST-MORNING INTERVIEW WITH RACHAEL?!”
“Dang they didn’t even show Rachael’s morning after. They’re really trying to cut her out when possible,” another said.
One more key scene that was noticeably cut from the episode was a discussion Rachael had with Matt about race.
During an earlier promo released in January for this season of The Bachelor, Rachael can be seen wearing the same red dress she wore on tonight’s episode while sitting on the same couch she and Matt had their dinner date at.
“I do acknowledge color in every sense and at the end of the day, love is love it doesn’t matter,” she tells Matt with a big smile.
However, despite the scene appearing to be from the date the couple went on during this week’s episode, no mention of that conversation was shown – and fans noticed.
“THEY CUT OUT RACHAEL AND MATT TALKING ABOUT RACE! in the season preview, rachael and matt were seen on that couch, in those outfits, and rachael says “i do acknowledge race in every sense”. very interesting,” one person said.
Another angry Twitter user fumed: “THEY REALL CUT THE RACHAEL “love is love” comment ajdhkejfjfkke this show is such a f**king joke.”
Rachael has been slammed all season after resurfaced photos showed her attending an “Antebellum” plantation party with deep ties to the Confederacy in 2018.
Matt broke his silence on the pictures last month and said it was “disappointing” to see.
She has since apologized for the photos and admitted she was “doing the work” to “do better” as she admitted attending the bash was “ignorant and wrong.”
However, the photos have been at the center of the franchise’s ongoing racism problems and the Chris Harrison‘s job remains on the chopping block as he indefinitely stepped away from the show.
Next week’s After The Final Rose finale will be hosted by Emmanuel Acho and airs Monday, 8pm ET on ABC.
