‘The Bachelorette’ Recap, Q&A: Jenn Tran Talks Confronting Sam McKinney At ‘Men Tell All’ & Teases Her Finale
SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from The Bachelorette: Men Tell All.
The world will soon get to see Jenn Tran possibly find her happily ever after. But first, it’s time to rehash some of the drama of The Bachelorette Season 21 at the Men Tell All.
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Read on for a recap of all the highlights. Deadline also spoke with Jenn about the Men Tell All and her season thus far, and that interview is at the bottom of this story.
Monday night’s episode ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, with Devin going to Jenn’s hotel room in Hawai’i after their fantasy suite to talk about these feelings of insecurity he’d been having recently. Luckily, viewers don’t have to wait long to find out the results of that conversation, as well as who makes it to the final two.
In Jenn’s hotel room, Devin tells her that he’s been feeling as though their levels of effort in expressing their emotions are a bit disproportionate. He’s told Jenn he loves her several times, and she hasn’t reciprocated. He doesn’t want to rush her, but he does want to know where her head is really at before he potentially proceeds to an engagement. Jenn appears a bit caught off guard by the conversation, but she assures Devin that she’s been trying to express herself more clearly and be vulnerable with her emotions, which is something she says she isn’t great at.
All goes in Devin’s favor, though, when Jenn tells him, “I do love you, you freakin’ idiot.”
At the rose ceremony, Jenn sends Jonathon home. It’s an emotional yet amicable goodbye, as Jonathon admits he’s more upset with himself than anyone else for not being able to get closer to Jenn quicker or be able to express his feelings as soon as some of the other men did. He says Jenn opened his eyes to how he could feel, and he wishes it didn’t take so long for him to realize how much he cared about her.
Finally, onto the drama. Things kick off with Aaron, who left the show to pursue fighter pilot training, but not before dropping a bit of a bomb on Jenn by telling her that several of the men are not there for the right reasons. This was in Episode 3, and it sent Jenn into a bit of a spiral.
For the record, Aaron claims he was talking about Devin, Spencer and Sam N. The men finally get to say their piece on that, arguing that Aaron didn’t know any of them well enough to say that at the time. Aaron’s twin brother Noah is in the audience, and he admits he isn’t sure Aaron handled things in the best way.
Much of the rest of the episode is dominated, unsurprisingly, by the drama between Sam M and, well, a lot of people. Devin was his primary adversary, and since he’s not there to be involved in the conversation, Jeremy tries to come to his defense when they’re discussing whether Devin should have pulled Jenn aside at a cocktail party despite already having a rose.
Naturally, Jesse also brings up the fact that Sam M. told Jenn he loved her on the radio group date, and he defends saying that. He says it’s how he truly felt, though he admits there was probably a better time/day/way to express that.
The person who goes in the hardest on Sam M. is Jenn. She says that, after the first few weeks of filming, everything started to unravel between them as she began to see more red flags. She says he only talked about himself and centered his feelings in almost every conversation, and the radio group date made her realize that he really didn’t know anything about her.
She also called him out for his and his family’s comments on social media, where “instead of taking accountability,” they’ve been blaming the editing and the producers for how Sam is portrayed.
“The man that I saw on TV was exactly the man that I sat across from the entire journey,” she says. Oof.
Sam doesn’t have much of a response, but says that he takes her feedback and he’s hoping to move on and be better.
Jenn also confronts Thomas N. for feeding into the drama with Sam M. To balance it out, she also has pretty touching moments with Jonathon and Sam N., saying she has nothing but love and respect for them, even though they ultimately didn’t end up being her person.
Jonathon and Hakeem secure invitations to Bachelor in Paradise before the night is over, and that’s a wrap!
Below, Jenn breaks down some of the conversations of the night and where her season is headed. Deadline also spoke with Jonathon about his exit, and his potential stint on Paradise. Read that here.
DEADLINE: How did you feel after filming the Men Tell All?
JENN TRAN: Good, I feel good. Honestly, it’s not every day you get to step in a room with all your ex-boyfriends. So it was fun. The guys are so great, and they’re so kind hearted, and it was nice to just be back with them and interact with them. This journey has been so special to me, and to see them again, it just brings all the good feelings back.
DEADLINE: You had a lot to say to Sam M. about his behavior on the show. What made you want to say all of that on camera?
TRAN: I have grown so much in the journey. Who I started off as is totally different from who I ended up as. I think watching things back, it’s hard to see certain things I let slide, or mistakes and whatnot. I’m working on this sense of empowerment and confidence and knowing who I am, being confident in the decisions I make. So going into tonight, I just got a bigger picture of everything, watching everything back, and I was just excited to finally speak my piece and how I truly thought about everything.
DEADLINE: What were the biggest surprises to you watching the episodes back? What didn’t you see that you wish you had?
TRAN: Just so much bickering in the house. I didn’t know that there was so much drama going on. They’re so, so passionate. Things with Sam M., I wasn’t seeing how he was behaving in the house with the guys and stuff like that. Mostly, the drama I was surprised by. I don’t think anybody else really surprised me. I had a pretty good read on a lot of their characters, and it was just so nice to see all of their growth too.
DEADLINE: How was it to see Jonathan and get that closure with him?
TRAN: Good, so good. He is someone who was so openhearted through the whole experience, and so kind. I really got a sense of who he was by the end of it all. So I’m just so grateful that he was there, and to be able to now look back on it with a smile and just know that we’re just good friends…I take that as a plus. The whole experience is like getting to know such genuinely kind guys and being able to cultivate that friendship afterwards.
DEADLINE: What can you say about what’s to come in the finale?
TRAN: All I can say is it’s gonna be an emotional one. There’s a lot of emotions going around between the guys and me, and it’s just a highly, highly intense final few moments there.
DEADLINE: Toward the end of the season, you are very honest with the men about how you’re feeling. You explicitly express your feelings with them, which is really not something many of the leads do. Why did you decide to?
TRAN: At that point, time is ticking, and I wanted to be able to just lay everything out that’s been on my heart, and I didn’t want to leave with any regrets. That’s kind of how I live my life is you don’t know when you’re going to see someone again. You don’t know when your time is going to run out. So to be able to speak your truth and live in the moment as much as you can, that’s kind of what was really going through my head.
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