Becca Kufrin wants viewers to keep an open mind while watching the rest of her season of The Bachelorette, despite the off-air controversy surrounding her early frontrunner.
“I came into this knowing I was going to meet a handful of men that came from different backgrounds and different walks of life,” the ABC reality star tells The Hollywood Reporter on Monday — one week after the premiere of her season — about the post-show development. “I wanted to just be open to everyone and I hope that the viewers can do the exact same thing.”
Becca was put through the ringer as a final contestant on The Bachelor. Only hours after her own season premiered, however, the publicist from Minnesota was again faced with an unprecedented franchise scandal when stories came to light about the social media activity of a contestant on her season, Garrett Yrigoyen.
Shortly after Bachelorette viewers had tuned in to watch Garrett win Becca’s “first impression rose” and cement himself as a serious contender on the season, it was revealed in real time that the medical sales rep from Nevada had previously liked a series of offensive Instagram posts. The posts that he liked, which were captured in screengrabs, mocked undocumented immigrants, the trans community, liberal feminists, and spread misinformation about Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg.
During the first days promoting her journey to find love, Becca found herself fielding questions about Garrett‘s off-camera behavior. The reality star has confirmed she is engaged — though she is unable to identify the winner until the finale airs later this summer. But the story about Garrett had ignited and ABC’s cameras weren’t around to capture the developing drama. Typically, contestants do not speak out until their exit from the show but on Thursday night, Garrett took responsibility for the posts and apologized for the hurt that a “mindless double tap on Instagram” can cause. “I did not mean any harm by any of it,” he wrote in a lengthy post on Instagram. (His account was temporarily down on Monday but is now back up.) “I am not perfect, and I will never be anywhere close, but now I will always be more informed and aware of what I am liking and supporting, not just on Instagram, but in life.”
Below, Becca speaks with THR about her uncharted first week as ABC’s new franchise star and asks viewers to trust her choices as her season continues to air: “I got to know these guys and they got to know me and that’s what matters.”
Why is important to be able to speak up now about stories surrounding your season, instead of waiting until the end? Is it a sign of changing times?
I’m actually so happy and fortunate that I get to talk with everyone; it’s experiences that I probably would never have gotten to do had I not been the Bachelorette. Last week, I was able to meet Michael Strahan — my celebrity crush. At this point in my life, I’m so happy. So I’m excited I get to share it with the world. I know I can’t give everything away, but to share in that happiness and the engagement announcement means a lot to me. I am busy, busy, busy but it’s good because this time around, this is my journey. I did everything my way, on my terms and it means so much more because of that.
I want to talk about what’s been going on with your season off the air. But first, how big of a role does social media play as you are going through this process of being the Bachelorette?
Social media is a prevalent thing in peoples’ lives. I’m having fun, especially on Instagram, just promoting the season and tweeting when I watch the show because it’s a fun way to interact with the fans. But it really doesn’t play at all into the season because I don’t have my phone. All of that is taken away, so when I’m actually filming it is just me and the guys getting to know each other without any distraction whatsoever.
You spoke about being a rule-breaker at the beginning of your season. There isn’t a rule book for how to handle what happened with one of your contestants, Garrett Yrigoyen. When you found out about his social media behavior, what was your reaction?
All I can ask is that people watch the season and get to know not only me for who I am, but get to know these guys as well. I think that everyone is different. I came into this knowing I was going to meet a handful of men that came from different backgrounds and different walks of life and I wanted to just be open to everyone and I hope that the viewers can do the exact same thing.
Would it have changed the course of the show if you were able to check social media as you are going along — should that be allowed?
No. I think the great thing about this process is that we didn’t have social media. We didn’t have a distraction. So I was able to truly get to know these guys for who they are…
