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‘Bachelorette’ star Rachel Lindsay on Becca’s finale: ‘She was protected and I was ... labeled an angry black female’

She has a point

Analysis by
August 8, 2018 at 12:47 p.m. EDT

Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Emily Yahr.

On Monday night’s season finale of the “Bachelorette,” viewers saw Becca Kufrin’s tough, raw breakup conversation with Blake Horstmann. They both broke down crying — but shortly after, it transitioned to Kufrin’s ecstatic engagement to Garrett Yrigoyen.

Then during the post-show interview, she and Yrigoyen practically bounced onstage together, as they cuddled and beamed with happiness. Kufrin even got closure with Horstmann during a talk where he genuinely wished her the best.

The finale was different than last August’s. “Bachelorette” Rachel Lindsay’s finale was a pretty brutal three hours of television. On Tuesday, Lindsay revealed that she was not pleased about how Kufrin’s season finale played out compared with hers.

“This might be the realest article I have ever written,” Lindsay wrote in an essay for Us Weekly, where she has been recapping the show all season.

During Lindsay’s finale, viewers saw prolonged scenes of Lindsay parting ways with runner-up Peter Kraus, who said he loved her but was unwilling to propose to someone he had only known for six weeks. (Also known as standard operating procedure in “Bachelorette” world.) When it became clear that Lindsay wanted a proposal, Kraus bitterly told her, “Then go find someone to have a mediocre life with.” The whole thing was a nightmare.

At the end, Bryan Abasolo proposed, and Lindsay excitedly accepted — the two are still together and hope to get married this year. Yet viewers didn’t see much of the joyous end to their journey. Instead, the finale was mainly focused on Kraus; many fans noted they were far more emotionally invested in Lindsay’s breakup than her actual engagement.

“I am so happy for Becca and I am so happy she is getting everything that she deserves,” Lindsay wrote. However, she added, “Do you ever recall seeing Bryan profess how excited he was to propose to me? Do you recall seeing me cry about how I was so excited to say yes to Bryan and get my fairytale ending? The answer would be ‘no’ to both of those questions. And it is a shame because both of those things actually happened. You just did not see them.”

Another key difference? When the finale aired, Lindsay sat with host Chris Harrison, and they watched it together. Contestants usually arrive onstage after the show has aired, or only for portions of the episode.

Lindsay’s experience was unpleasant, as Harrison grilled her with probing questions. She also had an awkward onstage reunion with Kraus.

“Becca did not sit on stage for three hours and watch the finale for the first time in front of a live audience,” Lindsay continued. “Becca did not have to deal with someone telling her she would live a mediocre life. Becca did not have to deal with being baited with real time questions about her emotions watching certain scenes. Nope, that was me.”

Lindsay also touched on the fact that ABC “protected” Kufrin, while she was “placed on display.”

Kufrin’s finale had one significant controversy: Yrigoyen previously liked several Instagram posts that mocked immigrants, transgender people and a teenage school shooting survivor. But the show mostly skated over it. During one segment toward the end, Yrigoyen apologized and Kufrin emphasized she did not condone his Instagram activity. Still, no one actually brought up the content of the posts, or pressed Kufrin on her thoughts about them.

Lindsay, the first black star of the franchise, said “Let’s just be honest. Becca did not have the finale that I had. There was no controversy and she was not put in a position to face any. She was protected and I was placed on display for three hours and labeled an angry black female. And there will always be that stigma attached to my finale because it has been said that when truth is blurred by misinformation, perception becomes reality and all is lost.”