Bachelorette Investigation: How Ed’s beef with Chasen put Noah ahead of both of them

Ed and Chasen went through a familiar Bachelorette routine on Tuesday, which helped no one but Noah get closer to Tayshia.

Scenes from Tuesday’s action-packed Bachelorette episode felt oddly familiar. Partly because we’ve seen them before. The Ed and Chasen drama took center stage through most of the episode and in the end, there was one clear winner: Noah.

Ed and Chasen’s encounter began with Chasen using some words to describe Tayshia that he previously used on Clare. Judging by how many times the guy called himself Wolverine, Chasen’s vocabulary clearly revolves around some keywords and really, that’s no one else’s concern (No shame there – this is coming from a guy who writes with a designated thesaurus tab open at all times).

Ed took exception to this, and the “smoke show” comment, which is covered in detail here. The term itself isn’t negative, but there are about a thousand better ways to call someone beautiful. That aside, here is how Ed sunk his own ship on this entire Bachelorette season.

Carbon Copi-Ed

Ed confronted Chasen about how he thought Chasen felt about Tayshia. Chasen got defensive and Ed went to Tayshia about it. We’ve seen this before – things said between a group of contestants being misconstrued and twisted to fit a narrative that benefits one (probably slightly insecure) contestant over the other. Hang with me for a second as this is a bit of a side note, but interesting nonetheless.

In the last Bachelor season, Sydney went straight to Peter after hearing Alayah crack some mile-high jokes after a few glasses of wine. Completely harmless chit chat between the women in the mansion. Sydney used those words to sow seeds of doubt about Alayah with Pete, built herself a nice little narrative, and gave him the “she’s here for the wrong reasons” speech. At the time, Alayah and Pete were connecting on a level that felt slightly ahead of some of the others, but once that seed is planted, it’s often too late.

The situation with Ed and Chasen was exactly the same, in fact, if you go back and watch both scenes, some of the verbiage was exactly the same. This isn’t a surprise as “here for the right reasons” has been a common term in the Bachelor mansion, but Ed’s entire portrayal of what was happening, nay, what he thought was happening was eerily similar to Sydney’s slandering of Alayah.

Keep in mind, both confrontations came after the accusing party lost a group date challenge… Interesting. Watch this refresher then I’ll take you through what’s going on in Ed’s mind.

Sydney: “Peter deserves someone who is really open with him and I just feel like that’s not her.”

Ed: “Chasen’s super fake and phony. I don’t want someone like that getting close to Tayshia.”

Sydney: “You sound so rehearsed, for the camera’s you’re just like, on.”

Ed: “The guy is more or less an actor. Repeats what he thinks he’s supposed to say.”

Sydney, to Peter: “When the cameras are on, she’s a whole different person.”

Ed, to Tayshia: “Chasen turns [it] on, more or less, when the cameras are on.”

Both claimed the other wasn’t here for the right reasons, was acting, was “turning it on” during dates and when the cameras were around, and was wrong for the Bachelor/ette… in their opinion, anyway. The drama didn’t work out well for Sydney or Alayah, so it’s safe to assume Ed and Chasen are now out of the true running.

However you feel about Chasen, he and Tayshia were further along than she was with Ed. Ed took his moments with Tayshia to drag Chasen, which leads to both of them having a little footnote in Tayshia’s mind moving forward. This isn’t a viable way to build your relationship on The Bachelorette, nor is it what a grown-ass man (I’m so sorry I know you are sick of this term) would do.

Consider it Settl-Ed

Things got worse from there. In a gift from the Bachelorette Gods, the next date involved wrestling. Just when two guys were about to fight in real life? What a coincidence!

Before the date began, Chasen took Ed aside and apologized, asking if the two could bury the hatchet. Ed flat out shut him down, knowing full-well that the two were going to be in a ring together later than day. Alright, Ed, you made your bed, now you have to lay in it.

False. Ed, fully oiled and ready to fight decided his shoulder injuries were suddenly flaring up and he didn’t want to risk a hospital visit, what with Covid and all… Puuuh-lease! Ed was gifted an opportunity to stand up and settle his beef with Chasen in a controlled setting and he backed down. Watching it back, the minute he saw the look in Chasen’s eyes during the training, he was tapping out.

I mean, not to get ultra-attentive but Ed was literally working out his shoulders earlier in the episode. He just didn’t want that smoke!

Chicken legg-Ed

With a mentality to match those chicken legs of his, Ed left the door open for a new contender to step in the ring. Noah did just that, as he hopped the fence and wrestled Chasen in Ed’s place. While he may have lost the match, the company that makes his jeans won big because there’s absolutely no way a pair of jeans that look painted on shouldn’t split in that moment.

The rest of the guys were upset when Noah jumped the fence to fight for Tayshia. They were more upset when Noah took yet another risk in shaving his mustache after Tayshia very kindly told him it looked horrendous. Ed is one thousand percent to blame for this as well because had he just got in the ring, Noah wouldn’t have even been eligible for the group date rose.

Bust-Ed

It’s easy for me to sit here and say this behind a keyboard, and I’m sure that’s what Ed would be saying if he was reading this, but this wasn’t a street fight. No one was actually going to get anything more than a bruised ego. This was a perfect, controlled environment, set up (probably literally) for these two to settle beef. Ed denied Chasen’s apology then backed down from the fight.

Ed is seen going after Noah in the previews for the next episode. If not for Ed starting beef with Chasen, Noah would still be sidelined with a dirty ‘stache.

Look, I know this term holds a lot of weight, but I think we’re going to have to accept it. Ed is lunch meat.

The Bachelorette airs every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.