The Bachelorette: It’s time to declare Bennett the villain of Tayshia’s season

While Noah Erb has been framed as the villain of Tayshia Adam’s season, it’s time to accept the truth that Bennett Jordan is the real villain of The Bachelorette season 16.

Like rose ceremonies and the fantasy suite, no season of The Bachelorette would be complete without a good villain.

Just as every season needs frontrunners and underdogs we can’t help but to get behind and root for, it’s almost as equally important for the season to have a good villain to stir the pot, keep the other guys on their toes and give viewers someone to collectively root against.

From Chad Johnson to Jed Wyatt, there have been several memorable villains over the course of the show’s 16 seasons. So entering the latest season, one of the questions left looming in the back of many’s minds was who would emerge as the villain of The Bachelorette season 16?

While many candidates come to mind, episode 8 proved it’s time to finally declare Bennett Jordan as the season 16 villain.

Who is the villain of Tayshia Adams’s season of The Bachelorette?

While it’s easy for some to argue that Clare and Dale were the true villains of the season due to their polarizing dynamic which left Bachelor Nation more than a little conflicted, we’re choosing to look at the season where it truly hit its stride.

We’re of course referring to the moment in which  Tayshia Adams arrived and gave the season the shot in the arm it desperately needed. It was the perfect reset so to speak and gave us the chance to really get to know the men of the season not named Dale.

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As Tayshia’s journey began, it seemed as though newcomer Noah Erb would clam the honor of going down as season 16’s villain, and rightfully so. From the moment he entered the house, Noah has in no way been subtle about his desire to steal time with Tayshia and make an impression on her.

He made no friends when he sprung into action on the group date and literally stole the group rose after entering the ring to challenge Chasen. It was bold, it was a clear power play and one that left most of the men with a sour taste in their mouths.

While Noah might not be going about things in the best of ways and is absolutely forward in making his intentions to win time with Tayshia clear to the others, we can’t exactly dub him the villain of the season when there is a bigger elephant in the room that needs to be addressed: Bennett Jordan.

Throughout the season, we’ve seen moments in which Bennett has been a bit condescending towards other contestants in the way in which he’s talked down to them. We’ve lost count of how many times he’s reminded us of his Harvard pedigree and it’s clear he’s not exactly your average Joe — something he’s quite happy to remind us of as well.

While these subtleties went unnoticed for the early part of the season — outshined by the likes of other feuds such as Chasen and Ed’s memorable showdown — the arrival of Noah seemed to be the turning point which has set Bennett down the path to villainy.

Bennett shows his true colors on The Bachelorette with Noah feud

From the moment, Noah arrived, Bennett has made it clear just how little he thinks of Noah and he’s made these feelings abundantly clear by casting many a stone Noah’s way. Take for example the way in which he’s repeatedly referred to Noah as a teenage boy in need of babysitting.

The two’s feud reached a head in episode 8 when Bennett upped his antics. After calling Noah out with some not so subtle jabs before the group date, Bennett took it upon himself to put Noah in his place by essentially stealing the seat he had claimed so that he could sit beside Tayshia during the group date rather than Noah. It was petty and the equivalent of a parent showing a child to the kid’s table.

The bickering continued throughout the night before coming to a head with Tayshia requesting to see both Bennett and Noah in order to hash things out once and for all.

While waiting for Tayshia’s arrival, Bennett showed up with a gift for Noah and we’ll admit it looked as though he was about to bury the hatchet. But then opened the present and like a true villain found a way to find even a gesture of good faith into a personal attack on Noah.

Sure we can overlook the mustache jab — no one was a fan of Noah’s mustache, not even Tayshia — but there was no overlooking the gifting of the book On Emotional Intelligence which Bennett used as a way to patronize Noah.

“There are actually four components for emotional intelligence: Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management,” noted Bennett. “I think you are deficient in three of those four.”

Although Bennett claimed he wasn’t looking down upon Noah, it definitely didn’t come off that way to viewers who have quickly declared Bennett the rightful villain of the season.

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