If you’re a fan of The Bachelor franchise, you may have picked up on some of the tell-tale signs the producers use to single out contestants into two categories: “wifey” and “villain”.
Abbie Chatfield, who appeared on Matt Agnew’s season, received the latter, with every word she said or action she made overlayed by villainous music and glaring stares from other women vying for the Bachie’s heart.
Now, while sitting down to watch Locky Gilbert’s season the former reality star has called out the double standards used to fuel a narrative – and she raises a valid point.
Using an example from Wednesday night’s episode, whereby Bella sneaks Locky away from the cocktail party and they share a kiss, Abbie recalls the exact same scenario playing out in her Bachelor journey. Near identically in fact.
While Bella’s scene was filled with “fairytale” music to accompany the narrative that these two are falling in love, you can probably guess how Abbie’s turned out: tears and subsequent slut-shaming, all framed by the ominous music that would play whenever she appeared on the screen.
Taking to her Instagram Stories, Abbie said: “We can’t choose our edits but I find [Bella’s kiss with Locky] really interesting. It also happened in our season as well when Helena kissed Matt in the orchard in a red dress with red lipstick on. It was like cute and quirky,” adding that when she kissed Matt villainous music played in the background.
She added, “I’m not going to watch this season because it’s honestly triggering me and it’s taking me back a year. I can be here all night and give you examples of other hypocritical things.”
It’s also not the first time she’s opened up about being portrayed in a negative light. Recently, Chatfield spoke about the unfair portrayal she received on The Bachelor.
She wrote, “Things I got slut-shamed for on #thebachelorau: this bikini, my skort at hometowns, multiple cocktail party gowns, kissing matt ‘without a date’ and at a cocktail party (out of sight of anyone), pashing Matt in various locations with varying degrees of intensity, honestly admitting that I wanted to have sex with a man I was dating for 10 weeks and all around just ‘using sexuality to manipulate Matt’.”
“This is something I did not expect in 2019. Sex is essential to a successful relationship for me, as is sexual chemistry and the ability to express that comfortably with my partner. I saw commentary around my sexuality (rightly) calling out slut shaming and double standards regarding my pash sessions with Matt, with responses of ‘I’m not slut shaming her she is just manipulative/dumb/aggressive/only wanting sex.’”
Despite facing criticism, many high profile Australian celebrities were on Abbie’s side, with even Bachelor host Osher Gunsberg and comedian Dave Hughes weighing in on the drama.
“I’ve been doing this job a while now. Tweeting every episode that goes to air. And I am always interested to see how a strong woman powerfully expressing her sexuality makes so many people so uncomfortable,” Osher Tweeted during series finale.
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