Jacqueline Trumbull joined Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast to recap the Tuesday, November 2, episode of The Bachelorette — and admitted she “can never watch the show the way I did before I went on it.”
During Tuesday’s episode of Michelle Young’s season, two drama starters — Jamie Skaar and Peter Izzo — didn’t receive roses, a move that surprised the Bachelor season 22 alum as “villains” typically overstay their welcome in the franchise.
“I’m very interested in how the producers craft their lead. Because a lot of the leads get a lot of heat and a lot of adulation, I guess, for decisions that aren’t necessarily theirs,” Jacqueline, 30, said on the Wednesday, November 3, episode of the “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast. “The producers must have allowed [Michelle] to send Jamie and Peter home and I was wondering why they let her send them home, but they certainly would not have let other leads send ‘villains’ home that early. I don’t know if it’s because this group of guys has a lot of potential villains and a lot of drama. I don’t know if they’re interested in making her look strong and decisive. I don’t know what it is, but I was glad she sent them home. But I’m also like, ‘OK, well, I wonder why you were allowed to do that.’”
When it comes to upcoming season 26 Bachelor Clayton Echard, Jacqueline noted that he is filming his own season as ABC edits his journey with Michelle on season 17 of The Bachelorette.
“They edit the episodes up until the point that they released them, so he’s very clearly going to get a favorable edit. And it’s just interesting to see that play out,” the “A Little Help For Our Friends” podcast host told Us. “They’re not looking for an audience reaction and that’s who they choose from. They’re going to make him the Bachelor.”
Jacqueline appeared on Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s season of the ABC series in 2018 before a brief stint on season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise.
“The show feels finally behind me. The first few years after are really rough,” she admitted. “I have several friends from the show and it f—ks you up in all sorts of ways. And I talked a lot about that at the time. You realize that, like, you become envious of other women and other edits. You don’t expect that necessarily, and other people won’t admit to it, so then it can feel like a very lonely experience. There’s a lot of anger, there’s a lot of anger toward fans and people on social media who are mean and there’s a feeling of being chronically misunderstood. All that paired with, ‘Oh, my gosh, so fun, that experience was amazing.’ I mean, my experience filming was, like, almost 100 percent — I remember it as very positive. You have all these new friends, you have all these new opportunities.”
Jacqueline concluded: “It’s a really confusing, chaotic time. And I feel like my life is definitely settled from that [but it took] two years. It also took getting into — I’m at Duke University for my PhD — and it took that because I left for my career and that was a gamble. And the gamble paid off. That brought me a lot of peace.”
The Bachelorette airs on ABC Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. For a complete recap of Tuesday’s episode with Jacqueline, listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.