Katie Morton joined Us Weekly‘s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast to recap the Tuesday, November 17, episode of The Bachelorette — and spilled some tea about what it’s really like to be on group dates.
“I feel bad for these guys … because Clare [Crawley] was like, ‘Why isn’t anybody standing up the moment I walk in the room?’ And then someone stands up the moment Tayshia [Adams] walks in the room and she’s like, ‘Hold your ponies!’” the Bachelor season 23 alum said on the podcast, referring to Bennett Jordan attempting to steal Tayshia away at the top of the evening portion of the group date.
In the end, Chasen Nick managed to steal time with Tayshia before Bennett tried again. The Harvard graduate also caused a stir when he kissed Tayshia in front of the guys during the day portion of the group date. While the men weren’t happy about it, Katie told Us that the lead likely approved based on an incident during Colton Underwood‘s season.
“On our season, Tayshia kissed Colton in front of me and Nicole in the jungle. So [the guy’s] said, ‘Tayshia’s not gonna like that.’ And I thought to myself, ‘Tayshia kind of did that!’” Katie explained. “She was bold with Colton, so actually, I don’t think Tayshia would mind it. If she likes the guy, though.”
During the second group date of the evening, Ben Smith was the one who Tayshia was upset with as he waited too long in the evening to come find her. While he told the cameras that his strategy was to save the best for last, Katie revealed why that’s never a good plan.
“I always went for second. I went for second from the moment I walked in the house,” she said of Colton’s season. “I didn’t want to go first; I didn’t want the pressure. But when I tried to go second [on night one], I ended up fourth. And I knew after that night, when I tried my absolute hardest to go second and I ended up fourth based on circumstances … I was like, ‘OK, you chill? You get no time.’”
When asked how producers play a part in who gets time during group dates, Katie revealed she always went to her assigned producer to try to get time with Colton.
“I was the one being aggressive behind-the-scenes, like, ‘I’m going to stand here out of the scene until I get to go talk,’” she recalled. “You have to do that or else you would be last or not talk to him at all. … [The producers] are producing the show. We’re all essentially sheep and you have to herd the sheep.”
She added, “We don’t know when we can go where. It’s not that they’re necessarily being controlling in a mean way, they overhear the conversations, they know when conversations are about to end or begin. They know whose waiting in the queue.”
For more from Katie — including her prediction for Tayshia’s final four — listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.
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