Some Bachelor Nation fans weren’t thrilled with Katie Thurston’s decision to give Hunter Montgomery the group date rose on the Monday, July 5, episode of The Bachelorette, but special guest Wells Adams doesn’t doubt his intentions.
“From the 20 minutes that I hung out with [Hunter] before we started playing, he is intense dude,” Wells, 37, said on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast about hosting the Bachelorette Bash Ball Battle. “So, I was just like, ‘Alright, here we go.’ But Hunter also is not the biggest guy there. You know, he is vertically challenged in comparison to everyone else so I’m thinking, going into this, ‘We’ll see what happens,’ but from years of playing sports and playing collegiate rugby, it’s the little ones you gotta watch out for. They’re the ones that you don’t see coming and hit the hardest. They drop the boom, their center of gravity is much lower than everyone else’s and listen, as someone who was entertained by the game — up until the end — I was all about Hunter’s competitiveness and rage out there. And I was like, ‘Good for you, dude. You want some extra time, go get it,’ you know, so kudos to him.”
Hunter, 34, made waves on social media during Monday’s episode after his bold tackle seemingly sparked the rest of the men to turn up the heat during the group date. Michael Allio subsequently got injured after Justin Glaze hit him from behind. During the night portion of the group date, Katie, 30, gave Hunter the rose after he opened up about his children.
In addition to upsetting some of the suitors with his physical gameplay, Hunter caught more heat when he landed more time with Katie ahead of the rose ceremony despite already securing a spot for the following week.
“I totally understand where the other guys are coming from being like, ‘Hey, you’ve already got a rose. You don’t need time here, set this up next week.’ I understand and I empathize with Tre, Aaron and James,” Wells told Us. “But then I also understand where Hunter’s coming from. He’s very pot-committed to this whole thing. He is definitely there for the right reasons — pardon the Bachelor, you know, cliché — but it’s all or nothing for Katie. So I understand both sides. I think fortune favors the bold on all the Bachelor shows. And I applaud him for doing it the way he’s doing it.”
While Katie still has a lot of time left on her journey, she called out front-runner Greg Grippo for his “resting sad face” during Monday’s episode, making the New Jersey native promise not to leave the show. Wells, for his part, attributed Greg’s less than thrilled face to the context of the date before watching the show.
“At the time I don’t really know everyone’s story and who’s gotten one-on-ones and stuff, [but] he seemed not super pumped to be doing what we were doing,” Wells said. “But I just attributed that to the fact that we dressed him up in stupid unitards and he was like, ‘This is going to be on television, and I looked like an idiot.’ And like, you know, Meemaw is gonna watch this and be like, ‘Greg, what are you doing with your body on television?’ That was what I assumed was going on, but yeah, who knows what was going through his mind.”
For more from Wells, including what to expect on season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise, listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.