The entire Bachelor Nation knows the touching, bittersweet reason Matt James became the Bachelor.
But just because the leading man is there for the right reasons doesn’t mean that all of the contestants are.
In this sneak peek, five new contestants show up to the house — and the ladies already there are immediately suspicious.
But things may be getting out of hand, as multiple women accuse an unnamed suitor of being some sort of “escort.”
ABC just released a sneak peek at Monday’s tense new episode.
Five new contestants are seen chatting with the originals — well, the remaining originals — as jealousy, suspicion, and resentment rear their ugly heads.
As the women pour out of the limos, at least one of them full-on begins making out with Matt.
The originals look out through the window and recoil in horror.
“There’s girls pulling up in cars,” one narrates. “One of them made out with him right out of the car!”
“I’m going to vomit right now,” another lady expresses.
Inside, the women make conversation … but do not make nice … with each other.
“You’re coming in as, like, a backup,” Victoria shades the new contestants in an attempt to put them in their place.
This backfires catastrophically when a quick-witted new girl replies: “They just wanted to save the best for last.”
However, it looks like a central topic of drama will be not with but about one of the new girls.
Anna begins to speak about a new arrival — one not identified in this stunning sneak peek — and alleging that she has been “entertaining men for money.”
Obviously, there are a lot of jobs that could be described that way … so she gets more specific.
“She may be an escort,” Anna suggests, implying that the woman works as a full service sex worker or in a job adjacent to that.
Adding to the drama is an apparently clueless Matt, who speaks to the cameras and says: “She could potentially be my wife.”
Obviously, there is no way to know if Matt is speaking about this particular unnamed girl … or if they just matched up those clips for a dramatic tease.
Matt doesn’t seem blissfully unaware for the entire teaser trailer, however.
We see Katie vow to “let him know,” and it is assumed — by the narrative of the sneak peek — that this is a promise to inform Matt of this rumor about the unnamed girl.
If the trailer is faithful to the events of the episode (which is admittedly a big if), Katie’s gambit works.
“It’s over, it’s over, it’s over,” a seemingly unhappy and despondent Matt announces.
In that same confessional, he says “Done.”
What is the context of that? Is it related in any way to the sex worker rumors? Literally who knows.
This could be a powerful educational moment for the franchise, as it would be amazing to have this scenario play out with Matt hearing the rumor and responding appropriately.
“Why do I care what job she has? What sort of person do you think that I am that I’d send somebody home for sex work? Should I send home accountants?” would send a positive, moral message.
Discrimination and stigma against sex workers is so normalized that this would be a shock to many. But … it’s not clear at all if that’s where this episode is headed.
