Warning! Spoilers ahead for the most recent episode of Matt James' Season 25 of The Bachelor. Look away until you catch up or be sure to have your heart broken!
Listen, everyone who participates in Bachelor Nation fully understands that becoming attached to the women or men who attempt to win the heart of the lead on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette is a tricky business. Not only might you find yourself rooting for someone who ends up being problematic, but there's also the very real issue of the lead potentially not being as into said suitor as you are. Basically, we all know that some of our favorites are going to be sent packing, but a recent breakup seems to have been way harder on fans than the woman who was actually sent home.
After a lot of early drama on Matt James' season of The Bachelor, things are finally getting down to the wire, with hometowns coming up very, very soon. So, Matt is in need of a culling, and he got down to that business on last night's episode. He ended up sending several favorites home, these include Serena Chew, Heather Martin (thank goodness for that), Chelsea Vaughn (farewell to the chicest contestant ever), Jessenia Cruz, and Pieper James, while Kit Keenan pulled a dumpation on Matt and self-eliminated.
Unfortunately, another woman who was sent home by Matt last night just so happened to have been the lady to get his first impression rose, and this has sent fans into quite the tizzy on Twitter. That's right, folks, Abigail Heringer had to leave Nemacolin without even getting a hometown date. And viewers are not pleased.
Oooh. It stings! It really stings, y'all! There are few of us who didn't favor Abigail right off the bat, including, obviously, Matt. She was sweet and immediately forthcoming about her hearing loss. On top of that, Abigail was never involved in the bullying among the women and she and Matt also had a single-parent upbringing in common. But, his affection for her was quickly overwhelmed by all of the drama / bullying, and Matt ended up not spending enough time with Abigail to really see where their relationship could go.
Now, don't get me wrong. Abigail was plenty upset. But, I applaud her for, after several weeks of wondering why she hadn't had any more time with Matt, and had never gotten a 1-on-1 date with him, asking Matt outright if he could see a future with her, like she could with him. This led to Matt having to face up to the fact that he was so sure of their connection at the beginning that he ignored Abigail, and ended up becoming closer to other women. Now, though, fans seem to think that someone else may be better suited for Abigail's attentions:
You know what? After that breakup, and nearly a full season of Matt allowing himself to be distracted by all the bullshit in the house and the 5.5 million other women who were brought on to vie for his heart, I can totally see where Abigail and The Bachelorette's Ivan Hall might be a good match. However, there are many other fans who think there's a way better answer for Abigail than just setting her up with good guy Ivan:
To be honest, even though we didn't see much of Abigail in Season 25, I think she's capable of standing up for herself enough to be pretty good at choosing between 25 to 30 men should she (and not Katie Thurston) win the Bachelorette lotto. Sure, she'd be taken in by someone who's not good enough for her, but nearly every lead is. Her willingness to take her problem to Matt has me hopeful that she wouldn't put up with any mess for too long, though.
While fans were clearly heartbroken over losing Abigail, the move did hit her pretty hard, as well. As she said while on her way out of Nemacolin:
For me to lay it all out and then for him just to come back and say he doesn't see it, um, it's just kind of eating me alive right now. I just feel like I'm just constantly the person that makes men realize what they want next, but they never want that with me. So, it's just a hard pill that I'm gonna have to swallow.
Awww! Don't worry Abigail, you will be alright! Until we can see if Abigail shows up in the franchise again, we can all keep up with Matt's season as it airs every Monday, on ABC, at 8 p.m. EST.
