Thomas Jacobs arrived on Bachelor in Paradise last week with his villain status fully secured, thanks to his fellow cast mates who spent time with him previously on Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette. Jacobs sorely rubbed Thurston and the other men the wrong way when he admitted that ahead of joining The Bachelorette, he considered the general possibility of becoming the next Bachelor due to his appearance, and Thurston showed him the door for that admission. Jacobs still believes his point of view isn’t all that uncommon, however, and he has doubled down on the controversial statement behind the scenes, even as his on-screen drama continues in Paradise.
On the August 30 episode of the Talking It Out podcast, Thomas Jacobs spoke with hosts Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo — both former Bachelorette contestants themselves — about the drama surrounding his time on Katie Thurston’s season. He said he thought the other guys intentionally banded together to make him the common villain, and when Abasolo asked Jacobs if the other men in the house were essentially full of shit for claiming they'd never considered their own prospects of becoming The Bachelor, Jacobs said it had to be something they’d all thought about. In his words:
I say 99% of the people who go through that process, when they first get a call and [they] say, ‘Hey, are you interested in doing this show?’ You think of every single potential outcome. And what they ask you is, ‘Is that something that ever crossed your mind?’ The answer is yes, and [for] everybody in that room, at some point, that has to be a thought.
The co-hosts were kind of split on Thomas Jacobs’ response. Mike Johnson, who was on Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette, argued that having never watched the show before being on it, he didn’t even realize becoming a lead within the franchise was something that could be attained. Bryan Abasolo, who met his wife Rachel Lindsay on her season of The Bachelorette, took the opposite side by pointing out that many of the singles who join the show are aware that future leads are often picked from past contestants — with Johnson as a rare exception — and he agreed it would be hard not to imagine the possibility, even if one's intentions were altogether virtuous, saying:
If you watch the show and you’ve watched it for years, it’s really hard not to place yourself in that scenario, just even as a hypothetical, and then whatever, you dismiss it. … I agree with you, Thomas, a lot of those guys, they just decided to stay quiet, just to not ruffle feathers, and you got outed by them.
We have yet to see if Thomas Jacobs will truly connect with anybody on Bachelor in Paradise, considering how much his presence has already caused friction with his former Bachelorette castmates, among others. Despite trying to clear the air with the men when he arrived in Paradise, the bug-killing Tre Cooper called Jacobs out after it was revealed the latter called Cooper emotionally weak during a date with Serena Pitt. The promos for the upcoming episodes also teased that more drama lies ahead for Jacobs, who should really pick a lane when it comes to honesty or bullshitting people.
Bachelor in Paradise airs at 8 p.m. ET Monday and Tuesday nights on ABC. Check out our 2021 Fall TV Schedule to keep up with all the premiere dates for your favorite shows.
