Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for the January 24 episode of The Bachelor, as well as future episodes.
Clayton Echard started off the night of the most recent episode of The Bachelor on the right foot, by taking back Cassidy Timbrooks’ rose – a first in Bachelor history – but somehow he missed a bigger problem. Most of the rest of Episode 3 was centered around Season 26 villain Shanae Ankney and the rivalry she’s created between herself and fellow contestant Elizabeth Corrigan. Between Ankney lying about being bullied, manipulating Echard, and – worst of all – mocking Corrigan for having ADHD, Bachelor Nation is ready for Ankney to go. So how long does she last on the season?
The latest episode ended on a serious note, with Clayton Echard telling the women on the group date that he needed to talk to the whole house before the upcoming rose ceremony. Surely he’s going to address the bullying accusations that Shanae Ankney lobbied against Elizabeth Corrigan, Lyndsey Windham and possibly others, as he should, and the rest of the women can help Echard see the truth of what’s happening with Ankney, right? After reading his own mean tweets on live TV, Echard wouldn't allow a mean girl to stay in the house, right?
Well, bad news, Bachelor fans, because according to Reality Steve, Shanae Ankney survives the next two rose ceremonies before being eliminated during a 2-on-1 date in Week 6. What’s more, the rose ceremony coming up in Episode 4 will see Elizabeth Corrigan eliminated, as well as Kira Mengistu and Melina Nasab. What went wrong, guys?
The preview for next week’s episode teased that Shanae Ankney’s antics will continue, as the group date features a tackle football game (what could go wrong?) with the winning team competing for more time with the hoodie-and-blazer-wearing Bachelor. Reality Steve confirmed what we were all afraid of.
Shanae wasn’t on the winning team but she ends up crashing the [winning team’s] party and breaks their trophy.
And still, somehow, she will go on to survive the rose ceremony. The preview also showed the beginning of tension between Shanae Ankney and Genevieve Parisi, who will reportedly be on the other end of the 2-on-1 when Ankney gets eliminated. From the preview it looks like Parisi is part of the winning football team whose party Ankney crashes.
It’s hard to know what Shanae Ankney is trying to accomplish by making herself the villain. The latest episode showed her lying to Clayton Echard about being bullied in the house, even shedding a fake tear, and then bragging about her performance to producers. She clearly knows this is a television show, and the truth will come out, so what’s the point? Elsewhere in the episode, she ate most of Elizabeth Corrigan’s shrimp (not sure what that was about, but apparently the shrimp return next week) and talked about Corrigan nonstop — even mocking her ADHD again (ugh!).
I don’t know if I can watch two more episodes of Shanae Ankney, y’all, but it looks like that is the task ahead of us. At least she doesn't make it into Clayton Echard's final three. Look, I enjoy the Bachelor Nation drama as much as the next person, but this just hasn’t been fun, especially after the recent season of The Bachelorette came to a very happy ending for Michelle Young. The Bachelor continues next Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Check out what other shows are premiering soon on our 2022 TV Schedule.
