The Bachelorette’s Villain Got ‘Dragged To Filth’ By Jenn Tran At The Men Tell All, And Bachelor Nation Is Obsessed

Side-by-side images show Sam McKinney and Jenn Tran each on stage at The Bachelorette Season 21 "Men Tell All" talking to Jesse Palmer on the episode that aired August 27, 2024.
(Image credit: ABC)

Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for The Bachelorette’s Season 21 ‘Men Tell All,” which aired August 27. Episodes can be streamed with a Hulu subscription if you’re not caught up.

Jenn Tran’s journey is just one episode away from being over, and as always, at the end of any season of The Bachelorette comes the “Men Tell All” special. In addition to bringing back the guys Jenn eliminated throughout the season to spill all the tea, it also gives The Bachelorette the opportunity to get closure with her exes for anything she became aware of while watching the season back. Jenn had quite a bit to say to Sam McKinney, who was effectively the villain of Season 21, and Bachelor Nation absolutely loved watching him get “dragged to filth.”

Sam McKinney and Jenn Tran had an undeniable physical attraction from the start of Season 21, but it became obvious to Bachelor Nation pretty quickly that there wasn’t a lot of substance behind Sam M.’s catchphrases, like “keep the main thing the main thing” and “10 toes down.” The relationship ended after a nightmare group date, when Sam M. was unable to say anything real about Jenn or his feelings for her. Apparently she saw plenty of other behavior she didn’t like, too, as she told him at the “Men Tell All”:

I’m gonna say this in words that you’re gonna understand, so I’m gonna keep the main thing the main thing here. And, you know what? I wasn’t upset that you didn’t know how to describe love. Clearly we’re on very different emotional, intellectual levels. That’s fine. What I was upset about, though, was the fact that I watched this back and saw how you interacted with all of these men, huffing and puffing your chest everywhere, the blatant disrespect to everybody. And then on top of that, our relationship, everything was about you the entire time. How you were feeling in the moment, what you wanted to do. Everything revolved around you.

It wasn’t just what she saw on the screen that had Jenn Tran bothered, either. Sam McKinney’s family and friends took to social media (per Reddit), allegedly saying The Bachelorette had edited him to look like a villain, throwing shade at Jenn in the process. The PA student addressed this at the “Men Tell All” too as she continued:

You watched that back, and instead of growing and learning from that, you decided to double down on that and have your friends and family go out online and defend your honor when you’re a grown man. And instead of taking accountability for your actions, you decided to blame it on the producers, the edit, the TV show, whatever it was. At the end of the day, the man that I saw on TV was exactly the man that I sat across from the entire journey.

She went on to say that if didn’t take accountability for his actions that she felt sorry for the person he ends up with, and Bachelor Nation was here. for. it. As one X (Twitter) user said:

Seeing Jenn Tran get to go off on Sam McKinney was definitely a highlight of a pretty busy “Men Tell All” episode. Another fan wrote:

When Jesse Palmer interviewed Sam McKinney earlier in the special, Sam McKinney tried to clarify some of what he had said and stood by his claims that he loved Jenn Tran, but he ultimately admitted that his delivery could have been better. Many viewers weren’t buying anything he was selling, and they seemed appreciative that Jenn was finally calling him on his crap. Other tweets included:

  • Oh she HATES that man – @IyanaJonesRees2
  • YES THANK YOU JENN CALL THIS CLOWN OUT – @akamarvros
  • no if i’m sam m i’m leaving the country – @BobLiu11
  • LMAOOO PERIIIOOOD JENN NN EAT HIM UP 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 – @MsMollyBB
  • JEN RIPPING SAM M A NEW ONE IS THE BEST PARTT OF THE MEN TELL ALL – @Court_Distefano
  • She ate him up so succinctly…. Mother – @rhintintin_

Now that Bachelor Nation has possibly seen the last of Sam McKinney — unless he shows up on Bachelor in Paradise next year — we can focus on Jenn Tran’s two remaining suitors — Marcus Shoberg and Devin Strader. The Bachelorette’s three-hour finale hits the 2024 TV schedule at 8 p.m. ET next Tuesday, September 3, on ABC.

Heidi Venable
Content Producer

Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.