The Bachelor star Grant Ellis has revealed what really surprised him about Sam McKinney when getting to know the bachelor off-camera on Jenn Tran's The Bachelorette season.

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Grant appeared on "The Viall Files" podcast and acknowledged that he could tell "from the jump" that Jenn really cared about Sam, and, although he wanted The Bachelorette star to be happy, he was a little jealous of Sam.

However, Grant apparently believes that Sam was not being his authentic self during filming.

"It's so crazy because I saw Sam M. off-camera and there was one time where I was playing the piano and he came in there and was sitting down and writing in his notepad," Grant recalled during the August 15 episode of former The Bachelor star Nick Viall's podcast.

"There are things there where I'm like, 'Okay, this guy is a good guy.' I think that he was just trying to be somebody on TV that he's not, you know what I'm saying?"

When trying to figure Sam out, Grant reasoned, "Maybe he was trying to be somebody he used to be and he was trying to be somebody that he's not."

"I feel like that's something he has to deal with internally, and he realizes that!" Grant shared.

Grant pointed out how Sam is being "beat up" by fans and members of Bachelor Nation.

"I saw certain sides of him and I saw certain sides of everybody where I was like, 'Everybody has good in them.' [Sam] is just trying to be somebody that he's not," Grant said.

"And I hope he learns from that and he doesn't make that decision again. It just happened to be public."

When Nick referenced Jenn's awkward one-on-one date with Sam at the Auckland Sky Tower, Grant joked about how he'll definitely "let it slide" if one of his bachelorettes doesn't want to jump off a building during his upcoming The Bachelor season.

"I'm not going to Sam M. it," Grant quipped. "If she doesn't want to jump, I'm not going to make her jump, for sure."

But The Bachelor couple Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney gave Sam the benefit of the doubt when they participated in Jenn's radio-show group date in Seattle, WA, which aired on The Bachelorette August 12 episode.

"I think he does want to be with somebody. Maybe Jenn isn't the right person, but he wants to get married," Jason said.

And Molly insisted that Sam isn't "a bad person," despite what people have been saying about him online.

The couple did admit, however, that Sam's behavior was even worse in-person than what viewers saw on television.

Sam appeared to talk in circles and make love claims without providing any concrete examples on why Jenn was the right woman for him.

When asked a serious question, he'd grab Jenn's face and make out with her or just talk about himself and his intentions for going on The Bachelorette. At one point, Sam admitted he thought Daisy Kent or Maria Georgas was going to star on The Bachelorette instead of Jenn.

"Sam is a former athlete," Jason revealed during the August 12 episode of "The Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast."

Jason added, "There were things said that they had to edit out that were terrible and we can't even talk about," and Molly agreed, "Yeah, we can't get into that."

Sam has been receiving a lot of backlash and hate, but Molly said Sam's edit on the latest The Bachelorette episode "was entirely accurate."

Molly reiterated, "There was so much more that people didn't even see."

She therefore concluded of Sam, "He's getting a really bad edit this season. I think this show, in this environment, it either makes someone flourish or it makes someone flounder, and so think he is someone whom this environment isn't good for."

For Jenn's part, she recently said that Sam needs to "take responsibility" for his actions because producers couldn't put words into his mouth.

Instead of telling Jenn why she was great and why they'd make an ideal match, Sam simply spoke in generalities about wanting a "ferocious love" and a good marriage.

Jenn therefore believed Sam's love declaration wasn't genuine since he didn't seem to understand her wants or needs, nevermind the complexities of her personality and overall character.

Sam, for instance, said he loved Jenn because she's "selfless," but he couldn't come up with a single instance when Jenn had acted selflessly during their time together.

At one point, Jenn criticized Sam for sounding like he was reading off a script.

"He's dismissing me and he's not listening and he's not asking," Jenn complained to The Bachelorette cameras. "I'm not seeing the love! What does [pour into his emotional part] even mean?"

Jenn ultimately determined that Sam reminded her too much of her toxic relationships in the past, and so after three frustrating and confusing conversations in Seattle, Jenn eliminated Sam before the sixth Rose Ceremony of the season.

"I've been through this so many times -- teaching people what love means and teaching people how to prioritize me. I've closed this chapter in my life already. I am done. I am done with it!" Jenn shouted at the bachelor.

Jenn explained how her connection with Sam was mainly physical and letting him go was a huge "turning point" for her in this journey of finding true love.

"I understand what I want, and what I want is not Sam," Jenn concluded.

Sam found his exchange with Jenn "frustrating," and he told the cameras, "The energy that she brought was very dull. It's not my fault... At the end of the day, it is what it is. I will always keep the main thing, the main thing -- and that's finding my person."

After The Bachelorette episode aired, Sam broke his silence on Instagram.

Sam said of his breakup conversation with Jenn, "I wish I was able to truly show how I felt in that moment right there, but that love that I carry is visceral, it's instinctive, and it's beyond descriptive, and it just didn't work in that setting -- and that's okay."


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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