The Bachelorette host Chris Harrison is shedding some light on the feud between Lee Garrett and Kenny Layne, which fellow bachelor Dean Unglert suggested may be racial targeting on Lee's part.
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Lee has admitted in recent The Bachelorette episodes that he loves to stir the pot and spark rage in other men.
"The drama between Eric and Lee just started to finally calm down when another bit of drama, also involving Lee, came front and center," Chris wrote in his Yahoo! TV blog.
Lee initially questioned Eric's attitude and sincerity, and then a feud began between Lee and Kenny once Lee interrupted his fellow bachelor's alone time with Rachel Lindsay for a second conversation at the latest cocktail party.
Dean noted in Monday night's episode that Lee only seemed to target "people he's not used to seeing on a daily basis," referencing the fact Lee is a Caucasian guy from Tennessee while both of his targets, Eric and Kenny, are African American. Dean said Lee's "intolerance" would be magnified the longer he sticks around in the dating process.
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Regardless of whether race played any role in Lee's decision to rub Kenny the wrong way, Kenny grew very angry, claiming that Lee used their friendship to get ahead in his romance with Rachel.
"Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, the way that Lee interrupted Kenny really hurt Kenny on an emotional level. I can tell you that up to that point that Lee and Kenny were friends, or at least friendly, but once things started getting heated, it became clear that this friendship wasn't going to recover," Chris revealed.
Kenny did raise his voice to Lee during their argument -- which he later told Rachel he regretted -- but he believed Lee was being dismissive of his feelings and disingenuous.
"Kenny was definitely trying to explain his side to Lee, but Lee was not having any of it. This further incensed Kenny and created a disagreement that was so loud that Rachel couldn't avoid hearing it. And this began one of the greatest he said/he said debates in Bachelorette history, and as you may have guessed, this disagreement does not end here," Chris teased.
Rachel was distracted and annoyed by all the drama, and it led to a breakdown in a confessional.
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"Rachel was visibly emotional that night and I think she had every right to be. She is going through things that no other Bachelorette has ever gone through, and to be honest, none of us really fully understand that pressure she is under, from all directions," Chris said of the first-ever black The Bachelorette star.
"Add in a house full of tension and the exhaustion that comes from being the center of so many people's attention, and when she asked me to end the cocktail party for her, I was very happy to do so. In fact, I knew we were about to head off to Hilton Head and knew that a day of travel and a change of scenery would be just the thing she needed."
Although Rachel asked her remaining bachelors to leave the drama in Los Angeles after eliminating Diggy Moreland, Bryce Powers and Brady Ervin at the Rose Ceremony, the men didn't listen.
"Drama seems to be continually unfolding. [Ignacio "Iggy" Rodriguez] gave Rachel his thoughts on [Josiah Graham], and that started an avalanche of bad," Chris noted.
The Bachelorette host said Josiah was "understandably annoyed" after Iggy told Rachel that the suitor covers up his insecurities with "a false sense of bravado."
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And then Lee talked to Rachel about Kenny behind his back, which really heightened tension in the house.
"She was trying to get to the bottom of the incident from the night of the Rose Ceremony, but I don't think anyone expected to hear Lee describe Kenny as aggressive," Chris explained in his blog.
"As you can see, this threw Kenny off completely. Kenny is a passionate man, and he did not like seeing his character impugned. At this time, there is a stand off between Kenny and Lee, and I don't think it's ending any time soon."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski