‘The Bachelor’: Kit Keenan Says What She Would Have Done Differently on the Show
Kit Keenan from The Bachelor received a coveted one-on-one date with Matt James on the Feb. 1 episode of the reality television dating show. The blonde 21-year-old New Yorker made a strong initial impression on the show by entering night one in a fancy car and making Gossip Girl allusions. But what would she have done differently if she could do it again? The New York University student revealed all in a new interview on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast.
[Spoiler alert: The following article contains spoilers for The Bachelor‘s Feb. 1 episode.]
What happened on Kit Keenan’s date with Matt James
Keenan had earlier expressed to James how much she loves cooking and being in the kitchen. She thus got emotional reading the one-on-one date card that hinted toward a food-related date. James invited her on a private date in which they made cookies together in his Nemacolin suite.
Keenan told James that she is “starting to fall in love” with him. He proceeded to give her a rose, securing her spot in the competition for at least one more week.
How she ended up on the show
While on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast episode released Feb. 2, Keenan revealed that someone reached out to her via social media in the early days of quarantine.
Keenan decided to take a semester off from NYU’s digital courseload and pursue the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of being on The Bachelor.
Keenan expressed that even though filming The Bachelor was a difficult experience, she came out of it with many new friends. When looking back on possible mistakes, Keenan also spoke about what she would have done differently if she could.
What Kit Keenan would have done differently on the show
Co-host of Bachelor Happy Hour podcast Rachel Lindsay said that Keenan was being grouped with the “mean girls” of the show — AKA the self-proclaimed “OGs” who arrived before the five new contestants were brought on.
Keenan addressed her involvement with the “OGs” and how they treated the newer women on the show and how she behaved toward Sarah Trott in a group confrontation earlier on in the season.
“I go back to the whole, ‘You’re only seeing one side’ of things,” Keenan said about how she appears on the show. “It’s one harsh line here or there when it’s been several people speaking their frustrations and their feelings.”
She further addressed her edit on the show: “I definitely, after seeing how I react to frustration situations, I reflected and thought to myself, ‘Wow, I should have more compassion right off the bat.’ I have apologized, in the Sarah situation specifically.”
Keenan went on to explain her point of view of the confrontation with Trott, who eliminated herself from the competition due to her sick father and rising jealousy in the house.
“Her situation was, she had compounding factors that were affecting her time there,” Keenan said. “I didn’t know that. I wish I could have been there for her. She could have been able to open up to me about that stuff. It’s so hard. We’re all going through this very difficult, very emotionally taxing experience together.”
Keenan addressed the audience’s criticism
The NYU student went on to say that she perceives criticism she has gotten from fans as “gendered.”
“I also think that a lot of the criticism that I have gotten is very gendered and I don’t like that,” she said. “If a man had said some of the more aggressive things that I had said on-screen, he would be applauded for standing up for himself. Because it’s a woman, and women are supposed to turn the other cheek and be compassionate and vulnerable, I think it’s harder for people to see that.”
We’ll have to keep watching to see where Keenan ends up in the competition in terms of “winning” James’ heart.
