Bachelor Peter Weber Keeps Missing The Point

There have been ample opportunities during this season of The Bachelor to ask, "Peter, what are you doing?" And that question continues to be relevant outside of the show, too. On Tuesday, February 4, our newest Bachelor Peter Weber went on Good Morning America where he addressed the massive amount of early and ongoing drama on 2020's Bachelor season. We might all be annoyed watching it at home, but apparently Peter thinks the women not getting along is a good thing. His reason why leads us back to the age old question: Peter, what are you doing?

"Obviously, you don't like to see that as you go through the whole experience," Peter told host Lara Spencer of the drama (video below). "But I kept looking back on it… that drama kind of showed that this was working, and if all of the women were getting along super well they probably wouldn't have been super into me. If it was too easy that wouldn't have been a good thing." He added, "But it definitely interfered with some stuff."

I'll say. The drama involving contestant Alayah Benavidez was so pervasive and took so much of Peter's time that many of the women felt downright disrespected. Deandra Kanu told him, "I’ve never felt so under-recognized by somebody." As of Monday's episode, Alayah is gone, and that drama has been replaced by a situation involving Tammy Ly and Kelsey Weir that has ended up involving many of the other women, too. We'll give him one thing: Peter is right that this drama has "interfered with some stuff."

What Peter doesn't seem to be getting is that, one, the women not getting along doesn't say anything about how much they like him, and two, that he has been the biggest contributor to the drama. Technically, he's the one causing interference here.

With Alayah, sure, a few of the women didn't like her, but they were keeping that to themselves and not making a big deal of it. Sydney Hightower told Peter privately that some of the women act differently off-camera, but it was Peter who asked her say who she was talking about (Alayah) in front of an entire group date (which included Alayah). The next day, he was the one who sought out more information about Alayah from the women back at the mansion instead of taking time to have conversations with the bachelorettes. He made a whole ordeal out of giving Alayah the boot. He invited her to rejoin the show. He then wasted an entire cocktail party deciding to kick her off again. The women have every last right to be frustrated with him over all of this.

Technically, the issue with Tammy and Kelsey — in which Tammy claimed Kelsey had a "mental breakdown" and was suffering from a drinking problem — is about Peter. Tammy brought this all up under the guise that Kelsey supposedly isn't right for Peter. But that doesn't really speak to Tammy's fondness for Peter; just her dislike for Kelsey. Tammy gossiping about Kelsey's alcohol consumption and emotional state is categorically not a sign that "this was working." It's actually just another example of Peter being a pot stirrer, because he escalated the situation and surrounding drama when he gave Kelsey a surprise rose prior to the ceremony, effectively putting a giant target on her back.

And if you really think about it, Peter has been the one perpetuating the drama way back at the beginning of the season. Case and point: The moment when Hannah Brown showed up. He left his date to attend to her and even asked her if she wanted to join the cast. She said no — at least partially because of her commitment to Dancing with the Stars — but his contestants were rightfully upset because he spent so much of their time with her and then cancelled the rest of their group date. That drama? That's on Pete.

Yes, being the Bachelor is clearly hard for him and he's questioning his decisions, and that's totally fine. Most of normal people would be in his position. But instead of leaning into the fact that he's in a difficult position and just accepting the ridiculousness of it all, he's trying very hard to come across as the capital-B Bachelor, who has the process under control. Unfortunately, he's less like a referee and more like a kid chasing rumours at a middle school dance.

Though he was visibly annoyed at the suggestion during his date with Kelley Flanagan (she called him out for "rewarding the drama"), now Peter does seem to be at least copping to having some responsibility for the mess in season 24.

He admitted on GMA that he made mistakes and that being the Bachelor is "very, very difficult." Unfortunately, he still delivered the PR perfect caveat that the process was "working." There's drama? That's just part of the process! That means they like him! That's an easy way to contextualize everything that's happened, but that's also not how people work. Maybe he'll finally get it when he sees half of the contestants fighting on the Women Tell All and the other half taking best friend Instagrams outside of the show. In both cases, those stories will have little to do with him.