The Bachelor's Bird Box Moment Is Raising Questions About Consent Among Fans

Within the first hour of its third episode, The Bachelor (and Bachelor Twitter) had found its first meme-able moment. Demi blindfolded Colton after a group date in a total Fifty Shades-style move, or if you ask the Bachelor himself, a Bird Box move. Before the episode aired, Colton memed the Demi scene with a very timely reference to the new Netflix hit movie. However, some fans didn’t find the moment quite so entertaining.

So while Colton obviously was highlighting how funny and wild the moment was, and he did chuckle about it on screen, it was a bit of a contrast to what some viewers noted about the scene. Fans posted memes alright, but many used their tweets to point out creepy they thought Demi’s blindfold move was — or, at the very least, how awkward it was. People seemed to take issue with Demi taking a paddle to Colton and gesturing in a sexual way towards the front of his pants, and read his reaction as uncomfortable, rather than amused.

The fact that Demi went for a Red Room moment shouldn’t be super that surprising, though, since she sort of telegraphed it when she revealed her approach to winning Colton’s heart: "I think Colton will realize he needs a girl in his life that is more bold and confident and will take a bit more of a dominant role," she said. "I think that Colton is looking for a girl that can take charge and take control. Even if he, like, doesn't know that he's looking for that, I think that that's what he needs.” But as some fans pointed out, it’s possible that her go-get-em attitude could have resulted in non-consensual activity. While the show is heavily edited and it’s possible that we didn’t see every piece of the moment between Demi and Colton, it does not appear that Demi asked Colton if it was alright to blindfold him and feel him up.

And this isn’t the first time someone has questioned Demi’s relationship with consent. During the first group date on episode 2, Demi used the group date performance as an excuse to jump off the stage to plant a big kiss on Colton. After that moment, Tracy suggested that Demi’s move was “forcing it on him.”

Of course, it’s not quite fair to call the kiss or the Bird Box moment out for consent issues unless Colton says that’s how he feels. There’s no way for viewers to truly know how those moments went down, and he does appear to be happily joking about them on Twitter. And considering that, this week, he kissed her back and gave her a rose, we’ll have to take his word for it that everything is alright.