Awkward Bachelor Moments That Were Caught On Camera
"The Bachelor" is beloved by its many fans because it gives viewers an inside look at love, with all of its many nerve-wracking first interactions, emotional conversations, romantic dates, and intimate moments shared behind closed doors. Because of the show's candidness, though, many cringeworthy moments — moments that perfectly display the more embarrassing and vulnerable sides of dating — are captured each season for millions of fans to watch.
From palpably awkward lip-locks to extremely risky first impression techniques to awful breakups that are painful to watch (but impossible to look away from), "The Bachelor" has consistently given viewers like us more awkward content than we could have ever asked for. In order to satisfy your craving for moments that are so uncomfortable they're almost satisfying, we've rounded up the absolute best of the absolute worst — the most iconically awkward scenes — from "The Bachelor." Get ready to cringe — a lot!
Jesse Palmer calls the wrong name at a rose ceremony
We're going back to 2004 to a more "vintage" moment, when Bachelor Jesse Palmer gave fans of the show one of the very first cringeworthy rose ceremony scenes. During Season 5 of "The Bachelor," Jesse accidentally called Katie up to receive a rose when he actually intended to invite up another contestant – Karen (via ABC).
After realizing that he made a mistake, Jesse asks to speak with then host of the show, Chris Harrison, to explain what happened. Soon after, he returns to the ceremony and confesses to the ladies that he accidentally mixed up the two names. He politely offers Katie the opportunity to continue on the show, though, which she accepts. Don't get us wrong, when you've talked to dozens of women in the same night, misremembering a name isn't a huge offense, but this was still so uncomfortable to watch!
After breaking off his engagement with Becca Kufrin, Arie Luyendyk Jr. won't leave her alone
Breakups are difficult to navigate and awkward no matter what the circumstances are. But what's really awkward is getting broken up with and then being physically followed around by your ex as you try to remove yourself from the situation. Also, imagine that the whole thing is being recorded and broadcast for millions to watch — talk about salt in the wound.
If this sounds as awful to you as it does to us, you're really going to feel for Becca Kufrin, whose ex-fiancé, Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr., broke things off during the finale of Season 22 to pursue things with runner-up Lauren Burnham. As Glamour detailed, after a very non-mutual breakup, Arie proceeds to follow Becca around her house, trying to console her as she cries in her bathroom — and then in her living room — while she asks him to leave. Looking back on this tense moment is even worse now that Arie and Lauren are married.
Jason Mesnick participates in a funeral for a bird
If you're a fan of the "Bachelor" franchise, you know that hometown dates can sometimes be a bit awkward. Maybe there's an overbearing father figure involved or what's meant to be a passionate one-on-one date doesn't go exactly as planned — whatever the case, it's not unusual for there to be an uncomfortable moment during these episodes. What is unusual, though, is being forced to attend a funeral for a bird while meeting the family of your significant other for the first time, as was the case for Season 13 Bachelor Jason Mesnick.
While visiting contestant Naomi Crespo's home, Jason was required to participate in a funeral that Naomi's mom was holding for a bird she'd run over with her car. One of his responsibilities? Placing the dead animal — which was wrapped in a brown paper bag — into the ground. If you could feel Naomi's embarrassment through the screen, you're not alone. This scene was definitely uncomfortable to watch.
Any time Matt James kisses anybody ever
Season 25's Matt James is famous for a number of reasons — previously being a Division I football player at Wake Forest University, being the first Black Bachelor, and — last but not least — kissing with his eyes open. And we're not talking just a peek, we're talking eyes open for the entire duration of the kiss.
Matt's bizarre kissing technique (if you can call it that) became such a highly-discussed topic among "The Bachelor" fans that during his "After the Last Rose" episode, Matt was shown a compilation of himself kissing several contestants with his eyes wide open. "To be honest with you, I didn't know that was a no-no. I didn't know you were supposed to have your eyes closed," Matt said on the show. "But when I'm watching it back, I'm like, 'That's kind of weird.' I'm doing self-reflection, like, I should probably start kissing with my eyes closed."
Peter Weber's champagne gift to Kelsey Weier goes disastrously wrong
The 15th season of "The Bachelor," which starred Peter Weber ("Pilot Pete") as the Bachelor, was full of cringe, but what fans came to lovingly call champagne-gate had to be one of its more awkward moments.
It all starts with a bottle of champagne, which Peter gifted to contestant Kelsey Weier for her birthday. As seen on the show, Kelsey decides that she's going to set up a romantic moment for her to share with Peter, and the bottle of champagne is the centerpiece. However, contestant Hannah Ann Sluss accidentally stumbles upon this setup and pops the champagne with Peter. A fight then sparks between the two women, and Kelsey is visibly upset about the mishap.
In an attempt to cheer Kelsey up and ease the tension between her and Hannah Ann, Peter kindly offers Kelsey a brand new bottle of champagne for the two of them to share. Kelsey is once again smiling, and her friends are even cheering for her from the sidelines. But when she goes to drink from the bottle, the champagne erupts all over her face. We're crying with you, Kelsey.
Lindsay Yenter arrives to Season 17 in a wedding dress
When it comes to shows like "The Bachelor," contestants have to be bold to make a memorable first impression as one of many people competing on the show. This may result in a contestant wearing, say, a unicorn mask over their head to make the Bachelor laughm like JoJo Fletcher did, or maybe a contestant will ride up to the Bachelor on a camel as Lacey Mark did back in 2017. First impressions have become more and more unique and impressive as "The Bachelor" has gone on longer — but it must be asked if a first impression can be too bold.
If it is, Lindsay Yenter, who showed up to Season 17 Bachelor Sean Lowe's first night in a full-on wedding dress, may be a perfect example to look to. Before the two even exchanged names, Lindsay told Sean that he was permitted to "kiss the bride," and the two locked lips. Later that night, an inebriated Lindsay boldly asks for another kiss. When Sean hesitated, she jokingly stated, "I'm not contagious."
Nick Viall's neck is grabbed by contestant Jasmine Goode
We can imagine that it is very upsetting to see the person you like and are maybe even falling for enjoy romantic moments with others, but there are definitely better ways to handle these emotions than threatening to choke your crush, as Jasmine Goode did to Nick Viall in Season 21 of "The Bachelor."
After receiving no one-on-one dates and growing jealous of other contestants, Jasmine expressed her frustration to Bachelor Nick by telling him that she wanted to "choke him so bad" before actually pretending to choke him by putting her hand up to his neck (via ABC). "Do you want me to show you?" Jasmine asks, to which Nick responds, "No, not even a little." When catching up with the producers after his conversation with Jasmine, Viall himself even admits that the moment was especially awkward. At the end of their interaction, Nick decides to send Jasmine home.
Jillian Anderson falls after walking for the wrong name at a rose ceremony
We've talked about how awkward things can get when the Bachelor calls the wrong name, but what happens when a contestant hears the wrong name, like Jillian Anderson did in Chris Soules' season of "The Bachelor?"
Chris actually summoned contestant Juelia up during a rose ceremony, but after mishearing, Jillian began to walk toward him (via The Hollywood Gossip). Soules repeats the name he originally called, which causes Jillian to hesitate, trip on a rug, and fall to the ground. There are a couple of ways Anderson could have reacted to this fumble — she could have returned to her spot flustered and embarrassed, or she could have owned the moment and made a joke out of it before anybody else could. She chose the second route, letting out a somewhat maniacal laugh after the fall. Despite her hard-to-watch trip, Jillian ended up making it to the fourth week of the season, Us Weekly reported.
Ben Flajnick receives a cringeworthy kissing lesson from Jamie Otis
Kissing someone for the first time (or even the first couple of times) can be an awkward experience, but it can quickly be made even more uncomfortable when the person you're about to lock lips with decides to give you an impromptu kissing lesson right before you do so, just as contestant Jamie Otis did in Season 16 of "The Bachelor."
In this particularly cringeworthy scene, Jamie takes a minute to educate Bachelor Ben Flajnick on how she'd like him to kiss her, and boy does she go into the miniscule details. "Once we feel each other out, we're gonna open our mouths," Jamie says. Ben, visibly uncomfortable, responds, "That's normally how kissing goes."
Soon after, Jamie shares an extremely awkward kiss with Ben — still giving him instructions during the liplock. All in all, we're not so sure we'd recommend this method of flirting.
Olivia Caridi is visibly uncomfortable dancing for Ben Higgins
Like first impressions, group dates on "The Bachelor" have just gotten more and more unique as time has gone on. For example, during Season 20 of the series, the contestants performed in a talent show to try and impress Bachelor Ben Higgins and special guest ventriloquist Terry Fator. Some contestants Irish-danced, one played the cello, and one — Olivia Caridi — did ... something else (via Love Inc.).
Olivia performed a simultaneously confusing and painfully-awkward "showgirl routine," which was complete with her entering and exiting the stage in a giant pretend cake. She looked visibly uncomfortable doing the routine and was extremely upset after the performance was over, crying in a room backstage and saying that she was experiencing a panic attack. "I don't have talent, so I tried to do something way outside my comfort zone, but it didn't go that well," Olivia explained. Olivia was given a rose that night but was eliminated later, in week 6 (via International Business Times).
Jason Mesnick dumps fiancée Melissa for runner-up Molly in one TV special
After a season of "The Bachelor" ends in two people getting engaged to one another, fans hope for a romantic happily-ever-after. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. For example, during Season 13, Bachelor Jason Mesnick left the show's finale engaged to Melissa Rycroft. During a live tell-all filmed in front of a studio audience, though, Jason breaks the romance spell by sharing with host Chris Harrison that he can't stop thinking about his runner-up, contestant Molly Malaney.
After confessing to his feelings for Molly, Jason brings Melissa on camera and proceeds to break up with her. "I came here to find somebody to spend the rest of my life with, and we're not right for each other," Jason tells Melissa. "You're such a bastard," Melissa responds, "I wish more than anything that last day you would've just let me go instead of doing this to me."
And as if this wasn't uncomfortable enough, Jason brought Molly out right after ending things with Melissa, and the two became official during that very same TV special. Now that is awkward. However, things seemed to work out for the best, as Jason and Molly celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary in 2022 (via Insider). As for Melissa, she married Tye Strickland, an insurance agent, in 2009, according to People.
Brad Womack chooses himself during the Season 11 finale
Awkward breakups may be par for the course on "The Bachelor," but Season 11's Bachelor Brad Womack may take the cake for the most surprising end to a relationship. If you aren't especially familiar with "The Bachelor," the show usually ends in an engagement. During the finale of Brad's season, though, he sends both of his two final contestants — Jenni Croft and DeAnna Pappas — home.
During the episode, we watch Brad tell DeAnna that he had parted ways with Jenni. Of course, DeAnna is visibly relieved and, as is expected, assumes that Brad has chosen to propose to her. Brad, anxiously loosening his tie and letting go of DeAnna's hands, asks her to wait while he walks away to gather his thoughts. "We always promised ourselves we'd be completely honest, right? No matter how much it could hurt. I can't look you in your eye and tell you that I love you. I can't," Brad says to DeAnna. "I have to tell you goodbye." DeAnna is just as shocked and confused as we viewers were, and after nine episodes of buildup to this moment, it was definitely painful to watch.
Chris Soules is granted three wishes, but has to rub Ashley Iaconetti's belly-button piercing for them to come true
Ashley Iaconetti was a fairly memorable contestant on Chris Soules' Season 19 for many reasons. For one thing, she was known to cry on pretty much every date she went on. But what sticks with us the most about Ashley is that one very bizarre flirting technique that she used on Chris. Ashley tells Chris that her belly button piercing is a "magic lamp," and that she could grant him three wishes, but they would only come true if he rubbed her belly button piercing. Chris proceeds to basically pet the piercing in a very uncomfortable-to-watch manner, and the two enter a pretty intense makeout session soon after.
To be quite honest, we're not sure how this move worked on Chris, but it clearly did. The pair's kiss became so aggressive that some of the other contestants were gossiping about it and even peeking in on it from other rooms.
Juan Pablo Galavis and Shareen Joynt share a disturbing kiss
We can't put our finger on any one thing that makes this specific lip-lock so painful to watch — there are too many cringeworthy parts to focus on.
This awkward kiss takes place during a one-on-one date between Season 18's Bachelor Juan Pablo Galavis and contestant Shareen Joynt. After laying a picnic blanket out on a soccer field (the location of the date) for the two to sit, Juan Pablo ungracefully moves his face closer to Shareen's, whispering, "You know what? I just want to kiss you." He goes in for the kill before Shareen can even think to respond, as the episode shows. Not only was this entrance to the kiss slightly uncomfortable, but also, the two just couldn't seem to fall into a rhythm with one another. Because of this, viewers saw too much tongue, and the kiss produced some pretty grotesque noises.
"I'm sorry, can we do a retake?" Shareen asks Juan Pablo, clearly unhappy with the moment.