It’s all fun and games on The Bachelorette until someone tries to steal the girl…or the car.
When The Bachelorette‘s Jenn Tran assumed the role as Season 21 lead she was well aware that men would be competing for her heart, but she never guessed two guys would be fighting over her and a fancy red car on Night 1.
The drama all started when Jeremy, a 29-year-old real estate investor from New York (but really Connecticut), rolled up to Hummingbird Nest Ranch in a shiny red Corvette. Brian, a 33-year-old aesthetics consultant from Boynton Beach, Florida looked on from a balcony with fellow contestants and joked, “I know what I’m stealing later.”
Turns out, it wasn’t a joke! Later in the night when Jeremy took Tran out to the car for a chat, Brian snatched the Corvette keys from inside the mansion and crashed their one-on-one time, saying “This is my key right now!” After a painfully awkward back and forth, Jeremy reluctantly surrendered the passenger seat to Brian in what he called “the most ridiculous situation.”
Tran told Brian that he pulled “a bold move” before revving the engine against Jeremy’s wishes. And Brian told cameras, “Sorry, Jeremy. She’s got a little too much horsepower for you, bro.”
Since the attempted car theft was the first sign of strain between Season 21 contestants, we knew we had to ask Tran about the confrontation in our pre-premiere Zoom interview. Here’s what she had to say about Night 1’s biggest drama.
“That’s so funny — the attempted car theft,” Tran laughed, thinking back to the awkward Night 1 moment. “I was just really confused about what was going on and I was just going with it. I was like, ‘I’ll let these boys battle it out.’ They can figure it out.”
The tense back-and-forth obviously made for good TV, but as for why Tran didn’t intervene more, she explained, “I’m not their mom. I’m not going to tell anyone what to do ever. I just sat there and waited until somebody made a decision.”
Those who watched The Bachelorette‘s Season 21 premiere will recall the flashy car wasn’t Jeremy’s only first impression move. He also told Tran — mere seconds after meeting her — that he had a big…penis. (Yes, much to Tran’s surprise he actually dropped the p-word.) When asked about Jeremy’s one-of-a-kind entrance and some other perplexing limo exits, Tran admitted she had several “What are you doing, dude?” moments during the night.
“Yeah,” Tran laughed. “Throughout the night I really was like, ‘That was an interesting choice’ Definitely wouldn’t have been my choice, but to each their own. I always preach, just be who you are, and if that’s who you are, then OK! Better to know now than later.”
“I’m not their mom. I’m not going to tell anyone what to do ever. I just sat there and waited until somebody made a decision.”
Jenn Tran, The Bachelorette
We’ll have to keep watching to see if Brian and Jeremy take their Night 1 beef abroad to Australia, but no matter what happens between them, Tran teases a surprising season with “a lot of twists and turns” ahead.
“It’s a surprise for sure. It’s definitely not something that I could have imagined was going to happen. But I’m very happy with the way everything panned out through the journey. And I’m very excited for it all to come to light,” she told Decider. “I was constantly surprised every day. And I was on the edge of my seat a lot of the time.”
New episodes of The Bachelorette Season 21 premiere Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC with next-day streaming on Hulu. Be sure to read Decider’s pre-premiere interview with Jenn Tran for a preview of the season ahead.