Sam McKinney is no longer vying for Jenn Tran‘s heart. On Monday’s episode of The Bachelorette, the leading lady opted to send home her First Impression Rose winner after a series of confusing conversations.
The awkwardness began during this week’s group date when Sam, along with several more of Jenn’s suitors, went to a radio show. During a rapid fire word association round, Sam was given the term Fantasy Suite and responded by saying “aggressive.”
When guest stars Jason and Molly Mesnick decided that, out of all the men present, it was Sam that Jenn needed more get-to-know-you time with, Jenn agreed, telling the cameras that she was “so confused” by Sam’s answers.
That solo time began with Jenn asking Sam his first impression of her and how that’s changed over the weeks. Instead of answering the question, he babbled about his time on the show. It only got worse when Sam admitted that Jenn wasn’t his type, and stated that he thought that the Bachelorette was going to be either Daisy Kent or Maria Georgas.
Sam kept digging a deeper hole by saying that Jenn’s “stunning” looks will fade. He then praised Jenn for her selflessness. She inquired as to how he knew that she’s selfless, and Sam responded, “You’re either selfless or you’re full of s**t. One or the other.”
Another way Sam knows that Jenn selfless? Their “hot” physical connection.
Jenn was “frustrated” by the display, and that continued when she asked Sam how he knows her. He once again spoke about their physical connection, revealing that his love language is physical touch. With that, Sam decided to kiss Jenn in front of everyone.
“I don’t know why he’s doing this,” she said in a confessional.
Things got worse during the nighttime portion of the date. When Jenn began questioning Sam about their afternoon, he once again spoke nonsensically, insisting that his feelings for her can’t be put into words.
He then did just that, though, telling Jenn, “Because I love you.”
When Jenn questioned that assertion, Sam’s frustration was clear.
“You want to know why. There are things I’ve waited to say. That feeling is extremely scary to me. This is it,” he said. “… We skipped over all of the little conversations and stuff like that and jumped straight into… talking about ferocious love, reckless love.”
In a confessional, Jenn expressed her concern over Sam.
“I’m feeling frustrated and confused. Where the hell is this coming from? To not be able to back up such a bold proclamation, I don’t feel like it’s real to me,” she said. “… There’s no substance there. There’s no logic there.”
At the end of the date, Jenn was questioning whether or not Sam would get into Hometown Week, something that she previously believed was a “sure thing.”
Jenn was still unsettled leading up to the rose ceremony, and opted to pull Sam before handing out the roses. During their conversation, Sam apologized for their date, but stood by his decision to say “I love you.”
As Sam babbled about his experience and his feelings, Jenn told him, “You’re saying all the right things, and it’s just hard for me to believe you.”
“There’s no words that I can say that can describe the love because everything that comes out of my mouth, I feel like I’m downplaying the way that I actually love,” Sam replied. “… Everything that I’m trying to say would be so f**king evident in the way that I interact with my family.”
Jenn continued to question why he loved her specifically, he admitted, “There’s other people out there with the same characteristics as you. I’ve had those people in front of me… I feel like you’re looking at me waiting for these answers with words.”
In a confessional, Jenn said, “He’s dismissing me. He’s not listening. He’s not asking. I’m not seeing the love… I could literally be anybody right now and it wouldn’t matter.”
An “annoyed, frustrated, dismissed, ignored” Jenn complained to Sam about “this disconnect” that they were experiencing, before telling him, “I can’t sit here with someone who says that they love me, but doesn’t even really want to get to know me and understand me and see me.”
Jenn ended things for good by telling Sam, “The way that this is reminds me so much of a relationship that I already put in the past. I’ve been through this so many times. Teaching people what love means, teaching people how to prioritize me. I’ve closed this chapter in my life already. I’m done. I’m done with it.”
In a confessional, Sam called the situation “frustrating.”
“I didn’t think that today was going to be my time to go home. The energy that she brought was very dull. It’s not my fault,” he told the cameras. “… I will always keep the main thing the main thing, and my main thing is finding that person that I love and the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
In her own on-camera interview, Jenn noted, “I don’t know exactly what love is, but I know that is not what love is. I really pride myself on reading people well and being intuitive, and I am so mad that I got it wrong… I understand my worth and what I deserve and what I want, and what I want is not Sam.”
As for what Jenn does want from her future partner, she previously told ET, “I want someone to ground me. I’ve always said, I’m a Sagittarius, I’m a fire sign, so I’m a little crazy… I bring that fiery energy and I want someone to, like, have a little bit of fiery energy, but also to ground me a little bit. Put me in a place.”
The Bachelorette airs Mondays on ABC.
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