‘The Bachelorette’ Says Goodbye (And Good Riddance) To Sam McKinney

It takes a special man to go from first impression winner to worst impression winner over the span of six weeks on The Bachelorette, and that man’s name is Sam McKinney.

Much to the delight of Bachelor Nation, who dubbed the 27-year-old contractor from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina a Season 21 villain after Episode 3, Jenn Tran bid a long-overdue farewell to Sam M. in Episode 6 after a truly mortifying run. The man waved red flags all throughout the season, but in my decade plus watching this franchise I can’t recall another episode that made me gasp, scream, and shout “What?!” at my TV screen as frequently as I did during Sam M’s Episode 6 train wreck.

The elimination also meant that the first impression rose winner wouldn’t be getting a Hometown Date, but that didn’t stop Sam M.’s family from Entering The Bachelorette Chat. Per the franchise’s famous spoiler Reality Steve, the contestant’s relatives have been speaking out about his negative portrayal on the show for weeks, and though the series is edited and viewers only see snippets of Jenn’s whole journey, most of the complaints surrounding Sam M. stem from his own actions, words, and clear inability to “keep the main thing the main thing.”

Before Sam M. is off our screens for a week (assuming he returns for the Men Tell All episode), let’s look back at his messy Season 21 evolution to remind ourselves how he got here.

A Hopeful First Impression 🌹

On Night 1, Jenn offered Sam M. the first impression rose, gave him the first (and only) kiss, and told him she felt like there was something real between them. “I think that for me, a first kiss means a lot. It takes a lot for me to be affectionate with somebody and to get to that level,” Tran told Decider in a Zoom interview ahead of her premiere. “So I knew in the back of my head that I wasn’t going to kiss anybody unless I really felt that spark and felt that connection and felt that the relationship could go to that level that night.”

The spark felt real and Sam M.’s Bachelorette journey started strong! His sexual chemistry with Jenn was palpable, but eventually the extremely physical connection started to give viewers the ick. And once Sam stopped keeping the main thing the main thing and started feuding with Devin, his picture-perfect “Top Gun 3” image really started to crumble.

The Endless Sam M. And Devin Debacle…To Be Continued

After Devin and Thomas’ Episode 2 disagreement, Sam got involved and accused Devin of being “two-faced” and “here for the wrong reasons.” Rather than squashing the beef and focusing on Jenn, Sam continued fueling the Devin hate, calling him “an instigator” and “an ankle-biting dog” while showcasing incredible immaturity and obnoxious levels of confidence. Before Episode 3 ended, Sam M. called Devin a bully, which prompted producers to shade him with a “Needs To Look Up The Definition Of Bully In A Dictionary” chyron. In Episode 4, when Sam and Devin both had one-on-one dates, the tension between the boys and Sam and Jenn rose to new heights.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad One-On-One Date

Did Sam M. emerge from his one-on-one date with a rose on his chest? Yes. But before he talked his way back into Jenn’s heart at dinner by sharing that his fiancé cheated on him, she and viewers were more than ready to send him packing.

For their date, the two headed to the Auckland Sky Tower — New Zealand’s tallest building — where Sam challenged Jenn to face her massive fear of heights in an incredibly insensitive way. When asked if she was interested in jumping off the building, Jenn politely declined and opted to take in the views on the SkyWalk instead. But Sam wasn’t having it. He ignored her concerns and confirmed they’d both jump, arguing that he wanted to push her to conquer her fears and grow. Jenn understandably saw his insistence and disregard for her emotions as a major red flag and said he needed to do a better job reading her. As the two stood 630 feet above the ground, she had to physically break down in tears before he stepped up, hugged her, and told her it was OK to skip the jump.

Following the episode, Sam posted a comment on social media suggesting that the show was using “smoke and mirrors” to manipulate fans’ feelings towards contestants, but during an interview on the Love to See It podcast, Jenn shut down his attempts to shift the narrative. “Listen, nobody can put words in your mouth,” the Season 21 lead said. “As much as a TV edit is, no one can give you a villain edit in some way, which is what some people are claiming. You have to own your words because no one is putting words in your mouth…You are the person that’s saying those things, and so what I will say is that sometimes you’ve just got to take responsibility for the things that are coming out of your mouth.”

“That moment is very, very interesting for me to watch back and process and watch back with a lot of other eyes on the situation, and I was definitely annoyed in the moment when he made the decision for both of us to jump,” she continued. “I don’t want a partner that’s just going to tell me to do something and not be there for me and not emotionally support me in that way… So watching it back was tough because it’s also like, that’s not the message that I want people to be watching, like little girls who look up to me, that’s not what you should be allowing your partner to do.”

No Way With Words 🥀

Ahead of their one-on-one dates in Episode 4, Devin told the camera that Sam M. had four lines he said on a daily basis to sound serious about Jenn, but when he eventually had to have a real conversation with her he’d likely bomb and blow his cover. In the end, that’s essentially…exactly what happened.

During the Episode 6 radio station group date, Sam majorly fumbled what should have been simple answers to simple questions. He said “aggressive” when asked to name a word he associated with “Fantasy Suite,” prompting Molly Mesnick to literally drop her jaw. He said, “I got out of limo and thought, ‘This girl is not my type. I thought the Bachelorette was going to be Daisy or Maria'” when asked his first impression of Jenn. I mean, how do you mess up that badly?

When the pressure got to be too much, the “feral” kisser reminded Jenn that physical touch is his love language and distracted her with a big old smooch. And when she pressed him the cocktail party later that night, he dodged her extremely valid questions by pulling out the big guns and saying “I love you.” But the declaration read as a desperate attempt to distract from his ingenuity rather than an authentic show of affection, so Jenn pulled him aside ahead of the rose ceremony and continued to grill him.

A “terrified” Sam tried and epically failed to fight for a rose, admitting that words were not his strong suit (we see that!) and doubling down on his “I love you,” despite being unable to properly back up his feelings. After seeing just how many chances this man had to redeem himself this episode alone, it was hard to feel anything other than disappointed, offended by, and incredibly confused over Sam M. in the end. Jenn sent him packing after realizing that he reminded her too much of a relationship she put in the past, and Bachelor Nation rejoiced.

Just as Devin predicted, Jenn saw Sam’s true colors in time, and though Bachelor Nation was robbed of the guys’ reaction to Sam M.’s elimination, the social media celebration delivered. Normally we’d say we’d look forward to seeing an eliminated contestant in Paradise for a redemption arc, but honestly? After Sam M.’s manipulative, immature, disrespectful vibes, we’re not even sure he’d get an invite.

While we may see some Season 21 “villains” making Paradise comebacks, it feels like Bachelor Nation would rather Sam M. keep the main thing the main thing far away from their TV screens. Besides, we have a new Bachelor lead to get hyped about — and it’s not Sam!

New episodes of The Bachelorette Season 21 premiere Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC with next-day streaming on Hulu. And be sure to read Decider’s pre-premiere interview with Jenn Tran for more exciting tidbits.