The Bachelorette: Tayshia Adams cries while discussing Black Lives Matter during one-on-one date

Tayshia Adams cried as she discussed the Black Lives Matter movement and its impact on her life on Tuesday’s episode of The Bachelorette.

During a date with suitor Ivan Hall, 28, the reality star, 30, grew emotional as she considered how the movement had affected her this year.

‘Being in Orange County, surrounded by a lot of people who don’t look like me,’ Tayshia haltingly began, referring to her California hometown, ‘I’m realizing that I’ve been trying so hard my whole life to blend in, because I knew I was different. And then I just remember hearing people yelling ”Black Lives Matter!”’

Tayshia was biracial, being Black and Mexican, while Ivan was Black and Filipino.

She smiled sadly at him, saying, ‘I don’t know why I’m even crying. It’s just a lot… this conversation is hitting me a lot more than I even though and I didn’t want to cry about it, but… hearing people yell ”Black Lives Matter,” it hit me more than I realize because those are people in my backyard that I’ve been trying to prove for so long that I’m the same as them.’

Tayshia had gone to a nearly all-white school, as had Ivan, who revealed that some classmates called him the ‘N-word.’

The season 16 mid-season replacement said the BLM movement uplifted her and inspired her to put things into perspective.

‘It’s so crazy that I really like you so much and I feel confident in saying that,’ Ivan told her. ‘We’re both biracial, have Black dads, and we have this beautiful love story developing. This is so big. It’s giving me the chills, honestly.’

‘I’ve never had this before,’ Tayshia said. ‘Someone that looks like me. And 2020 made that happen, I feel like. It’s just opened my eyes to ”What the hell are you doing? Wake up!”

She thanked Ivan for being so vulnerable with her as she gave him the date rose, explaining, ‘I really haven’t been able to just talk to someone that really understands me.’

Ivan had won an evening with Tayshia after penning a love song for her on a group date with six suitors.

He looked into her eyes as he read his lyrics, saying, ‘There were 31 guys when this all started; couple weeks later, the Bachelorette departed. Couple nights later, Tayshia walked through the door; she was looking like an angel, my jaw dropped to the floor…I can see it now, we can have a beautiful life. You’re smart, sexy and passionate, and I can see you as my wife.’

Tayshia picked Ivan as the winner, even though the ‘shy’ aeronautical engineer was not her usual type.

That night in her suite, the fun-loving duo ordered room service, played ‘The Floor Is Lava’ on the furniture, competed at Twister, went lawn bowling and had pillow fights.

‘It’s so fun, it’s like a new feeling almost,’ Ivan said in a confessional. ‘We can just enjoy each other, no one else around, have the time of our life. That’s what love is.’

The pair sat side-by-side as they ate dinner and drank wine, discussing their families.

Ivan said he’d spent this life trying to set a good example for his younger brother Gabe, but he still ended up with substance abuse issues and a four-year stint in prison.

He choked up thinking about how Gabe missed his daughter’s first two birthdays, but vowed to stand by him, saying that his brother was ‘the best thing that ever happened to me.’

Gabe had been beaten by correctional officers in prison, and Ivan told Tayshia that while police brutality was in the spotlight after the death of George Floyd, it was ‘wilder in prison.’

‘My first question was, ”Well, Gabe, what did you do?”,’ Ivan recalled. ‘But it doesn’t matter. No matter what George Floyd did either way, or what my brother did, these people have a job to do and they need to do it right. They can’t just be hurting people for no reason.’

Tayshia struggled to articulate the deep feeling that welled up inside her when the Black Lives Matter movement was mentioned to her, and she wept.

‘The way that the world is right now is, it’s a lot,’ she said. ‘It’s overwhelming and sometimes I feel like it affects me…’

‘More than you even know sometimes,’ Ivan guessed, as Tayshia apologized for getting upset.

‘I don’t know why it’s tough,’ she went on, her eyes wet. ‘It hurts a lot.’

In private, Ivan said, ‘Being Black, especially in this climate, there are things she’s struggling with internally that I can tell she’s really hesitant to say, and I want Tayshia to trust and feel comfortable to share whatever she has gone through in her life.’

A second group date found six guys participating in weird challenges for Tayshia.

She was aided by season 14 star of The Bachelorette Becca Kufrin, 30, and Bachelor franchise star Sidney Lotuaco, 28.

The men had to drink smoothies with cow intestines, have show host Chris Harrison, 49, autograph their buttocks, fake an orgasm, and eat a habanero pepper before ‘proposing.’

Bennett Jordan, 36, who’d been engaged before, was moved by his own proposal, calling his connection to Tayshia ‘exhilarating.’

Tayshia slipped into a hot tub with Zac Clark, 36, and spoke to him about his marriage fears, making out with him and giving him the date rose.

Ahead of the episode’s rose ceremony, two suitors grew nervous: Ben Hall, 30, and Ed Waisbrot, 36, both of whom marched to Tayshia’s suite to make their romantic case.

Ed accidentally ended up at Chris’ room at 2:30 a.m. and had an awkward glass of wine with him; Ben found Tayshia’s suite on the other side of the resort and was welcomed inside.

Ben apologized for being too passive on his last group date with Tayshia, and he promised to be the ‘first one that grabs your hand tomorrow and every other time I’m able to.’

‘I will forgive you,’ Tayshia said, as they kissed. ‘I can tell that you really mean it.’

Ben sent room service to her suite with champagne and strawberries, which impressed her.

At the rose ceremony the next day, he immediately took her aside and kissed her, vowing to keep ‘showing up’ for Tayshia.

‘He says all the right things, and he looks at me like I’m the only woman in the world,’ Tayshia marveled. 

Noah Erb, 25, then took her aside and things went south.

He told Tayshia that other men had accused her of stirring the pot by giving him a rose after he barged in on a group date.

Noah added that he’d been bothered by the implication that Tayshia was not taking the show seriously, offering, ‘It has been frustrating seeing them discredit your thought process.’

Tayshia had been making a solid effort to know them all and was furious.

‘Since the day that I got here, I’ve made it very clear that I’m going to be very intentional with what I do,’ she told the men. ‘I’m going to be my honest and true self, and be vulnerable. So if you guys think I am trying to start drama in the house for no reason, because I simply have a connection with some people, y’all need to grow up. I am a grown woman and I can make decisions based off of what I want to do. And if you’re going to be questioning me, I’ll gladly walk you outside.’

The Bachelorette then stomped off, canceling the evening’s cocktail party.

Aggravated, the men denied that they had ever told Noah anything like what he’d told Tayshia.

In a confessional, Tayshia insisted, ‘I came here for an honest relationship. So it does hurt to know these guys are questioning my integrity. No one’s ever questioned my integrity or my character, ever. Now I’m actually pissed off.’

After Tayshia spoke to the men, Noah admitted what he’d said, and there was an uproar, which he made worse by insinuating he’d tried to talk to the men about it.

‘Noah, can you imagine having an argument with a 14-year-old?’ Bennett asked him. ‘That’s how I feel right now.’

When Tayshia returned, she stared stonily at everyone before distributing roses and bidding goodbye to Joe Park, 36; Chasen Nick, 31; Kenny Braasch, 39; and Jordan Chapman, 26.

Noah made it through but suffered silently, aware that he was the group’s new target.

‘I don’t think I’ve done a single thing that’s warranted them acting like I’m their enemy,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to be the villain in this. But I’m not changing. If anything, I’m going to take it up a notch.’

The Bachelorette will return next week on ABC.

 

 

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