On the latest episode of The Bachelorette, Aaron Erb said goodbye to Jenn Tran.
Prior to his departure, Aaron kicked up a lot of drama with the men.
Specifically, he had a lot to say to and about Devin Strader.
He even gifted Devin with a self-help book, which had The Bachelorette viewers comparing the scene to an earlier season when Bennett Jordan gifted his twin brother, Noah Erb, with a similar type of book.
Clearly, Aaron wasn’t afraid to speak his mind to Jenn, either.
On his way out, he told Jenn that some of the men aren’t there “for the right reasons,” a worn-out Bachelor Nation trope.
He wouldn’t name names, though, and that made Jenn mad. But it didn’t stop her from suspecting that some of the remaining men likely weren’t there for the right reasons.
It is a reality TV show where social media fame and the possibility of appearing on spinoffs are at stake, after all.
But with Aaron’s abrupt exit came chatter that the show is “staged,” and that didn’t sit well with Aaron who didn’t remain silent after leaving the show.
Aaron Erb sets out to prove The Bachelorette is not staged
As he explained on Episode 3 of The Bachelorette, Aaron said goodbye to Jenn because the Air Force came calling.
It turns out that he’s been waiting to get into pilot training, and that opportunity finally came up for him. He was forced between sticking around for Jenn and possibly not winning her over anyway and heading off early to pilot training.
He chose pilot training.
After hearing the chatter about the show being staged, he chose to use this exit as proof that it’s not. In the caption of an Instagram photo, he wrote, “for the ‘wow the show is so scripted’ crowd… Phase 1 of the plan is in motion. Introducing for the first time 2nd Lt Erb 🫡 Next stop Air Force pilot training.”
Aaron Erb got it wrong
The thing is, The Bachelorette viewers’ talk of the show being “staged” or “scripted” had nothing to do with his exit.
In fact, at least this viewer was happy to see him go and wished him well on that pilot journey.
Viewers think the show is staged because of that scene with Devin Strader, in which Aaron gifts him a self-help book and tells him he wants to see him win.
They were quick to spot a typo on the spine of the book, which made it look like it wasn’t a real published book at all. What made matters worse is that when you search online for the name and author of the book, nothing comes up. Weird, right?
So far, Aaron addressed his departure for flight training and made sure we knew that was real, but he made no mention of the origins of that book or whether he was put up to the task of gifting it to Devin.
The Bachelorette airs on Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.