The Bachelorette contestant Hunter Montgomery has spoken out about the way he was portrayed in the most recent episode of the reality dating series.
Throughout the show’s July 5 episode, Hunter was portrayed as manipulative and conniving, using his children as a way to get closer to Katie’s heart.
Hunter was painted as aggressive during a game called “The Bachelorette’s Bash Ball Battle.” This was a made-up hybrid of basketball, soccer, dodgeball, and football. He emerged as ultra-competitive during the game and his actions escalated the intensity of the team. Due to this turn of events, Michael Allio was a casualty of the behavior and was injured.
Hunter’s aggression seemed to carry over into the evening date, where he made the most of his time with Katie and received the evening’s date rose.
He then went on to steal Katie away from the other contestants during a group date and left the other contestants angered over what they felt were his dishonest intentions.
“I’m setting myself apart for sure,” Hunter said in a confessional during the episode. “My goal is for her to forget about these other relationships and for these guys to come back to the house with their tail between their legs.”
Hunter dealt with blowback from The Bachelorette viewers
After the episode aired, Hunter dealt with blowback from The Bachelorette viewers who spoke out about his actions by leaving the reality star negative Instagram messages, commentary, and tweets.
On July 6, he took to Instagram to post the video below and explain his side of the story.
In a caption that accompanied the video, Hunter wrote that he did not need to address the hate but he had to address the support.
“For my followers that watch the show, obviously last night was miserable the way I was portrayed. I woke up in a really bad place this morning. Welcome to a lot of hate. A lot of hateful DM’s, tweets. But for every one of those, there was one of hope. Those who had a son with the same experience on the Tourette side and saying they knew my true character and things like that. And what I want to say for the people sending those messages, you matter, and thank you seriously, it means a lot,” he said.
Hunter also spoke out on his Instagram story where he said that his snorting and sniffling are due to Tourettes, which he has had his entire life. It was shared in a Reddit thread dedicated to the show seen below.
Katie shared her own supportive comments toward Hunter
Katie shared her own supportive comment regarding the way Hunter was portrayed on the show’s most recent episode.
She revealed to fans in a tweet seen below that Hunter has Tourette’s syndrome, a nervous system disorder where a person makes unwanted sounds or has ticks such as repeatedly blinking their eyes, shrugging shoulders, or blurting out offensive words.
Katie has made it very clear throughout the season that she will not tolerate unkind behavior from either her suitors or the show’s viewers, no matter what the reason.
Hunter has been very open about his past, including his struggles with addiction.
In an Instagram post, he wrote that he was 14 years sober from an addiction to opiates and shared he was “as hopeless and tortured as they come.”
He leaned on his faith, a recovery program, and a stellar support system to become sober.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.