The Bachelor Season 26 live finale kicked off on Monday night, and along with providing lots of drama and tears, it also featured familiar faces within Bachelor Nation.
One of the more unexpected Bachelor Nations stars to join the live panel was The Bachelor Season 23 star Cassie Randolph.
Cassie received Colton Underwood’s final rose during his season of The Bachelor, but their relationship took a dark turn away from cameras and even resulted in Cassie filing a restraining order against Colton. Since then, Cassie appeared to be less involved with the franchise.
With such a troublesome history between Cassie and Colton, The Bachelor viewers were surprised to see Cassie return to the franchise this year and even address her past with Colton.
The Bachelor viewers react to Cassie Randolph’s finale appearance
During the live panel on Monday night’s finale episode, Cassie was a special guest and admitted that she had deja vu watching Clayton’s journey play out.
Cassie was asked about her perspective, and viewers felt it was a bit insensitive for Cassie to have to relive her relationship with Colton Underwood after he allegedly harassed her and her family.
Fans took to social media to share their reactions to the awkward moment.
One viewer wrote, “The radio silence in the studio when Cassie mentioned Colton.”
Another tweet read, “The producers hearing Cassie talk about how they pressured her into coming back for Colton after they invited her back.”
A viewer was surprised the show even addressed Cassie and Colton, writing, “Cassie and Colton in the same sentence? WHAT IS HAPPENING.”
One fan had a sarcastic response to how host Jesse Palmer addressed Cassie and Colton’s past, tweeting, “‘Cassie, you have a different perspective.’ YOU THINK??”
Another fan brought up the elephant in the room about Colton allegedly stalking Cassie. The fan wrote, “‘You have an interesting experience because of Colton’ ‘You mean when he stalked me.’”
The Bachelor viewers think Clayton Echard is ‘Colton 2.0’
Clayton already drew comparisons to Colton Underwood at the start of his season due to their similar look and background.
Now viewers have expressed concern that Clayton’s season ends similarly to Colton Underwood’s season as well.
A fan wrote, “Not them asking Cassie about Clayton [pursuing] Susie after Susie said no too. The people really don’t want a Colton 2.0.”
Another tweet read, “Cassie having Colton flashbacks.”
One fan expressed, “Clayton really is Colton 2.0, they even brought on Cassie to prove that.”
Time will tell if Cassie continues to be more involved with The Bachelor franchise after her recent finale appearance.
The Bachelor is currently on hiatus on ABC.