The Bachelorette viewers were so disheartened by the actions of contestant Karl Smith during the second episode of The Bachelorette that they took to Twitter to call him out for starting unnecessary drama between the men and series lead Katie Thurston.
Throughout the episode, fans felt that Karl had something up his sleeve. This became apparent when he was able to secure some one-on-one time with Katie and let her know some unfounded information about her potential suitors.
Karl’s motivations for joining the show have come into question after he was seen in a trailer for this season where he claimed in a sit down with producers, in the quest for Katie’s heart, “I didn’t come her for the bromance I came here for the followers.”
His intentions to get Katie’s attention came early on in the episode when he was upset he didn’t take home the trophy after a contest where the men proved to Katie why they were the best lover. Mike (the virgin) won that. Karl later vowed to win a group date rose but was edged out by Thomas.
At a cocktail party later in the episode, Katie asked the men to let her know if there was something going on in the house she should know about.
This gave Karl the opportunity to speculate to Katie that there were men on the series that did not have the best intentions for being there, stirring up the pot for drama.
Katie flipped out
During his time with Katie, Karl told her that there were men there who were not on the show for the right reasons.
When pressed by the brunette beauty for more information, Karl could not present any.
After their talk, Katie approached her suitors and asked them if they were there for her, as she had time and again made her intentions from what she wanted from The Bachelorette process crystal clear, using several expletives before leaving the room upset.
Karl later admitted to his castmates that he told Katie to stay vigilant, but still declined to name anyone he had warned her about because he wanted to give the people a chance to come forward.
The men were angered by Karl’s deceptive move and told him so, believing he was not on the show with the best intentions either. The episode ended without a rose ceremony.
Fans reacted to the drama
Viewers reacted to The Bachelorette drama Karl incited on Twitter.
One fan used a photo depicting the cartoon cat Tom from Tom and Jerry to illustrate their statement which quoted Karl in a moment from the show where he spoke to Katie about the other contestants as seen below.
“Karl is the Victoria of this season,” wrote a second viewer, who likened Karl to the actions of Bachelor “mean girl” Victoria from Matt James season.
A third Twitter user a meme featuring Jane Lynch from Glee which alluded to his intentions to create a toxic environment during the rose ceremony.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.