The Bachelorette: Men Tell All "FP" Social Media Controversy, Explained

You can always count on The Bachelorette: Men Tell All to dig into all the season’s juicy drama. But in the case of Charity Lawson’s Aug. 14 special, the men discussed a controversy you probably never even heard of — because it all unfolded after filming. So, what is “FP” aka “F*ck Peter” about on The Bachelorette: Men Tell All?

To recap: Peter Cappio was eliminated on the first night of Charity’s Bachelorette season. That usually isn’t enough time to get involved in any drama, but the 33-year-old pilot (yes, another Pilot Pete!) seems to have made a big impression on his fellow suitors anyway. As Peter explained during Men Tell All, he learned during a post-production Zoom call that about 15 of the guys (more than half of the cast) had put the initials “FP” in the captions of their cast announcement posts. “Brayden [Bowers] was actually man enough to come to me and tell me what it meant,” Peter continued. “And what it meant was ‘F*ck Peter.’”

Jesse Palmer shared screenshot receipts of a few of the men who participated: including Brayden, Sean McLaughlin, and Aaron Bryant. Xavier Bonner also owned up to the “inside joke,” but he acknowledged it was a “bad play” before apologizing to Peter.

Peter said the secret social campaign made him “pretty upset.” He didn’t understand the motive behind it, either: “I didn’t know any of these guys,” he continued. “I met them for two minutes, maybe some five minutes. And to have people put this online for the world to see really affected me.”

So, why the cyberbullying? Several of the men tried to explain their reasoning. Caleb Balgaard claimed Peter basically “said “F*ck you” to every single dude that tried to speak to [him]” on Night 1. John Buresh said Peter was obsessed with camera angles his first (and only) night at the mansion and asked him who he thought was there for the wrong reasons. “And I’m like, I don’t know, you maybe?” John recalled.

Aaron Schwartzman claimed that Peter was talking about endorsement deals and making t-shirts after filming — however, Peter denied making any shirts about his Bachelorette experience. “I don’t believe I ever said that,” he added.

While Men Tell All didn’t reveal everyone who posted “FP” on their Instagram accounts, the ones who did seem to have removed the initials from their captions and now those posts sport an “edited” label. Several other contestants also edited their announcement posts — though of course, you can’t be 100% sure if that means they participated in “FP,” or edited for a different reason. Either way, several contestants didn’t post “FP” or edit their announcement posts at all, seemingly proving they didn’t get caught up in the drama.