Zach Explains Why He Didn’t Get Involved In Anastasia & Kylee's Bachelor Feud

Though Brianna Thorbourne and Christina Mandrell’s conflict dominated the last few episodes of Zach Shallcross’ Bachelor season, a new rivalry emerged on Feb. 13: Anastasia Keramidas and Kylee Russell. During a fish fry group date in the Bahamas, Zach and Anastasia were having a private moment on the beach when Kylee approached to steal Zach. Anastasia resisted, though, asking if she could “have a couple more minutes.”

“Please, just let me have him,” Kylee said. “I don’t like to fight.”

She was nervously laughing during the awkward encounter, but Anastasia later told her fellow Bachelor contestants that Kylee’s comment scared her. “I felt like I was attacked, to be honest,” she said, seemingly implying that Kylee was threatening an actual fight.

The other women on the date defended Kylee — as Gabi Elnicki put it, “It was bizarre to hear that, because Kylee’s not given any indication she would physically harm any of us.” However, for extra assurance that she was safe, Kylee decided to talk to Zach about the misunderstanding. She also brought up “hearsay” that Anastasia was talking about growing her Instagram following by being on the show. While Anastasia told Zach her words about social media were twisted, it was too late, and Zach ultimately showed her out.

Naturally, many of the best memes and tweets from the evening revolved around Anastasia’s overblown reaction to Kylee’s words.

While Anastasia and Kylee’s drama was the star of the show, many fans had just as much fun reacting to Zach being caught up in the middle of it all.

The Bachelor himself actually weighed in on his behavior after the show, telling Entertainment Weekly why he didn’t get involved at the fish fry. “When someone steals you — I don’t know if I can say all of this — but, I’ve gotta keep my mouth shut and let it happen as much as I can,” he said, adding that though “there are times when [he wants] to speak up,” it’s better “for the environment we’re in to have it be handled by the women.”

Several viewers suggested Kylee might have been strategizing to send Anastasia home.

But if she was, well, it wasn’t that different from what Anastasia did — as more fans pointed out.

But Bachelor feuds often spill over onto the beaches of Bachelor in Paradise, and several viewers predicted this won’t be the last we see of Anastasia and Kylee.