This season of The Bachelorette has been full of villains. Onscreen, that title has been given to Luke P., but recent news about Jed Wyatt's alleged relationship while filming The Bachelorette have taken center stage and caused fans to turn on him as well. Now, The Bachelor's Colton Underwood has some advice for Jed Wyatt after The Bachelorette, and it's not pretty. In fact, he thinks that Jed should just "go away" from the spotlight once The Bachelorette comes to a close. And he might have a point.
While at the ESPY's on July 10, Colton spoke with Entertainment Tonight about Jed, and though he didn't comment on the veracity of Jed's alleged relationship status pre-Bachelorette, he did say that he saw Jed's hometown date, which aired on July 8, as a major red flag. "I think if there is any doubt about the whole conspiracy theory in the drama going on with Jed, it was put to rest and sort of confirmed just with that hometown [date], because you could see something wasn't really right, or [his family was] sort of biting their lips for some things," Colton said. "It was a little fishy. It was a little off, a little awkward."
Colton's assessment that things were "a little awkward" is definitely an understatement. During the hometown visit, Jed's mom insinuated that Hannah Brown's feelings for Wyatt weren't genuine, and both his mother and his sister basically admitted that he wasn't ready for an engagement because of his career. It's all eerily familiar, as Jed himself admitted he originally auditioned for the show to boost his music career.
It's not clear whether the family's actions were influenced by the allegations from Nashville musician Haley Stevens that Jed was dating her up until he left for the show, but it's possible. In addition to claiming that she and Jed were still an item when he left for The Bachelorette, Stevens also claimed that Jed was only going on the show for his 15 minutes of fame. “He told me [the show] was just an obstacle and we’d be stronger on the other side because of it," Stevens told People in mid-June.
With Stevens' story and Jed's disastrous hometown date, Colton is very much over the contestant. "He shouldn't come back from this. He should just sort of go away," Colton told ET. "Being in the position Hannah's been in before, you sort of have these blinders on, and you're sort of dialed in and focused on the relationship, and you don't take in sort of the cues that sometimes you should in regular relationships, or the red flags." That could definitely explain why Hannah has kept Jed on for so long.
Jed addressed the situation on Monday, July 8, with a vague Instagram post, asking for fans to be kinder to his loved ones. "It goes beyond what is said online. Threatening letters and phone calls have been sent to our homes," he wrote. "I beg you to remember what seems like a harmless action is damaging to real people." He couldn't say much about the details of his reported relationship with Stevens or his relationship with Hannah, as the season is still ongoing, but his message was clear.
Based on Colton's piece of tough love, it sounds like the only way Jed is going to get the peace he wants might just be to "go away." If, that is, Hannah is willing to let him go.
