Both 'Bachelorette' Guys Aren't Right For Kaitlyn

I have nothing against Shawn as a person; I have nothing against Nick (that I can prove). Both are probably good guys who made the odd decision to go on a TV show and date the same woman as 25 other men — and Nick made the decision to go on The Bachelorette twice — while assuming that they had the emotional strength to handle it. In Shawn's case, he really seems like he did not; in Nick's case... well, Nick is one big question mark. But, these are the two guys that Kaitlyn, who has had one hell of a season, has ended up with. If she's going to get engaged, it's going to be to one of these two men... And she probably shouldn't. I think Kaitlyn should reject both Bachelorette contestants.

She has already had enough people question her judgment — namely, the two guys she's moments away from letting slip a Neil Lane princess-cut on her left hand — and I don't want to pile on to the list, but if Kaitlyn was a friend of mine, I would definitely be advising her to think long and hard about the relationships she's built with Nick and Shawn (or beg another friend to talk to her about it instead because, man, who is trying to have that conversation?). They have both been tumultuous at best, and history shows that relationships built on The Bachelor/ette don't get any easier to maintain when couples have to go from the Final Rose to hiding their relationship from the public until the finale airs, to being under a microscope once it does.

But, honestly, Kaitlyn's two remaining men have been acting like children of late. Shawn and Nick have bickered and whined and let their distrust of each other taint their individual relationships with Kaitlyn.

Shawn is certainly more guilty of focusing too much energy and valuable time with Kaitlyn on his feud with Nick than "the other guy" is... or, at least, that was the case at first. In the last few weeks, however, Nick has come around on bashing Shawn to Kaitlyn and confronting Shawn with his thoughts on his distaste for him. His apparent glee at cornering Shawn after his Fantasy Suite date with Kaitlyn on the penultimate episode makes his intentions on the show all the more suspect.

Kaitlyn and Nick's attraction to each other is clear, and he's wooed her despite everyone else's distrust of him just as he did on Andi's season; but that the entire relationship is built on a question of why Nick didn't reach out to Kaitlyn sooner, and why he felt the need to do it on television, and that is no foundation for a lasting relationship. Getting together off-camera might have been one thing, but if no one else trusts Nick, will Kaitlyn ever really be able to? No couple is an island.

Shawn's intentions, on the other hand, have always been clear: He is just really into Kaitlyn. But, their mutual attraction happened so fast, they fell so hard, and Kaitlyn was so open about her feelings, even while dating a lot of other men, that Shawn's heart seems to have moved a lot faster than his head. He seems to have some sort of disconnect in fully being able to trust her. He constantly questions her judgment with the Nick situation to the point where he and Kaitlyn had to decide to pump the breaks before they'd even made it off the show. Their relationship has fared better in recent weeks, and no, The Bachelor(ette) is not the ideal setting to build trust, but if you don't build it here, you certainly won't build it when tabloids are looking for any story to publish about you (and, oh yes, Shawn, Nick will definitely still be in the mix even after the show is over).

The bottom line is that it doesn't get any easier to make these relationships last once the cameras are off, and if both relationships are already flying way too light on trust, and heavy on anger, Kaitlyn ought to give it a nice long balcony contemplation scene before she considers accepting either proposal (and the same goes for the guys offering). No Bachelorette has rejected both guys before, but Kaitlyn definitely should.

Images: ABC/Rick Rowell (3); ABC (2); giphy