Entertainment

Connor S. Opened Up About Why Luke P. Doesn't Belong On 'The Bachelorette'

Ed Herrera/ABC

Unless you've been hiding under a rock all season, you know that Hannah B.'s experience on The Bachelorette has been riddled with drama, mostly at the hand of contestant Luke Parker. In fact, he's created such a stir that one could argue that the episodes have become more about him than about Hannah. And according to Connor Saeli's recent remarks about Luke P., that toxic behavior prevented Hannah from being able to culminate strong connections and relationships with the rest of the guys.

Connor, who was eliminated during Monday night's episode, appeared on PeopleTV’s Reality Check and opened up about this season's big bad villain. But while it would be easy (and somewhat understandable) for Connor to completely attack Luke's character, his comments indicate that he just doesn't think a reality dating show was the healthiest setting for Luke to be in. “I don’t think Luke’s a bad person but I don’t think him being on the show was the right environment for him,” Connor explained. “Obviously emotions are heightened, and I just think the way he acted wasn’t necessarily the right thing to do in certain situations.”

Considering that Hannah ended up canceling not one, not two, but three cocktail parties due to Luke's stressful behavior, that definitely feels like an understatement.

What really frustrated Connor the most, though, was that all the drama Luke instigated ate up time he himself could've been spending with Hannah. “So much of the conversation, the whole season, was about him. It was very frustrating for all of us,” Connor stated. “It definitely affected Hannah’s ability to focus on some of the other relationships.”

Before sending him home, Hannah admitted to Connor that she felt their connection wasn't strong enough for her to meet his family during hometowns. And while he doesn't deny that there was some truth to that statement, it's hard for him not to point some of the blame in Luke's direction for dominating so much of her time throughout the majority of the season. “I don’t think [Hannah] was actually able to get to know us as well as she probably would have hoped to,” Connor revealed. “So much attention was focused on Luke.”

Of course, it's impossible to know whether Luke truly played a part in Connor's elimination. It's possible Hannah could've established a stronger relationship with him had Luke not been in the picture, but at the end of the day it's really anyone's guess. For whatever reason, Hannah feels an undeniable pull toward Luke, though the promos seem to indicate that their relationship will be coming to a close sooner rather than later.

Given everything that's happened, Connor simply hopes that Luke P. has learned a few valuable lessons from the whole experience and will be able to walk away from this whole thing changed for the better. “The guy just has some character flaws that came out during the show,” Connor added. “It’s unfortunate but I hope he uses this as a learning experience.”

One can only hope that will be the case.