Top 10 Greatest Rivalries of The Bachelor Franchise

When you are a contestant on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and/or Bachelor in Paradise (BIP), the only time you are allowed to leave the house or hotel is when you are on a date. That means you are stuck in the house all day with the rest of the contestants without any cell-phones, TVs, news, and communication to the outside world. Whether one is on a date or not, there is bound to be tons of drama between contestants. Between the 23 seasons of The Bachelor, 15 seasons of The Bachelorette, and the 5 (the sixth season is set to premiere in August) of BIP, there have been plenty of tears, fights, and drama.

With that being said, these are the Top 10 greatest rivalries in the history of The Bachelor Franchise:

10. Courtney Robertson vs. Emily O’Brien:

The only thing that people will remember from Ben Flajnik’s season of The Bachelor is that he proposed to the villain, Courtney Robertson. Famously stating, that she wasn’t here to make friends, Courtney rubbed all of the other girls in the house, especially Emily. During Week 4, when Courtney found out that Emily warned Ben F. about how she believed Courtney wasn’t here for the right reasons, she was angry and threatened to hurt her rival in a confessional. She even taunted Emily by saying, “Winning, I got a rose, and you don’t” (Courtney received the group date rose prior to the cocktail party that week). The following week, when Emily apologized, Courtney refused to accept it. The two continued to be at odds with each other until Emily got eliminated at just before hometowns, finishing in fifth-sixth place overall while Courtney won Ben’s heart (although the two broke off their engagement in October 2012). In an interview after her elimination aired, Emily later expressed how happy she was to dodge a bullet as she started to lose all respect for the bachelor based on the decisions he had been making.

9. Clare Crawley vs. Ashlee Frazier:

While Clare (the runner up of Juan Pablo’s Season) and Ashlee (the third-place finisher of Sean’s Season) were not on the same season of The Bachelor, the two butted heads from the first day on Season 1 of BIP. The feud between the two started when Clare got the first date card of the season and wanted to ask Graham Bunn (DeAnna’s Season and Bachelor Pad Season 2) out on the date. However, Ashlee threw a hissy fit as she claimed ‘dibs’ on Graham before the date card even arrived. Clare got annoyed and vented (in one the franchise’s most iconic moments) her frustrations out to a raccoon. Although Clare formed a bond with Zak Kalter (Desiree’s Season), things were far from over between Ashlee and Clare.

During Week 4, thinking that there were no cameras around, Ashlee slut-shammed Clare for getting intimate with Juan Pablo in the ocean (during Juan Pablo’s season) in a private conversation to Zak. She did this in an effort to warn him about Clare’s morals and character. However, a hidden camera captured the entire ‘private’ conversation and when Clare found out about what Ashlee said, all hell broke out and it led to Clare eventually leaving the show when she felt that Zak didn’t do anything to defend her.

8. Hannah Brown vs. Caelynn Miller-Keyes:

Except for BIP, it is very rare for a pair of contestants on either The Bachelor or The Bachelorette to know each other before filming. That wasn’t the case for Hannah B. and Caelynn. Prior to competing on Colton’s season of The Bachelor, the two were friends via the pageant circuit and were roommates when they competed at Miss USA 2018 (Hannah B. as Miss Alabama USA and Caelynn as Miss North Carolina USA). The pageant was where the two had a falling out after Caelynn finished second overall while Hannah B. failed to place. While on The Bachelor Season 23, their history caused a bit of early drama in the house until the two agreed to put their differences aside for the rest of filming after a private conversation between the two in Week 4. To read more about their feud at Miss USA, click here.

7. Chad Johnson vs. Everyone on Jojo’s Season:

Where to begin with Chad Johnson, the villain and cold cuts eating machine of Jojo’s season. Although he was eliminated in Week 4 on a two-on-one date, he managed to rub every guy in the house the wrong way. With him, it’s hard to even tell who he feuded the most with. He ripped Evan’s shirt and threatened to go and find eventual winner Jordan when filming was over. He also antagonized several of his housemates while the show was airing too by briefly dating Grant’s and eventual runner-up Robby’s ex-girlfriends and posting photos of himself making out with each of his rivals’ ex-girlfriends. Watch the clip below to see how he antagonized the rest of Jojo’s suitors.

6. Jordan Kimball vs David Ravitz:

The male model and the venture capitalist (who famously arrived at the mansion night one in a chicken costume) couldn’t stand each other when they were on Becca’s season in 2018. The beef started between the two started during the first group date of Week 3 when Jordan claimed to have received 4000 Tinder matches in one year, a comment that pissed David off. David then went to Becca to vent his frustration over how Jordan wasn’t taken the competition seriously and the other guys on the date expressed some concerns too. This lead to a verbal confrontation between the two and eventually both got sent home by Becca during a two-on-one date in Week 5.

Both competed on BIP Season 5 in the summer of the same year and got into a love triangle with late arrival Jenna Cooper (Arie’s season) in Week 2. It also happened to be Jenna’s birthday during Week 2 and when David brought Jenna a cake and a giant stuffed teddy bear, Jordan got so angry that he smashed the cake into the sand and threw the bear into the ocean.

5. Taylor Nolan vs. Corinne Olympios:

Both Taylor and Corinne (the villain) couldn’t stand each other while competing on Nick’s season of The Bachelor. The feud between the two women sparked during Week 2 when Corinne slept through a rose ceremony and during Week 3 when she and Nick got intimate in a bouncy castle. Things escalated during the fifth episode of The Bachelor Season 21 when the two’s conversation turned into an argument when Taylor famously told Corinne that she lacked emotional intelligence and Corinne called Taylor a bully for not saying ‘hi’ to people in the morning. Both were put on the two-on-one during Week 5 in New Orleans and Taylor ended up getting sent home while Corinne got the rose and eventually was eliminated after hometowns (fourth overall). Things only got uglier during The Women Tell All.

4. Lee Garrett vs. Kenny Layne:

As the franchise’s first-ever black lead, season 13 Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay’s suitors were the most diverse ever. Despite this, suitor Lee Garrett (who is white) solidified his status as that season’s villain on and off the screen. On-screen, Lee butted heads frequently with fellow contestant Kenny Layne (who is black). Kenny claimed that Lee called him aggressive, a comment that offended some of the men of color in the house. The feud between the two further escalated when the two were put on the two-on-one date and Lee continued to lie and claimed that Kenny grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him out of the van. This caused Rachel to send Lee packing. Off-screen, Lee caused controversy when some of his past racist tweets surfaced during the airing of the show and led to everyone confronting him at The Men Tell All.

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3. Luke Parker vs. Garrett Powell:

Although this rivalry is from the most recent season of The Bachelorette, the feud between Luke P. and Garrett is ranked at #3 on this list because, in years to come, their rivalry will still be ranked highly amongst the greatest feuds in the history of The Bachelor Franchise.

The villain of Hannah B.’s season, Luke P. got into fights with almost every guy in the house, but the one person he got into it the most with was Garrett. While the two got into some arguments throughout the show, the beef between the two suitors really heated up after Luke P. went crazy after finding out that Garrett and Hannah B. went naked bungee jumping during the latter’s one-on-one date during Week 6. Luke P. slut-shammed Hannah B. for getting naked with another guy that wasn’t him and when Garrett found out, it only sparked another fight not just between them, but the other guys as well (mostly since they had enough with Luke P). The rivalry further escalated during the final group date in Week 7 when the duo was fighting for the last rose and to take Hannah B. to meet their families. Luke P. got all up in Garrett’s face saying that he wasn’t going to destroy everything he had with the bachelorette before dumping a pile of bologna on the latter. This lead Garrett to playing mind games (which will rank highly among the franchise’s most memorable moments ever) with the villain as he winked at him, cut holes into the bologna and put the meat over his eyes, and even asked Luke P. if the reason why he (Luke P.) was licking his lips was due to being attracted to him. Hannah gave Luke P. the final rose, eliminating Garrett in fifth place.

2. Arie Luyendyk Jr. vs. Jef Holm:

What makes this rivalry unique and rank higher compared to the others (except for #1) is that all of the fighting wasn’t captured on camera for viewers to see! Arie and Jef competed on Emily Maynard’s season of The Bachelorette and viewers saw the two men forming a tight friendship. Despite both making the final two and Emily picking Jef and breaking Arie’s heart, Jef’s and Arie’s friendship didn’t suffer and it continued to last (even after Emily and Jef called off their engagement in October 2012). Many assumed this friendship would last forever but we were wrong based on Jef’s reaction when Arie was named The Bachelor of season 22 in September 2017.

Jef basically threw shade at Arie in a series of tweets, stating that they weren’t friends anymore. While promoting his season of The Bachelor, Arie confirmed in an interview that their friendship ended after the two had a falling out at Season 17 Bachelor Sean Lowe’s (who finished third behind Jef and Arie on Emily’s season) wedding in January 2014. During the season premiere of Arie’s season, Jef tweeted that he would give money to a charity of Arie stayed with someone from the show for at least a year. Although Arie ended up dumping his winner (Becca K.) for the runner up (Lauren B.), he responded to his former friend’s tweet a year later (and ten days before his wedding to Lauren B.) and his response had Bachelor Nation buzzing.

1. Nick Viall vs. Josh Murray:

The duo was both on Andi Dorfman’s season of The Bachelorette and BIP Season 3. Throughout Season 10 of The Bachelorette in 2014, we didn’t see Nick and Josh be neither openly friendly and/or hostile with each other. It was when both of them made the final two that things sparked. Andi ended up accepting Josh’s proposal and breaking Nick’s heart. The animosity began during the After the Final Rose Special when Nick controversially revealed on live TV that he and Andi slept together during their overnight date. Although Andi and Josh would end up calling off their engagement in January 2015, Josh was not happy with Nick’s comments towards his then-fiancee.

Flash forward to summer 2016 for BIP Season 3, when Josh joined the cast in Week 2 as a late arrival. Nick (part of the original cast), had already formed a connection with Amanda Stanton (Ben Higgins’s season). When Josh arrived, he caused drama by asking Amanda out on a date and he and Amanda formed a connection stronger than that of Nick’s and Amanda’s. Josh’s and Nick’s rivalry caused major drama throughout the season, in addition to Andi’s (who didn’t appear on the summer spinoff) newly released memoir, where she implied that Josh emotionally abused her.