21 of 'Bachelor' Nation's Most Notorious Villains

Mar. 16, 2025

Photo: Rick Rowell/ABC

CORRINE, NICK VIALL

While there’s no doubt that over the years many of our favorite contestants on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette would probably agree with that phrase, there are quite a few that seem to have taken it a little too literally. They plotted, schemed, lied and betrayed — and made for some pretty amazing television in the process.

And, if we were really lucky, they then ended up on one of the spin-off shows likeBachelor in ParadiseandBachelor Pad. In the spirit of free-flowing roses, champagne and drama, let’s take a look back at all of the contestants that we loved to hate over the years — and a few we just plain hated.

Luke Parker

ABC/John Fleenor

LUKE P., HANNAH BROWN

Season:The Bachelorette, season 15Moment of Infamy:While Hannah’s season is just a few episodes in, Luke has asserted himself as a potential villain. Viewers were skeptical when he told Hannah he was “starting to fall in love” with her in only the second episode.

Another offense? Being aggressive and controlling of Hannah. The Bachelorette felt “irritated” when he wouldn’t give her space to explore her other relationships. Though she said she felt a strong connection with him, she told him about the red flags she saw during a group date. “You’re not the only relationship that I have a strong connection with and I don’t feel like you’ve respected that even tonight. So I just need you to work harder and fix this.” Time will tell if he’ll listen — or cement his spot on this list.

Cam Ayala

ABC

THE BACHELORETTE

Season:The Bachelorette, season 15Moment of Infamy:Though Cam received Hannah’s first rose of the season during Colton Underwood’sAfter the Final Rose, he quickly started to show his dark side to the men in the mansion. Between crashing a group date he wasn’t invited on and stealing Hannah during serious and sensitive conversations with other guys, Cam was sent home after Hannah thought he was being “scheme-y and slimy.”

Jordan Kimball

Paul Hebert/Getty

ABC’s “The Bachelorette” - Season 14

Season:The Bachelorette, season 14Moment of Infamy:The male model was not shy about telling just about anyone who’d listen that he was … a male model. He garnered criticism when he told the other men he had more than 4,000 Tinder matches and bragging to Bachelorette Becca that he could move “every part” of his face for photos. Jordan was sent home after Becca sweetly told him she didn’t see a future with him, but he left with a smile. “The thing I appreciate most about her is the fact that she stated she’d never met anyone like me,” he said.

Nick Viall

Todd Wawrychuk/ABC/Getty

Image

Season:The Bachelorette, season 10Moment of Infamy:Before he becameThe Bachelorhimself, Nick vied for Andi Dorfman’s heart onThe Bachelorette. He went home an empty-handed runner-up, and when he had the chance to ask Andi why she didn’t choose him, he disrespected her privacy in front of, well, millions of viewers. “If you weren’t in love with me, I’m just not sure why you made love with me,” he said. Nick had his chance to redeem himself when he went on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season ofThe Bachelorette,though he was the second-to-last man standing on her season, too.

Corinne Olympios

Rick Rowell/ABC

CORRINE, NICK VIALL

Season:The Bachelor, season 21Moment of Infamy:Only one episode intothe newest season ofThe Bachelor,Corinne Olympios established herself as resident pot-stirrer. The 24-year-old business owner nabbed BachelorNick Viall‘s first kiss of the evening — though she did not grab the first impression rose. In the second episode, Olympios doubled down on her burgeoning villain status, repeatedly telling any contestant who would listen how much she loves kissing Nick and that they’ve been kissinga ton, to the discontent of many of the girls in the house, many of whom she interrupted during their conversations with Nick. She also attracted some ire for taking off her bikini top during her bride-themed photoshoot so that she could “pull a Janet Jackson” and have Nick cradle her bare breasts in his hands from behind.

Chad Johnson

Season:The Bachelorette, season 12Moment of Infamy:In just the first two episodes, he insulted pretty much everyone — including JoJo, whom he called “naggy.” He also threatened violence against quite a few of his fellow castmates. The worst was yet to come: He got a talking-to from host Chris Harrison, who told him that some of the guys were “afraid for their lives.” Yikes.

Juan Pablo Galavis

ABC/Craig Sjodin

JUAN PABLO GALAVIS

Season:

The Bachelor

, season 18Moment of Infamy:We should all really take a moment to admire Juan Pablo: It’s not easy to be the villain of your own season. Still, he did his best, insisting that gay and bisexual men should never be chosen asThe Bachelor(he later apologized for the statement) and reportedly telling runner-up Clare Crawley during her elimination “I love f—ing you, but I don’t know you.” And we were supposed to collectively fall in love with him?

Justin “Rated R” Rego

Season:The Bachelorette, season 6Moment of Infamy:Apparently, Justin misunderstood the premise of the show, because he forgot to tell Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky that he was in a long-term relationship – a fact she found outafterhis girlfriend called to warn her. Oh, yeah, and Justin’s girlfriend added that he had also cheated on her. What a charmer.

Courtney Robertson

Season:The Bachelor, season 16Moment of Infamy:Courtney epitomized that old reality show cliché, “I didn’t come here to make friends.” (She even made it the title of her book!) The model did whatever it took to win Ben Flajnik‘s heart (and the sizableNeil Lane rockthat came along with it), including breaking rules, skinny-dipping and insulting the other contestants, even if it meant getting booed during the live reunion.

JJ Lane

Season:The Bachelorette, season 11Moment of Infamy:One-half of theBrokeback Bachelorbromance (who went on to beBachelor in Paradisecontestant)told Amy Schumerduring a stand-up challenge, “Sometimes, I feel like I’m too smart for, like, 90 percent of the audience.” Her response? “He’s just missing like, charisma and humility and, like, a sense of humor.” Certainly not self-confidence, though!

Kalon McMahon

Season:The Bachelorette, season 8Moment of Infamy:When Kalon referred to Emily Maynard‘s daughter as baggage, Maynard went full-on mama bear and sent him home immediately with a definitive “Get the f— out!” In that moment, she proved that itispossible to prove that you’re a jerk with just one word.

Vienna Girardi

Season:The Bachelor, season 14Moment of Infamy:Jake Pavelka‘s former fiancée spent most of her time on the show antagonizing and taunting the other constants – particularly soon-to-be-Bachelorette Ali – and then attempted to play the victim. Still, it worked in her favor for a little while until the showmancers broke off their engagement when Jake admitted that he couldn’t “trust her.”Ouch.

Michelle Money

Season:The Bachelor, season 5Moment of Infamy:A few of the rumors surrounding Michelle during her time on the show? She was a gold-digger, she was only interested in furthering her acting career and that she had an affair with NBA player Carlos Boozer. But whatreallyrubbed fans the wrong way was her constant scheming, pushiness and aggressive behavior, which resulted in her being sent home after she made a sexy beach photo shoot entirely too close for Brad Womack‘s comfort.

Bentley Williams

Season:The Bachelorette, season 7Moment of Infamy:When it came time for Bentley to tell Ashley Hebert that staying on the show “is not an option for me,” he had only one concern: How his hair would look. As if that weren’t callous enough, he actually bragged to the cameras, “I’m going to make Ashley cry.” (He’s not worthanyone‘s tears.)

Trish Schneider

Rozlyn Papa

Season:The Bachelor, season 14Moment of Infamy:Even though Jake seemed really interested in Rozlyn, she was, well, less interested in him. In fact, she was so uninterested that she was actually caught and booted for having an affair with one of the show’s producers.

Ian Thomson

Season:The Bachelorette, season 11Moment of Infamy:We’ll just lethimexplain – “I’m too deep a thinker, I’m too self-aware. I’m very different than every single other person that’s here. I went to Princeton, Deerfield, and that’s what I have to offer.” And that was just the prelude to his accusations that Kaitlyn Bristowe was shallow and promiscuous, not to mention his super classy and (hypocritical) exit declaration that he “needs some sex.”

Wes Hayden

Season:The Bachelorette, season 5Moment of Infamy:Some of the show’s contestants really are looking for love, but Wes was not one of them. See, he wasn’t actually interested in marrying Jillian Harris but instead came on the show to promote his music. Wes even had a girlfriend back home – maybe he and Justin should hang out.

Tierra LaCausi

Season:The Bachelor, season 17Moment of Infamy:Tierra loved attention and would do just about anything she could to get attention from Sean Lowe, though he finally caught onto her game after her hysterical fight with AshLee Frazier. Of course, the attention-seeking didn’t stop there, and she turned up to the live reunion with a giant diamond ring, claiming that she was engaged in order to pull focus away from Sean and his future wifeCatherine Giudici Lowe. Unsurprisingly, the drama queen’s “engagement” didn’t last.

Ed Swiderski

Season:The Bachelorette, season 7Moment of Infamy:Ed’s villainy actually came to the forefront after the show was over. Jillian did choose him as the winner, but they soon broke up amid rumors on infidelity. From there, it was on toBachelor Pad, where he repeatedly told the house that he and Jaclyn Swartz weren’t “romantically involved” despite their obvious relationship.

Olivia Caridi

Season:The Bachelor, season 20Moment of Infamy:Olivia was one to watch from the first episode – she did get the First Impression Rose, after all! But she really earned the ire of her fellow rose-seekers when she said Amanda’s life sounded like an episode ofTeen Mom, and that she found it hard to relate to the other girls because she wanted to “talk smart things.”

The Bacheloretteis currently airing Mondays (8 p.m. ET) on ABC.

Carly Breit

source: people.com