‘Bachelorette’ Postmortem: Alex Says Chad is More ‘Chihuahua’ Than Bear
Warning: This interview contains spoilers for the June 7 episode of The Bachelorette.
The road to televised love is paved with villains and this season of The Bachelorette has proven no different thanks to the Chadbear. When the 28-year-old luxury real estate agent isn’t scarfing down lunchmeat, heavy lifting on the mansion porch or acting “two-faced” with JoJo Fletcher, Chad Johnson is ripping shirts, threatening to punch teeth (and necks and faces) and keeping a running list of fellow contestants that he plans to hunt down after the season is over.
After calling security guards and big dog Chris Harrison couldn’t keep the Chadbear in check, Marine Alex Woytkiw, who has been vocal about his dislike and distrust of Chad, took it upon himself to rat Johnson out during the dreaded two-on-one date in the woods. The disclosure led JoJo to send Chad packing… or so we thought. The cliffhanger to last night’s episode showed him returning to the men’s bachelor pad and scratching at the door.
On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Woytkiw discussed Chad’s bad behavior, and how his decision to tattle to JoJo about Chad affected his relationship with her. He also confirmed that Chad’s encore is the real deal and will be featured in the tear-filled next episode airing June 20.
Do you worry about Chad coming after you?
Chad is a Chihuahua. He likes to bark. He was a big talker. He liked to threaten people. So I’m not concerned for myself or any other guy in the house [by] any threats he’s made because he was a big talker. He never did anything physical because he wasn’t going to do anything physical. He just liked to threaten people.
Related: ‘The Bachelorette’ Recap: Blood, Threats and Tears
It escalated last night with the security guards and Chris Harrison being asked to calm him down. How did this all come about and how unsafe did you feel?
There was an evolution of events with Chad. Everyone didn’t like Chad. I was more to his face about it and there were guys like Evan who were physically assaulted by Chad. The whole security guard thing, I think, was just a proactive measure. I really respected them for doing that, because there’s people sleeping in a room with this guy. We’re pretty much sitting on a couch for instance… we’re talking and you’re seeing these exchanges going on and you can see that we’re all extremely uncomfortable around this guy and don’t like him and he’s threatening to punch people’s teeth out. Then those same guys are going to have to sleep in a room with him. So the show, I think they saw that happening and they made a proactive measure to say, “Hey, we’ve got your backs.” I commend them for it.
Related: Chris Harrison Blogs ‘The Bachelorette’ Episode 4
You were always pretty upfront about how you felt about him to his face. Were you ever scared to confront him?
No. I never had any kind of pause in my approach with him. He could punch you in the face but I caught from the beginning that he was just a big bluff. He would tell people they were scared of him and threaten to punch them, but he never did it. I was ok with going on the two-and-one with him because I felt like I was the guy who could go there and call him out for lying to JoJo’s face. I saw that date as an opportunity to show her I [had] her back and that my insight on him was true.
Chad constantly claimed that his actions were just a reaction to the rest of guys talking about him, poking him and coming at him.
To be quite frank, Chad’s perspective on how he was behaving is [irrelevant]. The show is doing a solid job of showing where guys in the house were coming from. He was just a bad guy. The general consensus around the house was that he was two-facing. We were confused on how his relationship with JoJo was going because we saw how he acted in the house. I [don’t] think he was there to fall in love. For me, when I was on the date with him, I saw how he behaved and got to call it out.
Jordan and a few others suggested that he might be mentally unstable.
On multiple occasions, we would look at each other and be like, “Is this real life? Is this guy really doing this right now?” He was so overtly down everyone’s throat. He was so dark and so weird that it didn’t seem real.
After seeing the show and realizing he had just lost his mother, do you feel like any of his actions came out of grief?
When I learned of Chad’s family issue, I felt a sense of compassion for him. But I felt like he used his mom passing as a crutch. Using his time to bring that up, it felt like a huge play and why JoJo kept him around. He never acted [sad] with us. I think he is definitely struggling with grief and also manipulating her too.
Do you think he is getting a “villain edit” or was he like this at all times?
He was like that the whole time, 24-7. It’s not like he steps in front of the camera for a group discussion, acts the way he acted, and then we became friends. [In the last two episodes], they showed a good representation of the tone and his confrontation. Most of us became hypersensitive to him and we got excited for rose ceremonies because we thought he’d go home. He threatened people. Everyone was always on alert. I don’t think someone could act like that if they weren’t like that. The villain thing came naturally for him. He was never a good guy to anyone. The show did not have to edit him in any way. You could show his raw content and people would have the same opinion of him.
Did it bother you that a fellow Marine acted like this?
Yes. It is common law that anyone who serves in a similar branch doesn’t need to earn your respect. [He’s] my brother. He already has it so all he could do was lose it. It was a conflict. I wanted to pull him aside and be like, ‘Dude why are you acting like this? The Marine Corps is watching right now and what do you think they are going to think? I thought we would be good friends. If I go out anywhere in life and I run into a Marine, I am going to gravitate towards him because I know he’s got my back.
Did you worry the two-on-one date would become violent after JoJo told him he was not getting the rose?
Even prior to JoJo sitting down with us, it was pretty heated. You can see him tell me that he wishes he could hurt me right now. I can’t go through the whole spiel with her about how all this guy does is resort to violence, and follow that up with getting in a fight with the guy. But he was losing it, saying weird things to me. He was unraveling. It was pretty intense. I not going to attack someone but I will defend myself.
Historically, the person who rats out the villain usually doesn’t end up with the final rose. Did that thought cross your mind?
When it came to my relationship with JoJo, I tried really hard to compartmentalize and not talk about other guys. I tried to get to know her and focus on me and JoJo. But when I got put on the two-on-one, I figured I had nothing to lose. I don’t care how it looks. I am just gong to speak from the heart and tell her how I felt about all of that. She told me that she didn’t want me to hide something so that I didn’t feel like a snitch.
There are lots of rumors swirling that guys like Grant left girlfriends at home to go on the show and Jordan just wants to be famous. Do you think there were guy on the show for the wrong reasons?
I really liked everyone in the house other than Chad. Whatever I have read or heard through the grapevine on these claims, it is a hard call. I trust their character and maybe there is a misunderstanding. They seemed genuine to me.
After everything you’ve gone through, is JoJo worth all of this?
Oh absolutely. I wanted to make my relationship with her a two-way street. It is hard because you are thrown in to a unique environment. I wanted to become friends first and make sure she was there to fall in love like me. After last night and seeing how she handled it and seeing those interviews I wasn’t a part of, absolutely she is worth it. She proved last night that she was there for the right reasons. She is a beautiful girl and has the kind of energy that takes over a room. She brings a unique vibe. To come back from a deployment and [get] to go on the show and for it to be her, who I was hoping it would be, it seemed like it was all falling into place.
How did the one-on-one time? Did it benefit your relationship?
Absolutely. It felt like we were on a one-on-one date. It would have been a cool date — the hike with cool views — to go on as a real date. I didn’t sit down with her and only talk about Chad. And then moving forward, we didn’t talk about anything we didn’t want to talk about [at the cabin after his elimination]. It starts to show that I do have a real relationship from her. It sucks because the whole Chad thing was taking away from that.
It appears by the way the cliffhanger was edited that you are not in the house with the guys when he comes back.
From my understanding, he shows up to the guys’ house. At the time, I was actually with JoJo, so I can’t comment on what happens but that is where it leads off. I thought about it, like, “Man, what if this guy actually comes to break up me and JoJo here?” Fortunately he didn’t, but he actually went and did that with the guys. I thought, “If he comes in here, what am I going to do?”
Chad challenged you to get more tattoos as one of his putdowns to look more tough. Have you gotten any new ink?
No. I haven’t. That was funny. When someone resorts to calling out the superficial like how short I am or my tattoos, it’s whatever man. I would have a much larger issue with people attacking my character like we were his. Water under the bridge. I plan on it though.
Might I suggest a Chadbear?
A Chadbear. That’d be funny. Or maybe a [protein] shake with Chad’s name on it.
(Photos: ABC)
The Bachelorette airs at 8 p.m. Mondays on ABC. It returns on June 20.
