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Warning: The Bachelorette Season 21 spoilers ahead. If the main thing was being the villain from Jenn’s Bachelorette season, Sam M. succeeded with flying colors. But where is he now after his dramatic elimination and explosive drama with Jenn and Devin?
Sam McKinney, a 27-year-old Contractor from Myrtle Beach, California, was one of 25 contestants on The Bachelorette Season 21 with Jenn Tran. He received the First Impression Rose (and first kiss of the season) and seemed to be the frontrunner to get Jenn’s Final Rose in the end. Public opinion started to sour on Sam M. later in the season when he started to feud with Devin Strader, a 28-year-old Freight Company Owner from Rosenberg, Texas, over Devin’s alleged lack of respect toward the other men in the cast.
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Things went from bad to worse during Sam M.’s first One-on-One Date with Jenn in Auckland, New Zealand, which involved them bungee jumping from a skyscraper. During a confessional interview, Jenn criticized Sam M. for laughing at her fear and not consoling her more when she was scared of jumping. Though Jenn gave a date rose to Sam M. at the end of their One-on-One, their relationship only became worse the following week when Sam M. claimed he was in love with Jenn but couldn’t explain why. The back-and-forth led Jenn to send Sam M. home before the sixth Rose Ceremony.
Related: All The Bachelorette Season 21 spoilers, including Jenn’s winner
Where’s Sam M. now after The Bachelorette Season 21?
Sam M. returned to The Bachelorette Season 21 for the “Men Tell All,” where he got into another back-and-forth with Jenn over his behavior during her season. “I feel very, very sorry for whoever you end up with,” Jenn said as Sam M. smirked at her. “This delusion you’re living in isn’t going to work for anybody.”
Before the “Men Tell All,” Sam M. was involved in a lot of off-screen drama about The Bachelorette Season 21. The drama started when a woman named Rayleigh shared a since-deleted TikTok the week of The Bachelorette Season 21 premiere, claiming that she met Sam M. at a wedding in October 2023 and talked for six months.
More: Meet The Bachelorette Season 21 cast
She claimed in an interview with Reality Steve that, prior to going on The Bachelorette Season 21, Sam M. didn’t tell Rayleigh that he was applying for the show and she didn’t find out he had been cast until the day he left for filming. Reality Steve alsoreported that Sam M. sent Rayleigh a long note while on the plane for The Bachelorette, explaining why he chose the opportunity over her. “Not going to read the whole thing, but it was basically him putting the onus on her,” Reality Steve wrote.
Rayleigh also alleged to Reality Steve that Sam M. planned with production to be eliminated by Week 6 so he could be home in time for his sister’s wedding. “Anything he says to Jen in six weeks is complete and total bullshit,” Reality Steve wrote. “He could never win. He wouldn’t logistically be allowed to win because he knew he was leaving. He knew he never had a chance to make it to the end of the show Because he had to be back to marry his sister and so did production. So when you watch Sam for the next five episodes, just keep that in mind Just know that anything he’s feeding Jen is total bullshit.”
As for his feelings toward Jenn after his elimination, Rayleigh also told Reality Steve that Sam M. called Jenn a “liar” once he returned from The Bachelorette Season 21 and that Jenn’s feelings were “all over the place” and her winner proved that.
WARNING: THE BACHELORETTE SEASON 21 SPOILERS. According to Reality Steve, Jenn’s winner for The Bachelorette Season 21 was Devin, who Sam M. feuded with throughout his time on the series. After Sam M.’s villain edit on The Bachelorette Season 21, he hinted at his drama with Jenn and The Bachelorette’s production team in a reposted by TikTok account ShesAllBach in July 2024. “Most felt like that and rightfully so. I even felt like that. I was incredibly disheartening to be portrayed in that fashion. Hopefully at the tell all the truth will come out,” he wrote in a since-deleted comment in response to fans questioning his behavior on The Bachelorette. He continued in another comment, “Oh and legally I’m not allowed to speak on it… and now I’m figuring out why.”
Sam M.’s, relative, Olivia McKinney, also accused The Bachelorette of not accurately representing what happened on Jenn’s season. “I’m ready for @bacheloretteabc to show allllll the context they’ve left out,” she wrote.
Olivia could be referring to a controversial moment involving Devin that Reality Steve claimed was cut out of The Bachelorette Season 21 premiere. The site reported that, during a game of “Truth or Dare” on night one, Devin was asked to name a conspiracy theory he believed in, to which he allegedly responded, “I believe 9/11 was an inside job.”
The scene was cut out of The Bachelorette Season 21 premiere, presumably because Devin is Jenn’s winner. Reality Steve also reported that the whole cast, including Jenn, heard Devin’s comment, and the moment was among the real reasons that most of the cast had an issue with him during filming.
Olivia wasn’t the only family member to defend Sam M. on social media, according to more comments reposted by TikTok account Zachary Reality. Another of Sam M.’s relatives, Seth McKinney, also hinted at favoritism toward Devin on The Bachelorette Season 21 in an Instagram comment. “Crazy how they can cut out so much detail to make a person look shallow while making others look like a king,” Seth wrote. “He added in another comment, “crazy thing called producers and editing can make people see what they want not what actually happened.”
Sam M.’s other relative, Hannah, also accused the producers of strategic editing on The Bachelorette Season 21. “Let’s see all the footage @bacheloretteabc…. I’m waiting,” she wrote. When a fan criticized Hannah for not being there during filming, she responded, “I’m sorry that your family doesn’t defend you like we do ours.”
Another of Sam M.’s relatives, Susan McKinney, also shared a Facebook post in which she accused The Bachelorette of trying to “destroy” Sam M.’s character. “There is nothing real about ‘reality’ tv. To destroy someone’s character and manipulate the truth through editing is wrong on so many levels. Isn’t it interesting that the first night favorite is now being made into the villain?” she wrote. “There are several spoilers out there for who she chooses in the end that you can Google for yourself. Sam is a good guy regardless of how he is betrayed and I will no longer sit idly by and not speak up. Hey The Bachelorette it’s called free speech. At least mine is honest which is more than they can say.”
Jeff McKinney, Sam M.’s father, wrote on Facebook, “I choose my words wisely. I have sat idly by this week watching my son a complete wreck on how he was portrayed. Sam has (mostly) been the favorite with the first impression rose, etc. The spoiler was revealed and (in my opinion) the network had to paint Sam as this horrendous guy in order for Jenn not to look like a complete idiot.”
He continued, “Now I know why the network offers free counseling for 1 year after the show. I feel this episode was all fabricated with cut and paste sentences and scenes. Can’t change what he said and how he said it but they can change the scene, script and context and totally change the delivery. That’s the way I feel. Feel free to share this. #ISTANDWITHSAM.”
The Bachelorette airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Stream it on Hulu.
