If fans thought that Clare Crawley’s exit from The Bachelorette 2020 was the most dramatic thing ever, Tayshia’s episodes will prove them wrong. Now that Tayshia is left with a majority of Clare’s bachelors and two remaining of her own, the reality TV tensions have started to rise. And while vying for the new Bachelorette’s attention, cast members like Chasen Nick and Ed Waisbrot were also looking for their moment to shine. Chasen’s “smokeshow” comment for Tayshia fired up episode 6, but here’s what makes it even more problematic.
Even though Chasen stepped out of his limousine dressed in an iron suit, Dale Moss took away the chance from him to become Clare’s knight in shining armor. The 31-year-old Chasen, however, did win The Bachelorette’s group date rose in the second week but hardly earned himself any more screen time. Meanwhile, as the ABC show kept getting its share of tentative villains in Yosef, Spencer, and Noah, Chasen too got his turn to don the disruptor’s hat with his offensive “smokeshow” compliment for Tayshia. Right after the group date after party on episode 6, Chasen got called out for having ulterior intentions and being on The Bachelorette for the wrong reasons. “I don’t take it anymore, dude. I take out my Wolverine inside. It’s getting bloody,” exclaimed the IT account executive referring to his nickname that suggests he “recovers and recovers quickly.” However, as the Bachelor Nation stands confused and divided over his choice of adjective for The Bachelorette of the hour, it eventually does help to seal Chasen’s fate on the show.
Right before the episode’s premiere, Chasen posted a clip of the debatable scene on his Instagram captioned, “Anybody else want me to call them a smokeshow?” And the comments surprisingly come from supportive The Bachelorette fans who wrote things such as, “You can call me a smoke show anytime,” and “as a woman, I think it’s a compliment.” But there are many of Chasen’s followers who would gladly volunteer as tribute, a section of fans do feel that Chasen’s comment is offensive. A Reddit thread has messages discussing how Chasen calling Tayshia a smokeshow does bother them “slightly” especially when “they keep saying that Tayshia is hot.” The Bachelorette viewer adds, “to me it's just elementary.” But another fan notes how it has less to do about the term itself than about “the type of guy who normally uses it” in their experience. It could be taken as a compliment, but it’s one that “tends to be used by a**holes.” The fan further adds, “It’s like a step away from problematic locker room talk.”
The more troubling bit in this situation is also the fact that the word was used by Chasen who when meeting Clare had declared, “chivalry is not dead at all.” A Mel Magazine article describes how Barstool Sports was the origin of the word in 2008 which was used as a substitute for “smoking hawt” and later used to name a sub-community featuring attractive college women from all over the country submitted under “Smokeshow of the Day.” The article also suggests that “the objectification implicit in the ‘show’ part of the word is certainly there.”
While Chasen may not have meant to use the adjective for Tayshia in an inherently offensive way, the suitors are supposed to look at The Bachelorette as wife-material, with respect. The word, in its most casual sense, does imply a physical attribute that Chasen was hinting at, thus objectifying Tayshia. Still, him using it did shine the spotlight on some of the ignored men on this season of The Bachelorette who with Dale’s departure seem to have finally found a “hero” moment for themselves.
The Bachelorette season 16 airs Tuesdays at 8pm EST on ABC.
Source: Chasen Nick/Instagram, Reddit, Mel Magazine