‘The Bachelorette’ Recap: Kaitlyn Bristowe Reunites With Her Exes On ‘The Men Tell All’ Special

The Bachelorette‘s “Men Tell All” special Monday night let the men who’ve been dumped by Kaitlyn Bristowe reflect on the season and their respective relationships with the bachelorette.

‘The Bachelorette’ Recap

After Chris Harrison introduced the “Men Tell All” with a list of superlatives and then gave a sneak peek of the upcoming season of Bachelor in Paradise, he gave the floor to the men to chastise Ian, who infamously left The Bachelorette after an insulting breakup speech to Kaitlyn.

Tanner was the first to speak up, telling Ian that his exit was completely disrespectful towards Kaitlyn and that “Princeton needs to teach a class on how not to be an assh—.”  Jared and Ben H. also chime in to defend Kaitlyn. Ian then dramatically stood up from his chair, took off his jacket and got on his knees on the floor of the studio to express his contrition. Though the apology was awkward and appeared to be done more out of self-interest than anything else, the audience applauded the act.

The next Bachelorette villain that became the topic of conversation was Clint, who Corey says completely changed after the first night and was unbearably arrogant. J.J. admits that all of the bad things that the guys could say about Clint could be said about him as well. He defended their intense friendship on the show by saying that they were “intellectually curious” about each other and that it was more than “surface level” between them.

Then, the griping turned towards Nick Viall, who is still competing for Kaitlyn’s heart on The Bachelorette. Kupah, who had already been booted from the show by the time Nick made his entrance, seemed to be the most enraged about the situation. But, most of the guys, upon reflection, recognized that Kaitlyn had to “turn over every stone,” as Tanner said.

First in the hot seat opposite Chris Harrison was Ben Z., who admitted that he was blindsided by not getting a rose in Ireland. He conceded that after the faux wake ceremony, he closed up a bit, which he thinks Kaitlyn noticed. Ben Z. was sad to go, as he had fallen in love with Kaitlyn, but thinks the show was good for him. Jared, who confessed to still having lingering feelings for Kaitlyn while in the hot seat, said he understood how hard the choices were for Kaitlyn to make. And, as for Ben H., he wishes that he could have had some more closure with Kaitlyn.

Finally, Kaitlyn emerges and Chris Harrison reveals that over the course of the season’s airing she has received a number of hateful and threatening messages, particularly because of her decision to sleep with Nick. After reading off some of them, Kaitlyn gets a standing ovation of support from the audience. Then it was time for the guys to get some things off their chests.

Jared wanted to know what happened after their road trip, which he thought was amazing. She tells him that their relationship just wasn’t moving as fast as some of the others. Ben H. wants to know why she didn’t tell him about sleeping with Nick, but had told Shawn. To that, she basically tells him that her relationship with Shawn just felt more serious. After shutting down Jonathan and Corey’s complaints about Nick, Kaitlyn got to receive her own over the top Ian apology.

The Bachelorette returns to ABC next Monday at 8/7c.