This week, I'd like to discuss the conflict between Kylee and Anastasia. Kylee and Anastasia get into an argument when Kylee attempts to steal Zach away from Anastasia, who stole Zach in the middle of the group date.
Throughout this post, I'll recap some conversations between the two women and those involved in the "drama."
During the initial conversation with Zach, present:
Kylee: "I don't like to fight."
Anastasia: "I'm definitely not going to fight you."
Anastasia then recaps the conversation with Greer: "I really don't want to fight you."
"Ok, I'm not going to fight you."
Anastasia, during an ITM: "The fight comment was a little bit much for me personally. I'm going to put my best foot forward. I'm going to be aggressive with what I want, but I'm not going to like put up my dukes about it."
Kylee to a group of women:
"I'm not going to sit here and fight and bicker back and forth with you."
Imitating Anastasia, "'Oh, I'm not going to fight you,' And I was like, bitch, you think I'm going to fight you."
Greer says, "she thinks you said to her I'm going to fight you."
Kylee: "I never said I'm going to fight her!"
Charity (narrating): "Stas made a big thing saying Kylee was trying to fight her."
Anastasia to Mercedes: "The comment that scared me was that like I'm going to fight you. None of the other girls that pulled him away have said anything like that."
Charity(narrating): "And then she proceeds to go tell everyone on the group date. It is all wild to me. Like, wild."
Anastasia, Ariel, and Greer are shown talking.
Ariel: "Did she say she was going to fight you?"
Anastasia, "Yeah, I know everyone is tense right now, but that kind of scared me. I felt like I was attacked, to be honest."
Gabi (narrating): "Apparently, there was some sort of comment made by Kylee that was like, I'm not trying to fight with you, which I think most people would take normally. Like I'm not trying to fight with you about this. Like, I just want to talk to Zach."
"But Anastasia's reaction was essentially insinuating that Kylee was trying to physically fight her. It was bizarre to hear that because Kyle has not given any indication she would physically harm any of us. "
Kylee to a group of the women: "She's trying to make drama out of it. Because why would I be a crazy bitch and say… well I'm going to fight you in front of Zach."
Here are some of my thoughts on this conversation.
Anastasia knows that Kylee did not intend to fight her, and she was never in danger.
Anastasia repeated this false narrative several times, despite Zach being present and being on a televised show where the conversation and tone are captured for posterity.
By using words like fight, attack, and scared, Anastasia is leaning into stereotypes of women of color, particularly Black women, being portrayed as angry or aggressive.
Thankfully, the other women, particularly Gabi and Charity's narration, disproved Anastasia's accusations, which could have been worse if the cameras and the lead were not around. Highlighting a counter-narrative to Anastasia's claims is a definite sign of progress from the show. Other women of color in the past have not had their side of the story and support as visible as Kylee's.
Later on, on the group date, the conversation continues.
Anastasia: "As for today, I was just taken aback by that comment. You said I don't want to fight you for this."
Kylee: "You have to know deep down inside I wasn't trying to come at you. You know what I meant. It was like, 'I don't want to fight you on this, so can you please stop making it awkward and just let me have my time?"
Anastasia: "Yeah, and what I'm saying is, it was a miscommunication. I'm not trying to manipulate your words."
Kylee: "I just feel like it keeps going in circles, so…."
Kylee (ITM): "Anastasia is trying to victimize herself and make me out to be something I'm not, and I hate when people speak poorly on my name, especially when I haven't done anything wrong. And although I don't want to make tonight about Anastasia, I feel like I need to say something. At the end of the day, it's not going to go her way.
Kylee talks to Zach about the situation, and he dismisses Anastasia's claim of being in physical danger.
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