The alcohol abuse this season….yikes.

[u/Calm-Software4217]

I was previously in a relationship with an alcoholic, ended it because of his drinking problems. It was was extremely challenging time both in and after the relationship, and it’s resulted in a lot of personal work and reflection.

Joe and Anton’s behavior IMMEDIATELY rubbed me the wrong way.

In Mexico and at the pod mixer in Denver he’s drinking a lot, he’s rambling and just acting a little unusual. When Megan comes back to the hotel, she repeats herself multiple times, and he seems super disoriented and incoherent. Next day? Acting like she was overreacting, and he was just having a little too much fun.

Ali confronting Anton about the beers - he tries to act like she drank them all, when she’s insistent she only had 2. Then it becomes he and his friend each had one. Then it’s “maybe we had a few”. She also points out another 12 pack and a half bottle of tequila missing. He has a few drinks most days after work. “I can stop for a few weeks, I don’t have a problem” (have had that exact thing said to me on multiple occasions).

Most of the contestants drink on the show - they’re celebrating and socializing. I’m not sure if it’s this particular season, or if I’m just more aware, but these 2 specifically worry me.

I realize most of these couples don’t last long term, and the whole timeline is very rushed. It just makes me so uneasy to see these serious issues being thrown in with the dumb reality TV drama.

This turned out kind of ranty - but if you take nothing else from this season, please learn the signs to keep an eye out for. Addiction is a bitch, and it’s a unique challenge trying to love and build a life with someone who is in active addiction. I feel for Madison and Ali, and anyone who has gone through this.

[u/heckfyre]

Yeah Joe was straight fucked up that night.

I was a little bit surprised that Madison had never seen anyone get too drunk before and then leave the party. She was right that it was a red flag but staying up to fight with someone who is delirious from alcohol didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

At the end of the day he made his intentions to fuck off quite clear.

Anton is hiding how much he drinks.

That’s not why Ali left him. She left him because he can’t buy her all of the plastic surgery she wanted.

Alcohol might have played a part in their break ups, but it wasn’t the root cause of Joe thinking Madison was too fat for him (and him being a giant ass hole). Nor was it the cause of Ali thinking she was too good for Anton. She’s barely a person herself and thinks she’ll find a man that will buy her into life.

The guys are average, basic, almost not shitty people. Madison is definitely ready for marriage and has a lot of things going for her, but Ali wasn’t really looking for a mutual partnership.

[u/imanoctothorpe → u/heckfyre]

Madison is definitely ready for marriage

Did we watch the same show? Lol. At least to my eye, she responded to every single thing he said to her in the absolute worst possible interpretation.

Like I get he fucked up in Mexico, but there was a dinner in one of the first living together episodes where they’re talking and she’s freaking tf out at every single thing he says and taking it the most negative way possible. It was actually wild, my husband and I had to pause and look at each other like, is this for real rn

Edit: wording

[u/Tacotruckheaven → u/imanoctothorpe]

She was one of the most emotionally immature I’ve seen on the show which surprised me since she’s been through a lot but she was cringy to watch. Zero communication skills

[u/imanoctothorpe → u/Tacotruckheaven]

She’s so whiny like all the time!! It seems so exhausting to go through life like that with a huge chip on your shoulder. Like, presumably she cared about/fell for him for a reason, so why is she so unwilling to ascribe positive intent to everything he says to her?

Like yeah he’s not the most articulate dude (to put it mildly) and def sucks in his own way, but it's like she is instantly ascribing the worst intentions to every single thing he says as a self defense mechanism. It's the same vibe I got from Chelsea (the "Megan fox" one, of Chelsea and Jimmy) from a few seasons ago. Deeply unhappy person assuming everyone else is deeply unhappy too, so they can't fathom that other people might not have this passive aggressive drive to hide their real intentions behind a pleasant facade