‘The Bachelorette’s Jesse Palmer Reveals Why Contestants Can’t Eat On Dates: “I Essentially Ruined It For Everybody”

The Bachelorette Season 21 returned on Monday, July 29 with another eventful episode, but before Jenn Tran and her 12 remaining men got their date on in New Zealand, franchise host Jesse Palmer dropped a hilarious bomb.

If you’re a longtime member of Bachelor Nation, you may recall that the 45-year-old former pro football player led The Bachelor’ s fifth season years before he started hosting. If you’ve been watching for a while, you also know that oftentimes when leads and contestants go on dates they sit in front of delicious looking meals and famously do NOT eat in front of the cameras.

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What more recent fans of the franchise might not know is that wasn’t always the way these shows worked…

Over the years, several franchise alum have attempted to explain the confusing rule to viewers. In 2014, former Bachelor star Sean Lowe explained , “…It’s not entertaining TV. Not to mention, the plates of food usually have been sitting there for a long time before we ever sit down. Nobody likes cold steak. Also, the microphones pick up the chewing sounds and it’s pretty gross to listen to. So typically, we would eat alone in the hotel room before the date so we wouldn’t be starving later.” In 2021, former Bachelorette lead Tayshia Adams told Delish , ” It’s generally because there’s cameras and mics and all that and it would be kind of hard to get your sound bytes while you’re chewing and eating. We generally eat before the dates. Sometimes the food looks kind of good and you want to poke at it, so that’s definitely happened.”

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During a meal with Tran on The Bachelorette Season 21, Episode 4, Palmer further dished on (and even took blame for) the rule in between bites at Depot Eatery in Auckland, New Zealand.

As the two bravely dined before the lens, Palmer said, “I have an interesting piece of trivia for you. Have you ever wondered why you’re not supposed to eat when you’re on a one-on-one date?” Tran guessed the obvious, saying, “Eating is not attractive? I don’t know.” She’s right, but apparently the reasoning runs a bit deeper…

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Palmer pointed to himself, reminding Tran that he was The Bachelor ‘s Season 5 lead. As clips of Pallmer on dinner dates from his season flashed in the corner of the screen, he explained, “On my season, I was scarfing the food down on every date trying to have these serious conversations — just literally talking through the food. And I think after that they had to stop doing it… So I essentially ruined it for everybody.” Hilarious.

Based on Palmer’s love of KFC alone , it’s easy to believe that he really got into the food on dates, and after seeing some of the meals served during his season, we don’t blame him! Palmer and Tran proved that good conversation and good eats can co-exist, so why not bring eating back on dates every once in a while?! People deserve to dine together before they get engaged!

New episodes of The Bachelorette Season 21 premiere Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC with next-day streaming on Hulu. And be sure to read Decider’s pre-premiere interview with Jenn Tran for more exciting tidbits.

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