Keeps on going. Ryan McDill, the first suitor to be booted off season 11 of The Bachelorette after his drunken antics during the premiere, told TMZ on Wednesday, May 20, that he refuses to apologize for his rape joke. In fact, he claimed his intoxicated behavior helped boost ratings of the popular ABC reality series.
During the premiere, McDill was confronted by one of the suitors, JJ O’Brien, for his boozy antics. After ripping open his shirt, McDill — a “junkyard specialist” who described himself as an actor and comedian to TMZ — replied, “Why am I not raping you right now?”
“Why is ‘rape’ your go-to word?” O’Brien asked him. “Maybe the bigger question is, why are you here?”
The comment, which was shocking to both? viewers and producers, ultimately resulted in McDill’s dismissal from the show by host Chris Harrison. During his alcohol-fueled tear, McDill also groped Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe‘s butt, and made inappropriate gestures towards Britt Nilsson.
“I wasn’t blacked out,” McDill told TMZ. “And knew exactly what I was doing.”
McDill also told the site that what he had intended to convey from his rape comment was that he would destroy O’Brien. “People need to get off their high horse,” McDill continued. “It was awesome and entertaining.”
In fact, McDill believes producers should be thanking him, as he claims his drunkenness was “the only reason the first episode was the s—.”
As previously confirmed by Us Weekly, McDill has an interesting tie to former Bachelor winner Nikki Ferrell, whom he dated before she went on the show to compete for Juan Pablo Galavis‘ affection in 2014.
While he’s made his thoughts about Ferrell well known, McDill told Entertainment Tonight this week that he had his sights set on Nilsson. “I wasn’t interested in Kaitlyn, but was interested in Britt,” he said. “I felt it was obvious Britt wasn’t going to be the one, so I just started being entertaining and got way too drunk, started acting crazy, and it turned into gold.”
