The Bachelorette season 21 contestant Austin Ott said goodbye to Jenn Tran after not building much of a connection with her, and his self-elimination proves that the show doesn’t care about its contestants. Austin, a 28-year-old sales executive from San Diego, California, had high hopes when he met Jenn, a 26-year-old physician assistant student originally from Hillsdale, New Jersey, but currently living in Boston, Massachusetts. However, he never received a one-on-one date from Jenn, and hardly got to spend any time with her.

Throughout The Bachelorette season 21, Austin tried his hardest to impress Jenn. On premiere night, he made his entrance saying, “Someone call 9-1-1 because you’re looking so fire!,” and spraying foam from a fire extinguisher. During the Truth or Dare game, he went streaking through the house on a dare. During a week 3 group date at a racetrack, Austin won a race, and some extra time with Jenn, during which they finally shared their first kiss. However, after two more group dates, Austin decided to leave The Bachelorette season 21, and his exit proves that the show doesn’t care about its contestants.

Austin Didn’t Have Enough Time With Jenn

Austin & Jenn Never Made A Strong Connection

Throughout The Bachelorette season 21, Jenn’s focus was rarely on Austin. This would be understandable if it was entirely Jenn’s decision, but it seems that the producers played a role in this as well. The group dates in which Austin participated weren’t conducive to Jenn building relationships, but rather they were about creating drama.

Throughout his time on the show, Austin participated in group dates in which he was part of a wildlife photoshoot, a rugby game, and a competition for Best Farmer, none of which would help Jenn to get to know him more. In fact, the only time that Austin really spent any quality time with Jenn was when he won the race during the group date at the racetrack. The producers really couldn’t manipulate this because Austin won his time with Jenn. However, none of the other dates that Austin was on allowed him and Jenn to spend enough time together so that they could actually form a strong connection.

Producer-Created Drama Dominated Jenn’s Time

Jenn’s Focus Was Elsewhere

Although Jenn obviously makes decisions about who she spends her time with, there’s also been a lot of obvious producer manipulation in The Bachelorette season 21. Producer-created drama has dominated the show. While these types of scenes can be entertaining, sometimes they take Jenn’s attention away from some of the other guys, including Austin, such as during Thomas Nguyen’s confrontation with Devin Strader.

Thomas thought that Devin was disrespectful for stealing Jenn away when he’d already spent time with her. He thought that the men from a group date who didn’t have a chance to speak with her should have the chance to talk to her first at the cocktail party. Thomas even revealed to Jenn that the men had decided that Austin should be at the top of that list.

However, Jenn’s response to Thomas was that the men were making decisions for her, which she obviously didn’t like. The interesting part about it was that she didn’t seem to care that Austin wanted to speak to her so badly that the other guys were going to allow him to go first. The producers also didn’t care because they allowed the drama with Thomas and Devin to eat up a lot of Jenn’s time.

Another example of this was the unnecessary drama with Jenn’s ex-boyfriend Matt Rossi coming to the show to win her back. It felt very staged, especially since Jenn sent him home in the next episode. Austin was especially upset that Jenn was even considering letting Matt join the cast. He said that everyone was putting their hearts on the line, and he wasn’t happy about it. Austin thought that Matt had an unfair advantage because he knew Jenn better than any of the other guys. He said that he thought it was “kind of wack and corny if he’s able to come here and stay.”

This seemed to be the beginning of the end for Austin. As the drama with Matt once again took time away from Austin being able to get to know Jenn, he was clearly becoming more and more checked out. Austin never had a chance to make a connection with Jenn because of the Bachelorette season 21 drama.

Austin Got Pushed Aside On The Bachelorette Season 21

There Were Too Many Men On Jenn’s Season

With 25 contestants in the Bachelorette season 21 to begin with, there were too many men, and Jenn inevitably wouldn’t be able to get to know all of them. However, Austin was one of many men throughout the 21 seasons of the Bachelorette who made it past the halfway point without ever having a one-on-one date with her. He was continuously pushed aside for other people, and it seemed at times that he was only being kept on the show to keep the numbers up.

This was especially evident during the group date at the farm when Devin won the Best Farmer contest, in which the prize was one-on-one time with Jenn. Austin didn’t feel that Devin deserved the award, nor did Sam McKinney, who lamented that every time he looked at Devin, Devin was trying to talk to Jenn rather than doing farm work. While it makes sense that Devin, who’s a frontrunner for Jenn’s heart, was awarded the time with Jenn because she most likely wanted it that way, the producers had to know that the men would be upset about it, and it would create even more drama.

However, Austin paid the price because he was once again left out in the cold. Austin later admitted to Jenn that he felt as though he was “playing catch-up this whole time.” He then told her, “You have some amazing guys here that are ready to give you absolutely everything that you deserve, and with the way that things have gone for me in this journey, I don’t think that I can do that.” Austin then broke the news to Jenn that he didn’t think that it was fair to her and the other guys for him to continue on the journey with her.

Although Jenn was disappointed that Austin left, and even said in her confessional that it seemed that she wasn’t enough for him, it was very clear that she wasn’t going to choose him, so he made the right decision about leaving. It was a shame because Austin seemed like a great guy, but Jenn and The Bachelorette viewers really didn’t get the chance to know him. The producers definitely had a hand in that, which was unfair to him.

It truly felt as though Austin was pushed out of The Bachelorette season 21. He never had a chance with Jenn, and he realized that when he saw that he was so far behind the remaining guys. The group dates he went on didn’t help things, but the producers only cared about creating drama, not relationships with Jenn. Hopefully, Austin will get a second chance to find love and appear as a contestant in Bachelor in Paradise season 10, or, better yet, he’ll be the next star of The Bachelor.