© 2026 ABC News

After Redman confronted Galvin, Redman was immediately dubbed a “mean girl” on the show and among “Bachelor” fans online.

“We talk about bullying when it comes to adults and adult women. It’s usually called relational aggression,” said writer and journalist Erica Souter about the bullying on the show. “That means we see spreading rumors, harassing, ostracizing, ganging up against woman to kind of leave her out and make her feel bad, especially all of the behavior that we’re actually seeing on this season of ‘The Bachelor.’”

\"PHOTO:
ABC News
PHOTO: Ericka Souter explains relational aggression to "GMA" and how it has played out on "The Bachelor" among the women this season.
>

“In this particular show, everyone’s kind of vying for the same prize,” Souter said. “The weapon that they have in their arsenal is to kind of attack another woman and make her feel like she doesn’t want to be there. So in a way, they’re playing the game, but in a very cool way.”

Now on the new episode Monday, James will confront the hurtful behavior head on after contestant Katie Thurston brought the issue to his attention in last week’s episode.

“The house just needs to be better,” she told James at the end of their group date. “It’s just a toxic environment and there’s some pretty bad rumors starting about the new girls that could literally ruin their lives.”

In an exclusive clip, James pulls Victoria Larson aside to confront her about her hurtful demeanor toward other women on the show including Ryan Claytor, who Larson called a “hoe” for being a dancer.

Since the beginning of this season, the 28-year-old known as the self-declared “queen” on the show, was quickly dubbed also as a villain on the show after using words like “slut” and “whore” to describe other women competing for James’ heart.

In an interview last week with “Good Morning America,” Larson addressed her choice of words and said that she “never had ill intent.”

“If my words or actions hurt anyone, I sincerely apologize and I’ll do better and hold myself accountable,” she said. “I’m not a bully, I’m really not.”

Still, the backlash from viewers against Larson has been strong. She told “GMA” that she’s even received death threats. Now she wants viewers to know that what they see on television may not always be what they seem.

“I don’t think my kindness really got to show through,” she said. “I really do have a good heart.”

Will Matt see Larson’s kind heart and get to the bottom of all the bullying? Find out tonight when “The Bachelor” returns at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/bachelor-preview-matt-tackles-bullying-show-head/story?id=75603829","legacySlug":"/culture/story/bachelor-preview-matt-tackles-bullying-show-head-75603829","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"13:28","publishDate":"02-01-2021","updatedTime":"16:35","updatedDate":"02-01-2021","socialImage":{"alt":"VIDEO: 'The Bachelor's' Matt James steps in to squash bullying on show","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/210201_gma_reshef3_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"2/1/2021 13:28:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":75603829,"headline":"'The Bachelor' preview: Matt tackles the bullying","mediaAssetTitle":"210201_BACHELOR_PREVIEW_BULLYING_GMA","description":"\"The house just needs to be better.\"","duration":"3:03","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2021/02/210201_gma_reshef_0811_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["74659493","74979245","75607059"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"December 11, 2020","headline":"Meet the 32 new 'Bachelor' contestants","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/bachelor-bios-meet-32-contestants-matt-james-season-74659493","id":74659493,"image":{"alt":"Meet the 32 new 'Bachelor' contestants","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/the-bachelor-35-abc-llr-201210_1607639390539_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Craig Sjodin/ABC","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"January 4, 2021","headline":"5 things to know about new 'Bachelor' star Matt James","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/things-bachelor-star-matt-james-74979245","id":74979245,"image":{"alt":"5 things to know about new 'Bachelor' star Matt James","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/the-bachelor-033-abc-llr-201210_1607639390522_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Billy Kidd/ABC","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"February 1, 2021","headline":"'The Bachelor's' Matt James steps in to squash bullying on show","section":"culture","slug":"/video/75607059","id":75607059,"image":{"alt":"'The Bachelor's' Matt James steps in to squash bullying on show","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/210201_gma_reshef3_hpMain_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"'The Bachelor' preview: Matt tackles the bullying","description":"\"The house just needs to be better.\"","duration":"3:03","uploadDate":"02-01-2021","publication":"02-01-2021","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2021/02/210201_gma_reshef_0811_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2021/02/210201_gma_reshef_0811_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/bachelor-preview-matt-tackles-bullying-show-head-75603829"}},"playlist":[{"id":"133482839","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133390157","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133415361","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133414032","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133380485","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133358298","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133350119","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133307515","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133307527","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133282665","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133220149","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133179167","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133144373","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133144059","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133143081","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133075455","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063114","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063086","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133015093","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998564","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:culture:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"culture","title":"'The Bachelor' preview: Matt tackles the bullying","pubTime":"08:28","pubDate":"02-01-2021","modTime":"11:35","modDate":"02-01-2021","taxonomyTags":"none","id":75603829,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"'The Bachelor' preview: Matt tackles the bullying","mediaAssetTitle":"210201_BACHELOR_PREVIEW_BULLYING_GMA","videoId":75603829,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/culture/story/bachelor-preview-matt-tackles-bullying-show-head-75603829"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/75603829","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/75603829","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};