As soon as we met Luke on this season of The Bachelorette, my Spidey-sense for jerks went on high alert. I'm sure the show isn't giving us the full picture of him as a person, but there's something going on there. At the very least, he's taking up a lot of time—mine, Hannah's, and Bachelor Nation's. Imagine how many hours could have been devoted to Mike's infectious smile or Tyler's dance moves. Instead, we have to spend episode after episode listening to Luke claim he's doing his best while revealing his worst. It's exhausting.
This Bachelorette fan put it best: "Ladies if he: confesses his love after five minutes of talking to you, lies about what he really says, is a manipulator, says everyone he’s ever met loves him, is jealous of other guys, threatens to leave, he’s not yours, he’s luke p & needs to be sent home."
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I see so many red flags from Luke, in fact, that I wanted to break each one down, episode by episode.
Episode One
It all started when Luke talks about how many hookups he had in college before God told him (while he was in the shower) to chill out. His exact words: "When I was in college, a lot of the girls around me thought [I was a good-looking guy], and I definitely took advantage of that."
Let that sink in: He tells us, seconds into meeting him, that he "took advantage" of how women perceived him.
My complaint is not that Luke once had an active sex life or has since found a new path—it's that it feels like he's gloating about his past sexual history and then shames Hannah for her choices. (But we'll get to that.)
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And then, during the first cocktail party, he shows another questionable side to himself. After Hannah finds out that one of the contestants had a girlfriend when he joined the show, she tells the remaining guys she needs a minute alone. However, Luke immediately follows her to ask how she's doing. I think he means well—checking on someone who is sad is a good thing—but she had communicated clearly what she wanted and he ignored her. That's a pattern we'll see often with Luke.
Episode Two
During a "Mr. Right" pageant, Luke tells Hannah, "I'm starting to fall in love with you" after knowing her all of five minutes. Maybe he's feeling excited about their new relationship—but I think love is a strong word. And he says this during the pageant's talent portion. So Luke's talent is making grand statements in front of a live audience, I guess.
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Episode Three
During a group date, Luke demands more and more of Hannah's time. It escalates to the point that she has to ask him to back off. "I need him to slow his roll," she says to the audience. "Luke P. stole the show again, but in a negative way." Later that night she asks him to be more respectful of everyone's time—and when he starts to interrupt her midsentence, she says, "No, let me talk." (Another red flag I see: Luke also interrupts Hannah a lot.)
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"You don't respect that I have other relationships here…and that bothers me," she continues. After their conversation Luke P. vents to the other guys that Hannah talked so much he didn't get a chance to explain himself. In short, Hannah communicated clearly what she needs, and he can't—or won't—listen to her.
He then continues to interrupt her time with other men multiple times. Hannah asks Luke, again, to back off. "I want to call my own shots," she says. He complains that he's thinking about leaving.
Episode Four
During a rugby game some sort of altercation happens between Luke S. and Luke P. Most of it happens off camera, but Luke S. claims that Luke P. kneed him in the head. Luke P., however, says he only body-slammed Luke S. because the other man tried to swing at him first.
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A few of the men confirm that Luke P. is the aggressor: Devon says Luke P. was "bullying" Luke S. during the rugby game, and Dylan claims "95 percent" of the guys don't get along with him.
When the other men confront Luke P., he clenches his fists and tells the audience he's "the complete opposite" of a psychopath.
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My take: Whether or not Luke S. swung first, Luke P. responded with what I think is an overly aggressive manner. And when he's confronted about it, he doesn't seem to understand why his actions might be concerning.
Episode Five
Luke has his first solo date with Hannah—and it's a disaster. The downward spiral starts after she asks him why he's had so many issues with the other men. I wish he had taken some ownership, but instead he says the men are "twisting" his words. Oh, and everyone he's ever met loves him. The date doesn't get better from there. Hannah continually asks Luke to open up and be vulnerable with her, but I think he sees himself as the victim in the situation. He asks her things like, "Did I answer [your question] well enough?" and "Is there anything I left out that you want me to explain to you?" To me, that's a sign he just wants to tell her what he thinks she wants to hear, without really listening to what she's asking of him.
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Later that night Luke complains that he wasn't being himself on this date because Hannah hasn't been the "real" Hannah he met at the beginning of this journey. Cool.
Episode Six
This episode picked up where the previous one left off: with Hannah telling Luke she's not giving him a rose. He says he's confused, so she explains why: She asked him to open up, and he's not listening to her direction. Luke says he felt he couldn't speak freely with her—notice how he again makes it her problem?—and she reminds him that speaking freely is the entire point of having a one-on-one date.
Hannah repeats that she isn't giving him a rose, and he says, "So is this it? Does this mean I go home tonight?"
"Yes, and I want you to respect that," she replies.
Luke leaves...before turning around and making a last-ditch attempt to convince Hannah why he should stay. She lets him, despite the fact that she literally asked him to respect her decision and he does not.
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Episode Seven
Here's where things go from red flag to big red banner in the sky for me. Garrett gets a one-on-one date with Hannah, and Luke admits he's jealous about it. That's not a new emotion for these guys—what is concerning, though, is his reaction when he learns they went naked bungee jumping. "This is a woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, and [I] totally thought that was crossing the line," he says. "Her body is her temple and to expose it to anyone who isn't her husband...that was a slap in my face."
When he confronts Hannah about this, he says, "I know that your body is a temple, and honestly I'm just thinking of you holding him bare-skinned…it really pissed me off." Hannah makes it clear the date was her choice and says the bungee jumping wasn't sexual. "I'm looking for you to meet my family soon, and I felt like it was a slap in the face," he says.
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He continues, "No matter what you do I'm going to support you, even if you make a boneheaded mistake and you just do something completely out of your character and something that's wrong. I'm going to do whatever it is to make things right. I'm in this, and we're going to work through this together and I'm not worried about it. I just want you to know that at the end of the day, no matter what, we're going to get through anything."
Yes, the man who in episode one was talking about his sexual conquests is now calling Hannah's date with Garrett "a boneheaded mistake."
After she's had some time to process, Hannah explains that the language Luke used doesn't sit well with her. "It wasn't a sexual thing at all," she says. "But even if it was, at this point it doesn't matter because you're not my husband. You don't own my body. You don't own me. It's my body."
Luke interrupts, "I started the conversation the worst way possible." Then he says, "I am never going to control you. I will never tell you what you can and cannot do with your body. But let me get into things I brought up about, you know, if I'm with you…I was not referring to that whatsoever. I was referring to the future."
He stumbles around a bit more, before adding, "I don't want to say you're twisting my words, but…"
In short, it seems to me like he's making this her problem again. Hannah calls him out, but he digs in that it was all a misunderstanding. "I'm sorry," he says. "I was misunderstood, but I didn't question your character. And I don't know if you remember everything I said." Hannah says she remembers every word, at which point he asks for forgiveness and says he had "no business" telling her she was disrespectful. "From now on, I'm going to speak clear," he adds. "I'm giving you the best I have and I'm going to continue to do better."
We'll see.
For what it's worth, Luke has admitted on Instagram that his behavior on The Bachelorette isn't great. I'm hopeful that he'll show remorse during the "Men Tell All" or "After the Final Rose" specials. Until then, though, this is his statement: "I just want to address the elephant in the room here really quick. First I want you all to know how hard it has been for me to watch myself this season so far," he wrote on Instagram. "Regardless of what is aired AND IF @alabamahannah and I are together or not my behavior in all situations has been and will continue to be exposed. I have learned a lot and I am continuing to learn about my flaws as a man."
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"I’m the first to admit I am far from perfect. This journey has giving me a great opportunity to grow and mature as a man, for that I am grateful," he continues. "For those of you who are on this journey with me I am grateful for your support and hope you get to learn and grow from my mistakes with me!" I hope you mean it, Luke.
