The Bachelor's Cat Henesey reveals harsh reality of 'villain' portrayal

She’s one of The Bachelor’s most memorable contestants after being portrayed as the ‘mean girl’ of season six in 2018, and now Cat Henesey has revealed what she really thinks about her controversial ‘edit’.

The TV star-turned-podcast host, who also had a brief appearance on Bachelor in Paradise in 2019, opened up to Yahoo Lifestyle about her negative portrayal and how it impacted her career, her love life, and her mental health.

“I had so much fun filming the show and there was definitely tension in the mansion, but I do really feel like they gave me a super unfair edit,” she reflects.

“I've even had some of the producers personally text me - because post-edit and production are two different teams - and they were like, ‘I’m so sorry that's how you got portrayed, you really weren't getting depicted as that character completely. You were meant to be the cheeky funny one with a bit of sass’.”

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While she tried her best to have “thick skin” and be a “support network” for her co-stars Alisha Aitken-Radburn and Romy Poulier who were also receiving negative portrayals, Cat admits she found it “really difficult” watching herself on TV.

“They would cut out anything with me laughing or making a joke,” she shares. “I’m very sarcastic and quick-witted, and they just made me seem like a complete b***h when half the time I was taking the piss.

“I remember this one scene they showed where I said, ‘I never care about how anyone feels’ and I mumbled my words, but little did anyone watching know they had woken me up at 5am that morning after we had been filming the rose ceremony until like 3am to go into a two-hour interview in this tiny box demountable with no aircon on because of the sound. And I'm sitting there exhausted, just having questions thrown at me for two and a half hours.

“So of course you're gonna stumble and say something that they can use to f**k with you.”

'It was pretty full on'

Cat adds that the hardest part of the experience was seeing certain girls from her season receive more opportunities than her post-show just because they had “really great edits”.

“So I was sitting here being like, I went through the exact same experience as you and because you got portrayed really well and I got betrayed really badly, you’re now here 15 steps ahead in your career and I'm sitting here with a brand not even wanting to work with me because I'm a ‘bully’ or a ‘villain’,” she remarks. “I think that was definitely what I really mentally struggled with.”

One month after her season of The Bachelor finished airing on TV, Cat flew to Fiji for season two of Bachelor in Paradise in the hopes of getting a 'redemption arc' similar to fellow ‘villain’ Keira Maguire. However, she ended up quitting the show in the second episode for a number of reasons.

“I felt like I hadn't actually dealt with what I’d just gone through, like getting death threats, people yelling at me in the street, throwing s**t at me,” she admits. “It was pretty full on.

“And then to go straight back into filming a new show, none of the guys in there wanted to get to know me or have any time with me because I was ‘the villain’. They wanted all the girls who got a good edit as it would help their profile.

“Everyone’s so calculated, so that was really difficult because I was portrayed as someone who I'm not. I'm actually a ball of energy and a lot of fun, and if you gave me five minutes you would find that out.”

'Jake the Snake'

Cat’s comments come shortly after fellow Bachelor in Paradise contestant Jake Ellis spoke candidly with Yahoo Lifestyle about his ‘edit’.

Jake appeared on Georgia Love's season of The Bachelorette in 2016 and two seasons of Bachelor in Paradise in 2017 and 2019, and admits his portrayal across the franchise was “a rollercoaster”.

“I went through a few things,” he said. “On The Bachelorette I was ‘the boring nice family guy’ - and I am a family guy, that’s very true, but I don’t think I’m boring.

“And then the first season of Paradise where it's a lot more loose and there are a lot more things happening on-air, I was ‘Jake the Snake’ for a few episodes. And I copped it because I guess the no-nonsense side of me was really shown a bit more.

“And then I think I finished well! I left [season three of Bachelor in Paradise] for a chance at love, which is the whole point… So I think I had a bit of a rollercoaster of portrayals from nice to everyone hating me to then people liking me again, but there’s only so much you can do. How you think you’re going to be perceived by the public can be completely different.”

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