Why Nick Viall Believes a "Civil War" Is Brewing in Bachelor Nation

Bachelor alum Nick Viall talks to Rachel Lindsay about the drama going on in Bachelor Nation during his interview on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast. Check it out

By emily belfiore Oct 30, 2019 7:02 PMTags

Not everyone's here for the right reasons, according to Nick Viall.

The former Bachelor admitted that he thinks there's a civil war brewing within the Bachelor Nation during this week's Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, where he chatted with host and fellow Bachelor alum Rachel Lindsay about the changing landscape of the show and how social media is to blame.

"There's a war brewing among Bachelor Nation cast," he told Rachel, who has had her fair share of drama recently. "It's all social media's fault. You're, like, in the middle of it. When I, like, on Kaitlyn [Bristowe]'s season was kind of the beginning of the social media height and then JoJo [Fletcher]'s season. Now we're at full-blown social media."

Nick also noted that more drama is getting added to the mix as the Bachelor franchise continues to evolve and expands.

"It's like Hannah [Brown] and Colton [Underwood] started this new wave of cast members," the Viall Files host explained.

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"There's this constant, like it's high school, and it's like The Sharks and The Jets—that's an O.G. reference from West Side Story—and everyone's just like pretending to be friends," he continued. "Everyone's just going after the same FabFitFun deals and everyone's just like jocking for position. And everyone's just talking shit. It's kind of fun. It's like the Marvel Civil War movie. Everyone's kinda friends, like, we all kinda like each other and then we get into this big fight."

While Nick has done a good job of staying out of the drama, he admits to falling victim to some petty moments throughout his time on the show. "It's very high school-ish and it can get very petty," Nick said. "We all have been guilty of, at times, being petty and kind of responding to our own insecurities and criticisms."

This comes weeks after Rachel and her Bachelor co-star Raven Gates revealed that they are no longer friends following a shocking fall-out. Neither star has shared what exactly happened between the two, but several other Bachelor Nation members have become tangled in their feud. Recently, Colton made a snippy comment about Lindsay on Instagram, saying, "Shocker. Rachel mad at another person... does she like anyone?"

While chatting with Rachel, Nick shared his thoughts on Raven and the character she portrays in the Bachelor Nation. 

"I quite like Raven," he began. "This is not about me criticizing Raven because I don't like her—I think she's great in person. I think the person she portrays herself to be on the show and on Instagram is full of s--t and lying and bulls--t. And, I think she talks shit about people all the time. And I think that's totally fine, but I don't like that people sometimes pretend to be a certain way." 

We're curious to see how this "civil war," as Nick put it, plays out...