The Bachelor: The Bizarre Way Matt James Kisses Has Fans Talking

In recent years, The Bachelor franchise leads have appeared on a previous season of the show, and some of them had even been on three or four seasons before they got the opportunity to hand out roses. Clare Crawley was on four Bachelor shows before becoming the Bachelorette. Nick Viall was the runner-up twice on The Bachelorette, and he appeared on Bachelor in Paradise before becoming the Bachelor himself. That's why it was so shocking to some fans when Matt James was announced as the Bachelor back in June 2020. 

Sure, many social media sleuths recognized him as fan-favorite Tyler Cameron's best friend thanks to their social media posts, especially when they formed "The Quarantine Crew" with Hannah Brown during the early coronavirus lockdown in spring 2020. Even so, some funny TikTok videos and some hilariously captioned Instagram photos do not provide a ton of background info. 

For the most part, viewers are getting to know Matt from scratch each week when his season airs. Overall, he's coming through as a guy who has been kind, observant, and attentive. However, fans do have one small (yet hilarious) gripe to pick with the new Bachelor: he kisses with his eyes open. 

While the Nemacolin resort appears to be a major upgrade from the La Quinta, which is where Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams' seasons of The Bachelorette was filmed, one fan has a (late in the game) suggestion to re-allocate the budget for The Bachelor, tweeting, "can #TheBachelor producers please redirect some of the fireworks budget to CGI matt's eyes closed in all kissing scenes." Someone else made a meme about Matt James' kissing with his eyes open, suggesting that he's disinterested when he does it. One viewer just wanted to know, "Why does matt keep his eyes open when kissing."

Even Matt's BFF, Tyler Cameron, is questioning the situation, re-posting a screenshot of Matt in action with Lauren Maddox along with some laughing emojis. Tyler wrote, "ayyyyoooo @mattjames919 what we got going on over here." Matt threw in some laughing emojis as well when he explained, "Gotta make sure no one sneaking up on us! When your eyes are closed.. ANYTHING can happen! It's for both of our protection." He has a fair point.

Not to jinx it, but Matt has been impressive two weeks into his season. If keeping his eyes open during some make-out sessions is the most offensive thing he does this season, he's in great shape, especially compared to the more controversial Bachelors in recent years. And, it's not as if his eyes are open every single time.

Fans were not only confused by what they saw when Matt James puckered up, they also weren't into it... at all. "I love Matt as the bachelor but his eyes being open for every kiss hahahaha nooo," one person tweeted, and they certainly weren't alone in their opinion of the Bachelor's quirky kissing. Another fan of The Bachelor got a vibe that wasn't exactly romantic, noting, "Matt goes in for a kiss like he's about to take a bite out of a sandwich." That's definitely not, er, appetizing!

"Bro every time Matt from the bachelor kisses someone his EYES ARE OPEN ... and it's so awkward," another Twitter user wrote. Others seemed to agree, writing that Matt's kissing made them "so uncomfy" or "kinda disgusted." Anyone else cringing extremely hard with secondhand embarrassment? That's surely why another fan of the show couldn't help but ask why someone in charge wasn't stepping up and stepping in to do something about the smoochy situation: "Why does the new bachelor Matt kiss with his eyes open?? More importantly why did the producers keep letting him??"

Perhaps the producers know that bad kissing will stir up just as much attention (if not more) than good kissing. Fortunately for fans, there have been plenty of talented kissers on the show before.

If the fact that Matt James kisses with his eyes open is making his season of The Bachelor awkward for you to watch, then just rest assured that not everyone from Bachelor Nation suffers from a poor smooching technique. In fact, some made a lasting mark with their make-out abilities.

Surely you're curious about which individuals among the group are the best of the best when it comes to puckering up, which is why Bustle ranked those who have appeared (and did a lot of kissing) on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Clare Crawley was mentioned, thanks to the fact that Juan Pablo was willing to break his "no kissing" rule for her, while Catherine Giudici and Nicki Sterling were also included on the lip-tastic list. Chris Siegfried is also a talented kisser, according to the ranking, as is J.P. Rosenbaum.

But it's Arie Luyendyk Jr. who may be most famous for his enthusiasm towards getting a little up-close-and-personal with plenty of people (at least in the past), which earned him an appropriate nickname: The Kissing Bandit. Maybe Arie and some of these other Bachelor Nation stars could give Matt a few tips?