I'm Sorry I Made Fun Of Nick Viall For Wearing A Livestrong Bracelet

    :-/

    Rachel Wilkerson Miller
    by Rachel Wilkerson Miller

    BuzzFeed Staff

    For the first time in my life, I'm watching The Bachelor.

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    I'm watching it because this post about this season's contestants left me genuinely intrigued, and because I thought it would be fun to offer my perspective as a total n00b to my coworker Terri's weekly recaps.

    Unlike a lot of people, I actually do like Nick Viall, this season's main man. In fact, my main complaint with Nick is the fact that he wears a Livestrong bracelet, something I first noticed a few weeks ago.

    Rachel W. Miller @the_rewm

    Is Nick wering a Livestrong bracelet? #TheBachelor

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    *wearing! *wearing!!!! How is it 2017 and we still cannot edit tweets?!

    Rachel W. Miller @the_rewm

    Update: Nick is definitely wearing a Livestrong bracelet. #TheBachelor

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    (TBH, there would be a dozen more of these if "Livestrong bracelet" didn't take up so many characters.)

    I was so confused/disgusted/charmed by this that I mentioned it in the Episode 6 recap...

    "Nick has never met a short short he doesn’t like. This episode, he treats our eyes to a vibrant blue pair (and a colorful patterned pair), and walks around like a drunk baby dinosaur in them, an image we will not soon scrub from the recesses of our minds. Nick is nothing if not a giver.

    He also appears to be wearing a Livestrong bracelet."

    (Terri wrote the entire first paragraph. I wrote the second.)

    And in the Episode 8 recap...

    "Most WTF moment: When Corinne took Nick on a Pretty Woman-esque shopping date and then whips out her credit card to spend more than $3,000 on clothing for him. Also, seeing Nick dressed in a $3,000 outfit but still wearing his Livestrong bracelet."

    (Guess which sentence I wrote!!!!)

    I just found the fact that this 36-year-old man was wearing a Livestrong bracelet in the year 2017 truly baffling!!!

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    Every time I'd see it during the show I'd wonder, How can a Livestrong bracelet even still exist after all these years??? Are Livestrong bracelets the Twinkies of the man accessories world? Also, WHO IS STILL STANNING FOR LANCE ARMSTRONG?

    Well! After our recap this week, someone left this comment on the BuzzFeed Weddings Facebook page:

    HUH. Now, when I read "wristband" in that comment, I assumed Kayla meant those impossible-to-remove paper bracelets you're given at clubs or events...and those things are so damn hard to take off, it could explain why Nick was still wearing his. (Honestly, who knows if they have scissors just lying around in Bachelor Mansion??? After watching UnReal, I can see how that might be a liability.)

    Anyway, it looked like I might owe Nick an apology! To find out, I went back through the Zero G episode to see if Vanessa was also wearing a yellow bracelet in that scene. And turns out...

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    YUP! She was!

    Here's a shot of our lovebirds' yellow-braceleted hands reaching for each other.

    ABC

    OK, so I was wrong, but I will say this: these do not appear to be the impossible-to-remove club wristbands that I first assumed the commenter was talking about. They look like extremely removable continuous rubber band bracelets. They look like the owner of Zero G has a friend who ran a factory that made Livestrong bracelets, and who wrote "Hey, does anyone know someone who needs 4,000 yellow rubber band bracelets?" on Facebook a couple hours after Lance Armstrong admitted to doping, and the Zero G guy was like, "Oh, hey, I could maybe take about 1,000 of them off your hands, I'll DM you."

    ABC

    My point is, it looks like like Nick could easily remove the bracelet, and is choosing to continue wearing it. Which means either that he loves Vanessa (which I don't like, but whatever)...or that his wrist has felt naked ever since that fateful day in 2013 when he watched Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah and then took a deep breath and removed the bracelet from his wrist and threw it in the trash with a sad shake of his head. After a deep dive into Zero G's Instagram, we learned that not everyone gets a yellow wristband; did Nick ask for yellow because he was subconsciously looking for a way to replace his beloved Livestrong bracelet? Only Nick knows the answer to these questions (and I would definitely like to interview him about this topic if he's up for it).

    TL;DR: Nick Viall doesn't wear a Livestrong bracelet and I'm sorry for being fake news.

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