Nick Viall was portrayed as an aggressive, promiscuous and cocky suitor on both of his The Bachelorette stints, so how does he compare his former self with Corinne Olympios, the current The Bachelor villain?

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"I don't know if I'd make a direct [correlation]," Viall told Glamour. "Certainly, I was willing to be assertive. I went for what I want."

Viall stole every moment possible with former Bachelorettes Andi Dorfman and Kaitlyn Bristowe despite rubbing his competition the wrong way. He adopted an "I'm not here to make friends" mentality and had sex with both women -- one encounter of which he publicly revealed on Dorfman's After the Final Rose special when she was happily engaged to Josh Murray at the time.

"I'm someone who thinks sex is a positive thing," Viall noted.

As for Olympios, she snagged a makeout session on Night 1, took her bikini top off during the season's first group date and interrupted numerous conversations Viall was having with other women. (Based on previews, she also intends to seduce Viall in his hotel room later this season, among other wild antics).

"I think Corinne interrupted more people on one date than I ever did in two seasons. But, at the same time, I was assertive, and I'm glad Corinne was assertive," Viall explained.

"Like I said, there is that balance. It is a weird environment, and I didn't want to sit there and lecture Corinne and say, 'Don't do this. Don't do that.' I wanted to see how it all played out."

Many contestants, fans and unbiased viewers have criticized Viall for giving Olympios the first group-date rose in light of her controversial and often rude behavior.

"Was Corinne aggressive? Yeah. People could criticize Corinne for maybe sending the wrong message, but you can also look at her as someone who really took a chance and had some fun. She certainly didn't get a rose because she took her top off," Viall insisted.

In fact, the Season 21 The Bachelor star claimed he was "uncomfortable" when Olympios took her bathing suit top off in the pool and asked him to hold her breasts. She and Viall were posing for a beach-themed wedding photo shoot in front of other women at the time. 

"Not to take anything away from Corinne, but... I was taken off guard. I was uncomfortable, also, when [Jasmine Goode] grabbed and kissed me. To all the women's credit that day, they were willing to have a lot of fun with [the group date], but they were also pretty aggressive, which made me uncomfortable," Viall told Glamour.

"But it's the first date, and I thought it was important for me to set the tone and not criticize the women for going for it. Sometimes Bachelor world can have its almost natural hypocrisies, like are you here for the 'right' reasons? Are you here to meet this guy and get to know this guy? And then criticize that very person for not being focused on rubbing other people the wrong way."

Viall noted there is "a delicate balance" when it comes to fighting for a Bachelor or Bachelorette's attention.

"That's why you saw when someone interrupt, I just let things play out," he said. "I can appreciate other women's criticism in that environment of Corinne. At the same time, I was also curious how they would handle [my choice to give her a rose]."

Viall was curious to see how the bachelorettes would react to his highly-unpopular decision.

"Would they talk to me? How would they communicate their frustrations with me? Group date roses are a way to validate the [person who gets a rose] on a group date, but also a way to see how people react," said Viall. "I wanted to see how they would handle the stresses and how they would they communicate as a result of not getting their way."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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