Bachelor 21 - Nick Viall - General Discussion - *Sleuthing Spoilers* #3

Everyone should brace themselves for a season of Nick looking down and not making eye contact when he talks to people. Not unlike his speech thing, this is a part of his mannerisms and he's been this way all along. I saw a lot of tweets about him not making eye contact with Jen during the breakup scene, people said he was being dishonest. Maybe he was, I don't know.

Unfortunately the American culture has us all believing that not making eye contact means you are lying or have something to hide. I do not know what psychologists or whatever did that study, but I have since come to learn that certain cultures view making eye contact differently. In some cultures making eye contact is disrespectful, while maintaining a slightly bowed head and avoiding eye contact shows the person is humble. Yeah, avoiding eye contact can show dishonesty. I know this can be true.

All in all, we are who we are, we were all made differently and therefore act differently. I can imagine how hard it must be for people who are inherently shy, and don't maintain constant eye contact, to always have people judge them as liars or dishonest, or in Nick's case, even creepy. Since this is the way he is when talking to A,B,C or D and on all occasions, this is his natural behavior, and not a way he acts when put in a tight spot. My opinion.

Duke702 wrote:OMG the GMA hosts were straight up laughing at the clip of his ridiculous fake eye squinting crying. Wow, this is going to be a great season.

IMO, I don't think that he was fake crying. Not by a long shot. Nick has been the dumpee too many times, and he knows how badly it hurts. I think it was killing him to hurt Jen that way. I think he's going to be very emotional next season when he has to let someone go, that he has become close too, and has feelings for. Imo, that is going to be the hardest part of the experience for him, because he knows the pain, oh too well.

On the GMA YouTube page, there's a video of Nick doing a bts interview and he says Andi and he texted after the Bach announcement and blah blah blah.

I'm sure she has a lot of great advice for him!!

Oh Andi who wrote a bunch of horrible stuff about him in her book? All these girls (Ashley, Andi) need to stop glomming onto him, they all need to go away. Seems everyone is trying to be the advice giver.

julychild wrote:Everyone should brace themselves for a season of Nick looking down and not making eye contact when he talks to people. Not unlike his speech thing, this is a part of his mannerisms and he's been this way all along. I saw a lot of tweets about him not making eye contact with Jen during the breakup scene, people said he was being dishonest. Maybe he was, I don't know.

Unfortunately the American culture has us all believing that not making eye contact means you are lying or have something to hide. I do not know what psychologists or whatever did that study, but I have since come to learn that certain cultures view making eye contact differently. In some cultures making eye contact is disrespectful, while maintaining a slightly bowed head and avoiding eye contact shows the person is humble. Yeah, avoiding eye contact can show dishonesty. I know this can be true.

All in all, we are who we are, we were all made differently and therefore act differently. I can imagine how hard it must be for people who are inherently shy, and don't maintain constant eye contact, to always have people judge them as liars or dishonest, or in Nick's case, even creepy. Since this is the way he is when talking to A,B,C or D and on all occasions, this is his natural behavior, and not a way he acts when put in a tight spot. My opinion.

Yes, yes, and yes. Reminds me a little of myself and how I used to be. This is what I've seen from him since I first saw him on 'ette 1. I still think that despite his quirky personality and confidence, there's still a shyness about him. Could be wrong, but that's what I see. In one of the interviews, I saw him look down when answering a question and then make eye contact while continuing to talk. He does that a lot. Just because he's not locking eyes with someone when he talks doesn't mean he's disingenuous. I don't think it's anything other than this is who he is. Confident but shy Nick. Imo

Speaking from the perspective of an introvert (which I believe Nick is), maintaining eye contact is a difficult thing to do, especially when you are nervous or having a serious conversation that requires complete engagement.

It may seem like eye contact would be the first thing one might think of when attempting to convey sincerity, but Nick is acting from his heart and I'm sure maintaining eye contact is not his first priority. I think authenticity is Nick's first priority in these types of conversations not trying to appear authentic by trying to work on his eye contact issue.

I've read a few studies that say, liars maintain deliberate eye contact more often. Avoiding eye contact many times stems from being uncomfortable, ashamed, bashful, not necessarily because one is dishonest.

I can't wait for the spoilers to start to roll for this season and during the filming. I'm maybe a bit too exited for Nick's season, tbh.

OnePromise wrote:Speaking from the perspective of an introvert (which I believe Nick is), maintaining eye contact is a difficult thing to do, especially when you are nervous or having a serious conversation that requires complete engagement.

It may seem like eye contact would be the first thing one might think of when attempting to convey sincerity, but Nick is acting from his heart and I'm sure maintaining eye contact is not his first priority. I think authenticity is Nick's first priority in these types of conversations not trying to appear authentic by trying to work on his eye contact issue.

So true IMO

julychild wrote:snipped

All in all, we are who we are, we were all made differently and therefore act differently. I can imagine how hard it must be for people who are inherently shy, and don't maintain constant eye contact, to always have people judge them as liars or dishonest, or in Nick's case, even creepy. Since this is the way he is when talking to A,B,C or D and on all occasions, this is his natural behavior, and not a way he acts when put in a tight spot. My opinion.

The bolded really says it all, imo. Again, great post!

julychild wrote:Everyone should brace themselves for a season of Nick looking down and not making eye contact when he talks to people. Not unlike his speech thing, this is a part of his mannerisms and he's been this way all along. I saw a lot of tweets about him not making eye contact with Jen during the breakup scene, people said he was being dishonest. Maybe he was, I don't know.

Unfortunately the American culture has us all believing that not making eye contact means you are lying or have something to hide. I do not know what psychologists or whatever did that study, but I have since come to learn that certain cultures view making eye contact differently. In some cultures making eye contact is disrespectful, while maintaining a slightly bowed head and avoiding eye contact shows the person is humble. Yeah, avoiding eye contact can show dishonesty. I know this can be true.

All in all, we are who we are, we were all made differently and therefore act differently. I can imagine how hard it must be for people who are inherently shy, and don't maintain constant eye contact, to always have people judge them as liars or dishonest, or in Nick's case, even creepy. Since this is the way he is when talking to A,B,C or D and on all occasions, this is his natural behavior, and not a way he acts when put in a tight spot. My opinion.

Great post! I have the same habit and have had since I was young. I don't like making eye contact, no matter the situation. It has to do with a bit of shyness and something I am not comfortable doing it at times. We are not the same, we all have quirkiness that make us different from one another. That is Nick thing, and same can be said for me.

I'm so excited to see Nick get his happy ending and I am so over the idea that he is manipulating any of this or that he dumped Jen to get the gig. While filming bip for those all of 18 days he wd hv no idea how he wd be viewed by the time it aired, no idea of his popularity. Also when ET interviewed Jen right before the finale final rose, she openly said she was not looking for a proposal due to them not being at that stage from her side too. I think in that mment you hv to both say your piece so I don't mind that she spoke first as she clearly wasn't expecting a proposal from Nick so it was more about expressing how they felt at that moment. 10 days together just simply not enough time to be sure of anything imo. All imo.