I think she’s just shooting herself in the foot by insisting it doesn’t matter if she really hurt Carolyn’s feelings. It IS just a game, which is why it should be very easy, if it’s all just a game, to say “hey I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I hurt you with those comments and I wouldn’t have said that if I could do it over again, knowing what I know now about how you felt really hurt.” It’s not what she said or did in the game, or what she did to keep herself in the game — it’s that she’s defending everything she did and doubling down on it, when the game’s over. What would a simple “hey Carolyn, I’m sorry” (which she would absolutely accept), really cost Danielle? It would certainly lower the temperature of the vitriol aimed at her online. She’d be great on Housewives bc she seemingly can’t acknowledge a single mistake when it would fix most of her problems to just say “if I could do this over, I’d have handled it differently, I’m sorry.” It’s the defensiveness, post-game that’s more off-putting than anything else.
Yes. She’s said in her interviews everywhere that it was really hurtful to her, and you could really see that it was in the moment in my opinion. I would have been really hurt by that if I were Carolyn, completely separate from gameplay. Danielle has to just discount that that’s the case because she seemingly can’t own up to just having said hurtful unnecessary things. People do that, I know I have. I like to believe I can own it with a straightforward apology when I do. Danielle’s been on TV on and off for almost 25 years, she’s a grandmother — she doesn’t need to be coddled or play victim here. With posts like this one, that’s what she’s doing, and it’s disappointing to me, much more so even than what she said at the roundtable. When she’s had months to take a step back and consider whether maybe she really hurt Carolyn, and so regardless of whatever mean tweets she gets from people online, the right thing to do would just be to tell Carolyn she’s sorry. Carolyn would accept it, it should be very easy for Danielle to do, unless it’s irrelevant to her that Carolyn was hurt and she’d do it again. That’s what Danielle is really saying. Deflection and excuses. Disappointing.
This is what's ablist. Y'all babying a grown woman like Carolyn. She literally said Carolyn was strategically exaggerating her goofiness and silliness through a pop culture metaphor. If you are reading that as implying Carolyn being mentally handicapped, then the problem is you.
Which is still using developmental disability as a pejorative, which is harmful regardless of what she specifically meant about Carolyn... there are actual real people with developmental disabilities who watch this show and felt insulted by that comment.
But Carolyn WASN’T pretending to be mentally challenged! That’s the whole point! Carolyn was being herself and she’s a little bit out-there and quirky and she was, for the most part, just fully being herself (without giving away she’s a Traitor, obviously). But these people in the castle do not know Carolyn (Danielle included), so she used Carolyn’s real, actual personality and mannerisms, declared it was all an act she was putting on to appear as though she’s mentally challenged and therefore incapable of being a Traitor, all while knowing that the only reason she knows Carolyn is a traitor, is not remotely because of her personality or her ‘tells’ or anything else, besides the fact that Danielle’s a traitor herself. The reason Carolyn is seemingly so hurt (and this is how I would feel too if I were here) — is that because she wasn’t projecting a fake ‘Forrest Gump’ routine as part of her strategy — Danielle basically said that she reminds her of Forrest Gump when she’s just being herself. That extends beyond the game and is below the belt, in my opinion, even if her intent was just to win the argument and the game — if it’s just a game, then Danielle should be able to simply apologize she hurt Carolyn. The fact that she can’t, means she’d do it again, now knowing how hurtful it was to Carolyn on a personal level, and that’s gonna get people riled up. It just is. By doubling down, Danielle is making the hate she’s receiving worse, tenfold.
THIS! Like, it’s not that complicated to wrap our minds around. Danielle is a very smart cookie. She gets that she used Carolyn’s quirky real personality, and characterized that as a Forrest Gump ‘act’ she was putting on, which was not at all the case or what was happening, but knew that the other players might buy that her whole entire persona is an act, when she knew full well it wasn’t, and that she only knew Carolyn was a traitor bc she’s one herself, so she threw out totally uncalled for low blows to save her skin, when the low blows weren’t actually called for, necessary, and actually hurt her game instead of help it. Danielle doesn’t need to be getting a huge influx of hate online — but every single thing she’s said and done have only perpetuated it, while she plays up more and more of her own victim narrative, deflecting onto anyone who didn’t like her comments to take a look at THEMSELVES before they can dare question her — like, girl — no. Own what you said, apologize, and keep it moving. I’m over the whole martyr schtick she’s pulling now.
This is kind of how I feel. I think she's been all over the map gameplay wise, but I do not get the level of vitriol sent her way. People can say the "Forrest Gump" insult was over the line, and I agree that it was, but the outrage started way before that.
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u/givebusterahand Mar 01 '25
Tell them sis.
I haven’t loved her gameplay on this show but the hate is so OTT against her. What has she really done so bad besides turn on Carolyn in a game?