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Former ‘Bachelorette’ star claims he pretended to be transgender as social experiment: ‘Expose how gullible and delusional the left is’

Former “Bachelorette” contestant Josh Seiter claimed in a new interview that he’s been pretending to be a transgender woman online as part of a social experiment to “expose how gullible and delusional the left is.”

Seiter originally came out as a transgender woman in May 2024 and was greeted with a slew of death threats that he claimed made him “fear for my safety all the time.”

He notably claimed throughout his apparently faux journey that he believed people did not “need to take anything to be a trans woman,” including hormones or elective surgeries.

Former “Bachelorette” contestant Josh Seiter pretended to be a transgender
woman for five months. Instagram/josh_seiter_official
Seiter decided to pretend to be a transgender woman as part of a
self-conducted social experiment. Joshua Seiter / SWNS

The last five months of his life have apparently been a ruse to highlight how “gullible and delusional the left is,” he said on the podcast “Prime Time with Alex Stein.”

“I think a lot of trans women are turned on at the thought of themselves being women. Guess what? It doesn’t magically make them women,” Seiter said.

Seiter parsing a bag of makeup and lipstick. Joshua Seiter / SWNS

“We live in a free country, you can do whatever you want. But don’t make your fetish my truth. I don’t have to accept it.”

He said earlier this year when he first started his so-called social experiment that he was met with “intolerance, bigotry and gatekeeping” from all sides, including transgender people and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

He sšŸŽƒtarted the interview with a full face of makeup and wearing a scarf with the colors of the transgeną¼’der flag. He had one of the staff working on the show come and wipe his makeup off, then unveiled his hoax to the camera.

“I faked being a faker. I pretended to be a pretender,” Seiter said.

Seiter previously claimed as part of his ruse that he felt he was born in the wrong body
from a young age. Joshua Seiter / SWNS

“We are all the same, we are all men putting on makeup and dresses and claiming we are women, and I hope that this could help some people understand that just because you put on dresses and makeup as a man doesn’t magically make you a woman.”

The “Bachelorette” alum’s purported ploy went deep, as he tasked himself with convincing the country that he was transgender. He managed to fool both sides of the political spectrum, even reaching conservative commentators like Megyn Kelly.

He claimed he believed that he was different from a young age, often dressing up in his mother’s clothing and experimenting with her makeup when she wasn’t looking. He previously discussed the difficulties that came with accepting himself while being raised in a strictly conservative Christian household.

Seiter equated being transgender to chronic mental illnesses like schizophrenia. Neither gender dysphoria nor gender non-conforming presentations like being transgender are considered mental disorders, accošŸŽ¶rding to the .

He also claimed that during the alleged social experiment, he observed that the left has a need to “curry favor” by falling in line with whatever is most topical on their side, even if they disagree with it.

SšŸ»eiter previously came out as pansexual in January 2021, and later as bisexual in 2023, which he did not touch on during his interview with Stein.