Rance, who previously appeared on Big Brother, shared an emotional appeal with his fans only recently. He urged them to stop the hate that has been focused on him and his entire family. For his part, Rance revealed that because he had a presence on the show dating his brother from Ariana Grande, Frankies Grande, he has received some threats.
In a serious video posted on YouTube on 26 August, Zach Rance revealed the sustained bullying he has encountered since being a housemate on Big Brother season 16 in 2014. He said that this was because every year for the last decade, he has been harassed by fans who were mad at him for how things ended between him and Frankie Grande. Rance described receiving specific and vulgar emails, which contained not only threats about his life but also references to violence against his family and friends.
There is a phenomenon known as the Zankie phenomenon wherein Zach Rance developed a close friendship with Frankie Grande whilst a housemate in Big Brother. The two formed a collective known as Zankie, and many of their followers wish to see how the two express themselves in person after the recording of the show is done. This did not happen, however. Rance and Grande parted their ways, but some of the fans were extremely bummed out and expressed negative emotions.
That situation was however worsened in the year 2015, five months after the season ended when Rance’s cell phone number and email address were posted on the internet. Strangers had to send Rance unkind messages and threats, for they felt that he was homophobic and hence locked in the closet. These messages were unending with most of them instructing the victim to kill himself.
Rance said that the emails are still persistent even after more than ten years. The threats have taken a toll on him as a person since some of the harassers have been able to reach out to his business clients and even make attempts to threaten him. Although Rance is a target of attacks, he is not backing down on the issue of harassment.
Zach Rance’s video is a stark incorporation of the brutalities that come with achieving fame through reality shows. Most fans often become overzealously obsessed and this experience underlines how one suffers from such behavior. Rance wants to change this kind of behavior and that is the reason why he is telling his story.
A word of sympathy from Zach Rance’s mouth is that compassion is warranted in this case. One has to get that the stars in Reality TV are not merely characters on the screen but are human beings with real personalities and lives. Instead of realizing the constipation these individuals carry, it is very important to handle all of these with care.
