Tag Archives: The Bachelor

The Bachelor Juan Pablo: Can he really fall in love?

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So another season of The Bachelor is upon us and I am slightly more excited than usual when it comes to this male version of the franchise. I think I’ve made it clear before that I believe the chances of an actual marriage with a man who is exposed to 27 women who want him is rare (Jason and Sean being the exceptions!).

From the way the show is editing and presenting Juan Pablo, I can maybe see him falling in love. He seems genuine, playful, and charismatic. He is absolutely himself, no hiding the way he checked each lady out on her way into the house, and seems like a good guy and dad. The question hiding beneath this hope, however, is whether or not he’s capable of a sincere monogamous relationship with one of these ladies, not whether he wants one.

He seemed overwhelmed. Like, how do I choose from 27 ladies that are all beautiful? And, as he met with them individually he seemed to like each one more than the next. What really threw me for a loop was his first impression rose. Sharleen is a beautiful, intelligent, elegant opera singer, but she wasn’t the most vivacious, beautiful, or even engaging woman there. She herself admitted to lacking that initial spark with him – almost to the point where she turned down the rose.

What’s more worrisome than her lukewarm feelings? He seems absolutely clueless to her disinterest. I guess that’s what a good ego can do for a man. I don’t think he’s thought about the fact that there could be a woman that might not want “Juan Pablo”! Anyway, previews with Sharleen seem odd. Maybe she stays around a while for drama, but she won’t be the one.

One thing Sharleen has in common with another woman that seems to be a front-runner is her intelligence. Juan Pablo seems to like his ladies smart. Is he smart enough for them, though? He seemed really smitten with Andi, a prosecutor from Georgia. Andi is fabulously attractive and obviously sharp as a tack. I couldn’t help but feel like she was humoring him some. Is Juan Pablo more looks and charms than brains – or is it the language barrier that causes doubt?

Some other girls that he seemed to like and my thoughts:

Twenty-four year-old Chelsea seems smart, cute, and fun. She made a “chemistry” joke when they met because she’s a science teacher. You could tell he thought she was attractive and would be good for Camila (his 4 year-old daughter). I think she’ll be around for a while.

Alli, the soccer-playing nanny from Illinois seems to have the most in common with him. They’re introduction was natural and seemed comfortable and real, while also showing a spark!

Clare, the hairstylist from Sacramento that hopped out of the limo pretending to be pregnant also seems to be on his list of favorites. Sure it was a silly trick, kind of like Lindsay’s wedding dress in Sean’s season, but Juan Pablo seemed to be looking past what she said and did to how pretty she was. I have a feeling, like with Lindsay, that we have a Bachelorette contender in Clare. She won’t win though.

Nikki, the pediatric nurse from Missouri took the Twitter love title last evening. Most people loved her and compared her to ex-Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky. She is a doll. She seems real and down to earth, as well as smart and sweet. He likes her and she’s a possibility for sure.

To me he seemed most physically attracted to Christy, the marketing manager from Illinois. He gave her a rose but we didn’t see any conversation. This probably means she goes home next episode or that we’ll see a slow reveal of them getting to know one another.

The final rose of the night went to Amy L., a news reporter from Clermont, Fla. They had chemistry and she’s smart. She wants to be there and I think we’ll see a lot more between them.

Finally, there was single mom Renee who is beautiful, down to earth, and smart. Things look promising but is she just someone he connects with as a parent or is there more there? We will see.

So – what about the train wrecks?

It’s hard to imagine that they brought Amy the massage therapist on for any other purpose than to have her be the “you’ve got to be kidding” moment of the show. Red headed Kylie stepping forward for a rose when he called out Kat had to be the cringe moment of the night. When she said, “Can you keep us both?” and he stayed silent? Ouch! Another crazy that he kept was free spirit Lucy. She’ll be entertainment for sure.

I want to say one thing about the “Crier” of the night, Lauren H. I liked her. I liked her a lot. My take is that she was genuinely surprised by her emotional reaction to the experience of being there. As it happened, it seemed like she was intelligently processing her feelings and had identified her trigger. Maybe she wasn’t really ready to be there. Maybe she shouldn’t have explained her rough night to him when she first met him. I do not think, however, that she deserved the responses from people on Twitter or in blogs that she has received.

I get that people watch for the disasters. I get that it’s fun and good TV to talk about the crazy girls as I just did above. It seems to me, though that for real fans of the show, the focus on the craziness detracts from why we really watch. We watch to see a connection and see two people fall in love. Fans that have stuck with the franchise since the beginning enter each new season hoping for a Trista and Ryan, a Jason and Molly, a JP and Ashley, a Sean and Catherine – even an Andrew and Jen that was real despite not working out. That’s what I’m still a little worried about this season with Juan Pablo…I’m not totally convinced we will see him fall in love and if that hope isn’t stoked in the next few episodes, I may not finish this season.

Bachelorette: Did Jef take the lead? Will Sean give her babies? What happened with Arie?

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Ashley Hebert tweeted that, “When s%*t goes down…the guy with the next date is the one! #secretformula?”  I laughed out loud because she could be right on the money.  DeAnna Pappas Stagliano tweeted about the music change they used for Jef and said it was “frontrunner” music.  These girls know that of which they speak.  If we look at the edit of the show and past season experiences it’s very possible that Jef Holm could end up Mr. Emily Maynard.  Last night was a great episode, and not just because Kalon’s smug behind finally took a hike. Last night’s episode had real romance with two guys we KNOW are 100% there for the right reasons and want to marry her!

Sean’s tour date through the city of London showed a natural chemistry.  I loved the cute pics they were taking together.  You know those will end up in the family album.  When he got up to speak I almost believed the producers didn’t walk them past that spot on purpose.  He spoke from the heart and he had her from word one.  At dinner in the Tower of London – HOW COOL  –  she twirled her hair nervously and asked him about babies! Points for him he didn’t look scared.  One caveat: when she asked him how many and he said two, he looked like he was hedging his bets because he didn’t know how many she wanted.  There’s no way he’s intentionally holding back but I’m not sure he’s not just agreeing because he’s so in love.

The group date added drama and it was highly enjoyable to watch.  I did feel al little bad for Dad Doug when she didn’t give out the rose because no one had her back enough to tell her about what Kalon said. Huh? Did the scene we watched seconds before not actually happen? How did she describe what Doug did? Anywhoooo…It was awesome to see her come alive and go “West Virginia, hood rat, backwoods” on him! That was as true to life feisty as we’ve seen her.  That’s the Emily I want to know, not that southern belle, polite, submissive stuff.

Jef’s date was saved until last and even though he won me over, I wondered the whole time when it was going to pick up! Emily said she was slow but he might take things even slower.  Had he not kissed her last night he might have been taking himself home.  The cool thing about their date was his proclamation in the London Eye of what he wanted with her.  Don’t know that there were many women watching that didn’t ignore his funky hair and melt when he so GENUINELY explained how he thought she could be his best friend.  It was at that point on Twitter that he even won JP Rosenbaum’s support.  This boy (he calls Emily a girl) is the real deal…but Emily’s looking for a protector – can he beat Sean in that department?

We didn’t see much of Arie but even with the producers attempt to make it look like she was mad at him for not telling her, he was never in any danger. No doubt he’s still in contention.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.  The previews looked awesome. Romance, tears, drama.  Hoping she didn’t actually mean she really liked Ryan again but there were obviously some kisses coming up.  Did you see her walking angrily towards Chris Harrison and that woman saying, “What else do I not know?” Something big is happening there! It’s going to be a bumpy ride but a great season and I’m 100 % positive we’re finding true love! Yeah!

The Contenders…Bachelorette Episode Four

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I think it’s time to discuss the contenders.  After last night’s episode it’s pretty clear where Emily’s heart is headed.  There are two guys that seem to have made the biggest impression on our girl! Arie Luendyk looks to have a lock on Emily’s attention and affection so far.  Sean Lowe is close behind in an understated yet sincere performance, and Jef Holm seems to be making strides despite his goofy socks (shin guards?) and missed opportunities.

I didn’t want to fall for Arie.  He seems like such a set up from the producers…a race car driver like her former love? As the season progresses though, I can’t help but find myself being sucked in by his earnest focus on her instead of the process.  When he’s talking to her it’s obvious he’s into her and really wants to get to know her better.  He touches her spontaneously as opposed to strategically (Hello Ryan’s arm around her whenever she’s within 2 feet!).  She ‘s at ease with him in a way that makes it appear she may have already made a choice.  She told him when she’s alone on the porch he’s the one she thinks of? Couple that with her comment about how guys like him are hard to find? He’s an odds on favorite to be her intended.

However, none of the above means that Sean Lowe is out of the running.  Sean didn’t grab my attention at first because I’ve personally never had a thing for blondes, BUT he is steadily climbing in the “could be her true love” dept.  Emily wants to be taken care of, not managed and dominated as would be the case with Ryan, but loved and looked after.  Sean has the handsome, compassionate, protector vibe down.  And, he’s the only one she’s been kissing with the same honesty as Arie.  It’s hard to tell where this is going because the producers can edit it so many ways.  Arie could lose out to Sean, Sean could lose out to Arie…but I’d bet money that it’ll be one of the two.

Jef Holm is an enigma to me.  We haven’t seen very much of him and he’s definitely got an oddball side.  I thought they might be giving him the Jessie Csincsak edit.  I can’t figure out if he knows she’s into him and is playing hard to get to keep her attention, or if he’s really that dim and passed up beach kisses by accident.  Obviously from Emily’s conversation with Chris Harrison, she likes him and I think next week’s one on one (in the previews) should clear this up for viewers.

You’ll probably note that I didn’t add Doug Clerget and Chris Bukowski to the mix.  I just can’t see her falling for either in the long run (especially after watching Chris dance in the closing credits).  Add to that the producer’s focus on their conflict and it equals no future with Emily for either of them. I did agree with Chris that there’s something fake about Doug’s humble man act.  The more I see of him the less I like him.  Reverse that for Chris even though I don’t think he’ll make it to the finals.

Last but not leas,t let me say that this season’s hidden “Wes” is Ryan.  I said from their first date that something was off and he didn’t seem to be there for her.  Well, from last night’s show it’s clear that he’s there to try to be the next Bachelor.  Good luck with that.  Chauvinistic (trophy wife?), egotistical (how are you worthy?) players tend not to win America’s heart.  Emily seems to be catching on but the previews looked like Ryan’s not leaving yet and that they end up making out. Gross.

I’m hanging in there because I seriously think we’ll have a successful match from this season in the long run! Despite the slow start I’m getting into the guys and like her more than I ever thought possible. I love the disbelief that shows on her face when Ryan or Kalon make stupid comments and I can’t wait for her to tell Kalon to “get the _____ out” next week. From the previews the producers will give us lots of drama, but for the first time in a while it’s not drama created to hide the fact that there wasn’t a love connection. I think Emily’s engaged and happy.  Arie or Sean – that’s my bet.

Bachelorette Emily’s Lost Charisma…Found! (best episode yet!)

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Dare we hope that Emily has found her charisma? The question floated through my mind as they played the teasers for the evening and I found myself getting excited.  After watching the first two episodes, I had almost given up on Emily.  Where was the sparkly, flirty, entertaining woman that we caught glimpses of with Brad? Turns out she might have had a little stage fright/insecurity to deal with, or maybe she just felt overwhelmed when surrounded by the larger group of men, but whatever it was – last night she found her chutzpah!

I haven’t really been a Chris fan since I viewed his pic on ABC.com, but I’m willing to say I was wrong about him.  His date was the first time this season that I actually felt excited for Emily.  Sure he’s a little competitive, young, and he seems to be seriously underestimating what she may have going on with other guys (has he watched the show?), but she sparkles when she’s with him and their first kiss was undeniably romantic. He seems sincere and for the most part sweet, although I could have done without his comment on how unbelievable she looked in a harness! (Ick!)

When Emily lets it slip she’s been thinking about someone since the beginning, I tend to believe that’s her voice and not the producers.  It’s obvious he’s on her list of potentials. There date was a pretty cute set up, but you can’t convince me they couldn’t have checked the weather forecast – scaling the building with a threatening thunderstorm seemed an unnecessary risk. The Charlotte people running into the dance floor after their kiss was a little contrived as well, but cute.  Overall, this date brought me back into the process! Hooray!

The group date was one of the best ever, in my opinion.  Never has a Bachelorette had the chance to get so much scoop on her men before.  Emily’s friends preformed to the best of their ability, not shirking the harder responsibilities like viewing the push up performances or the pectoral magnificence of various men.  If you hung around to watch the credits you caught a glimpse of the reasoning behind Emily’s party time conversation with Alessandro, too.  Would she have kept him by mistake had her friends not been looking out? Maybe!

The group date also gave us the chance to get to know Sean and Ryan better.  With Sean, well, let’s face it – is anyone not head over heels for this guy yet?  He’s handsome, sincere, wants to be a husband and father and talked about family and faith.  He seems like he could be her perfect match! With Ryan – wow – the warning signs that cropped up last week made a full-on appearance tonight.  Could a guy be any denser than to say he wouldn’t be “loving on” Emily if she gained weight?  And to say it in front of her friends? Loser! His behavior at the party before the rose ceremony was like that of  a snotty toddler.  Seriously, I know he may have been sincerely jealous when he saw her kissing Arie, but it’s what he signed up for and Arie’s a race car driver not a ballerina! He called him girly! His face as he lifted his glass for a toast spoke volumes.  She’s picking up on it, too – so it’ll soon be sayonara Ryan!

Emily’s last one-on-one date with Arie showed why he’ll be around until, my guess, the end.  Not sure about the very end but probably top four, at least.  Her actual words after her date with the daring driver, “Guys like Arie are really hard to find.  I feel like I finally found him and I don’t want to screw it up.” My only concern with Arie is that Emily has a bit of a transference issue going on.  First she transferred all her excitement and idol worship of Dolly Parton in to the experience of the date, then she transferred her feelings about little Ricki’s daddy to Arie.  She said he reminds her so much of him – good for Arie, maybe not so psychologically good for Emily finding true love.  She’ll have to get past the image she’s imposing on him to see the real him.

My favorite moment and line of the night had to be when Kalon reprimanded her for interrupting him. In reference to his rudeness she stated, “I do like tall, skinny, and funny but I don’t like tall, skinny, and condescending.” It was at that moment I fell in love with her.  I just wish the producers would have let her kick his skinny butt off the show like you know she wanted to! Sadly, it was Kalon’s nemesis, Stevie, that took the walk out alone since she had already sent Tony and Alessandro packing!

Three moments to keep in mind for future shows: Sean and Emily’s first kiss at the rose ceremony party (oh my goodness!), Arie and Emily’s make out session at the rose ceremony party (oh my goodness gracious!), and Jef’s confession of his crush on her – courtesy of her friend’s advice.  We only caught a glimpse but it was apparent in that moment that her friend’s dug him.  They gave him the edit they gave Sean last week and look what that got Sean this week…I’m just sayin’.

Looking forward to next week’s show – Golly, I’m so happy to be able to say that!

Golly, That’s a Gorgeous Bachelorette…

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Gorgeous! Beautiful! Amazing!

Gag me! If I heard the description gorgeous one more time last night I think I would have been physically ill.  I’m still excited about this season, but I feel really bad for Emily.  I think it’s pretty obvious from their tongues hanging out, nervous, panting reactions that she’s going to have a hard time getting a guy to look past her exterior to really see who she is on the inside!  Then there’s the fact that what should have been a bumper crop of good-looking men is a big group of really average Joes. Thank goodness that there seem to be some men that might have brains, be in it for the right reasons, and look better on TV than their pictures at ABC.com suggested.  Yes, Emily might have a chance for true love after all – IF she can fight through the masses of worshipping idiots to find the keepers in this sorry group.

The limo introductions were pretty pathetic.  I’ve never seen a more jittery group of guys.  Their lines came off as rehearsed and cheesy.  I mean, come on! Prince Charming? Tony’s a nice looking guy but that was way over the top! He, along with Kalon were obviously just looking for that first impression rose (Which she was smart enough to give to a genuinely nice man – but more on Doug later!) Thank God she gave fitness model Jackson the boot after he maligned her with an overused quote that only makes the teen girls I teach swoon! And poor grandma guy – he probably thought he was making a witty comment on the girl who had her grandmother come to the party last season but I don’t think Emily was smart enough to catch on in the moment…probably too overwhelmed by the number of men and names to keep straight.

It was interesting to see her first impressions of some men though.  If you watched her carefully, it seems she would giggle and blink a lot after talking to guys she was attracted to.  Men that fell into this category were Arie (race car guy), Jef (water bottle company owner), Charlie (Mr. Normal Nice Guy), Nate (who she touched first and said smelled good!), John (also known as “Wolf”), Alejandro (San Fran boy) and Ryan (ex – pro football guy.

Twitter was buzzing with comments from fans all the way through the show.  It seems the fans out there were torn between super hot Ryan and normal guy Charlie! I think both will stay around awhile. It’s also fairly observable from the previews that Jef has a future on the show.  He got a really good edit as someone who is looking to see beneath her surface to the real her…still, he was quoted saying, “Her fiancé died so I think she deserves the best.” Um, yeah – that’s logical, right? Jef does have another thing going for him though.  She described him as the “cool guy” and hoped he thought she was “cool”, too.  Sooooo high school, BUT soooo telling.  He’ll be sticking around.

Daddy Doug received the first impression rose for his ability to make her feel relaxed and the way he manipulate their conversation to be about their kids without making it seem like he was using his son.  That letter was an ace in the hole to get him through the first rose ceremony and it looks like it paid more than he expected with the first rose.  He may end up on her nerves eventually but he’s there for a few more weeks.

If I had to place bets now that we’ve met them all I would change my top five to the following: Ryan, Jef, Arie, Charlie, and Nate.

Other guys that will stick around simply because the producers need conflict will be Chris (They were already setting him up to be Mr. Competitive), Stevie, and Kalon.

I like the places they seem to be heading this season and it’s cool she gets to take Little Ricki with her.  I just sincerely hope she can curtail her use of the term “Golleeeeeeee!” so I can make it through the rest of the season without strangling her.

***I haven’t been reading spoilers but in a straight up article I looked at it appears Sean Lowe plays a bigger role in the season than I woul dhave thought – especially since I didn’t mention him….hmmmm 🙂

Not a good “Ben”ginning…

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I was not one of the Ben lovers who wanted a whole season of his goofy yet sincere person looking for love. After the first episode of this season’s The Bachelor, I have to say, nothing has changed. If anything my opinion of Ben got worse with viewing. Now, I’m not impugning his character. He is obviously a genuinely nice guy looking for love, but choosing Ben has, in my opinion, led the producers to some decisions I think will kill the season.

Why in the world would they cast the group of women they did? There were probably four or five normal, pretty girls in the group. I thought there might be more until camera angles and crying dramas revealed the hideous truth. Do you think there’s a shortage of women who want to be on the Bachelor? No. I think there’s a shortage of women that want to be on the Bachelor who want to be with someone like Ben. Well, maybe a shortage of women who fit the ideal of what it takes to get on the show. I don’t mean to be shallow but we really don’t want to watch normal people fall in love. Watching The Bachelor is about escape and fantasy.

Ben is cute and Ben is goofy and Ben with Ashley was romantic, sweet, and almost everything we could all want in a guy. Women wanted to be to be loved like Ben was loving her. When you take away the context of Ben being recognized for the diamond in the rough, sincere, loyal and cute man that he is by Ashley, he becomes an average Joe. Everybody says they want an average Joe – until they get him.

Ben was amazed at the plethora of amazingly beautiful women before him. Why? Because he couldn’t get some of those women to look twice at him in real life at the bar! As we watched, looking for a Prince Charming, we found Ben in awww shucks mode clapping his hands like a kid and engaging in discussions with women like, “you do not, yes you do, no you don’t, yes you do”. Jr. High banter if I’ve ever heard it.

So then, what have the producers done that have probably killed the season for me? A bisexual woman who hits on another woman and he keeps her! And he keeps the psycho blogger Carrie Bradshaw wannabe? No way Ben chose them on his own. No way that girl got the idea to bring her grandmother with her on her own. The producers know that we’re not gonna be able to invest in Ben’s choices. They pretty much are saying the season’s gonna suck so let’s make sure we fill it with all kinds of drama and bad girl scenes so that maybe we’ll bring in new viewers who watch other cable reality shows like that.

The Bachelor has never been a virtuous show and most of the time it’s not even about real love, but in few other seasons have I had less hope of someone ending up with a real relationship. When the producer’s have a love story like Ashley and JP, Trista and Ryan, Allie and Roberto, or Jason and Molly they NEVER edit for the drama the way they did last night. My hopes of Ben finding real love in that group are pretty slim. I’ll think he’ll be dumped as soon as the fame goes away.

If I had to pick people I hope he keeps awhile they would be: Jennifer the red-haired accountant who introduced herself with numbers, Lindzi the first impression rose horse girl, or Jamie the nurse who stayed out of the drama. I think they each will be around awhile, but my bet is this season is more like Jake P.’s. Women wanted Jake but when they got Jake they got a season of Vienna. I don’t know who Ben will choose but I REALLY hope the season gets better quickly.