The Bachelorette Season 14 Episode 2: The First Dates, The First Cuts

The Bachelorette Season 14 Episode 2 Review – Written by Michelle Coraci

This was Becca’s first date since Arie. The producers of the show had squeezed all of the men onto a patio of the mansion so that they could all scream out “BECCA!” at the top of their lungs, and that was fantastic.

Date 1 – Group Date
Participants – Clay, Nick, David, Chris, Jean Blanc, Jordon, Connor, and Lincoln
Date Prompt – “I’m ready for my big day”

Once the men meet up with Becca, they got escorted into a room where they got changed into tuxes and drank champagne. The guys were changing into their tuxes and Becca, adorably, was trying not to stare at them. She acted like a 13-year-old girl seeing a guy without his shirt on for the first time. After the men were finished changing, they made their way outside and found out that Rachel and Bryan were there! They showed an obstacle course called “Groomsday” (like Doomsday… get it? Hahaha) and Rachel says “It’ll be fun. It’ll be messy”

The obstacles within the challenge were:

Ball and Chain – The men strap a ball and chain to their ankles and run to the next obstacle. The ball was approximately 25lbs.

Cold feet – They jump into a freezing tub and have to stay there till their timer runs out.

Slippery Slope – This was basically a wall covered in Crisco, eggs, and other slippery things that the men had to crawl over.

Get Over Your Exes – Netting and barracks that the men have to crawl under. After crawling under everything, the men had to take a bouquet and toss it into a bucket before moving forward.

Cake Tasting – Lastly, the men had to use their mouths to find a ring in a cake. While describing how this obstacle worked, Rachel said to the men “What that mouth do?!” and everyone, including myself, laughed at a former bachelorette saying something so audacious.

After Cake Tasting, the men had to take the ring to Becca and crawl to her on their knees and propose to her.

During Ball and Chain, a lot of the men tripped while running to the next obstacle. During Cold Feet, Clay was the most composed. As a former football player, he was used to doing cold baths after practices and games. Lincoln entered the tub after some of the men and got out before anyone else, so the other men accused him of cheating. Most of the men conquered the other obstacles and only really got held up during Cake Tasting. Lincoln found a ring and David simultaneously found a ring. They were crawling to the alter where Becca was standing, and Lincoln gently pushed David, so he fell. So Lincoln won and got some wedding photos taken with Becca.

During the second part of the date, Becca came out wearing a stunning red jumpsuit that looks like a dress at first glance. Lincoln asked to sit next to Becca since they “Got Married” and then asked to talk to her alone since she was his “wife”. She told him she had a surprise for him and she grabbed him a copy of their “wedding picture.” Lincoln seemed overjoyed to have that picture. He said that their wedding kiss wasn’t great because he was covered in mud and wanted to make it up to her, so they kissed.

Cut away to the rest of the men in the house. They were talking about if the next date card would be a group date or individual date. The date card arrived, and it was a one-on-one that said “Blake, let’s lose control”.

Cut back to the group date, specifically Lincoln sitting on the couch with his new photo. He was talking to and kissing his wedding picture. He put the picture down on the table and walked away. Some of the other men ask him why he had the photo out. Connor seemed the most upset that Lincoln was “dangling it” in front of the rest of their faces. With this newfound anger, Connor tossed the photo behind the couch. Lincoln picked it up and put it back on the table. Connor then took the photo and threw it outside. We hear it smash against something and it landed in the pool. And just like that, Connor did something that could potentially get him kicked out of the house.

Lincoln, of course, told Becca that Connor smashed the picture. Becca met up with Connor so she could discuss the scenario with him. She told him that she didn’t appreciate how Connor handled the situation. She said she wanted to take some time to think about this scenario and didn’t think this would be a good time to keep getting to know Connor. He was made painfully aware that his actions could lead him to going home since it was such an early impression he made.

Becca went back inside and grabbed the first impression rose. She gave it to Jean Blanc. Lincoln blamed Connor for not getting the first impression rose due to the drama that was between the two men.

The morning after, they show some of the men talking with Lincoln. They seem sympathetic to Lincoln for having his photo smashed. Lincoln broke down and cried about how important that photo was to him. Then they cut away to Jordan sitting outside with a few other men and he called Lincoln out as being the first ‘crier’

Date 2 – Single Date
Participant – Blake
Date Prompt – “Let’s lose control”

Becca takes Blake on his one-on-one. Apparently, she also didn’t know what their first date plans were since Chris Harrison was the one to plan it. They meet up with Chris and go to a warehouse. They are forced to put on a bunch of protective gear and the warehouse is filled with random junk. The junk included a racecar, the gray couch that Arie dumped Becca on, a bunch of champagne glasses, random setups that were reminiscent of the dates that Arie and Becca had together.

SURPRISE! LIL JON IS HERE!

He told Becca that all she was going to do on this date was purge those memories that were created with Arie. She took a sledgehammer to the replica of Arie’s racecar as Lil Jon screamed “BREAK HIS WINDOWS!” and this was just something I didn’t realize I needed in my life till now. My favorite scene was definitely when Becca took a sledge hammer to a giant tv monitor that was just replaying Arie’s proposal to her. As they were leaving the date, they tossed their empty champagne glasses behind them, which was pretty badass. Every date reminds me why Becca is the perfect Bachelorette.

The second part of the one-on-one had Becca and Blake walking into a Victorian style room that was filled with opulent chandeliers and coats of armor. The two were talking about how they thought they were going to be nervous for this date, but then the nervousness went away. He started telling a story about how he was in love with one of his exes and she dumped him, which completely blindsided him, and how that was a learning experience for him. Becca thinks it’s beautiful that he could go through so much pain and still open himself up again. And in that way, they can relate to each other.

Meanwhile, at the mansion, the men receive the last date card. Mike and Jason are the only two that did not get invited on dates.

At the end of their date, Becca offered Blake a rose, to which he replied “Yes, every time, yes” and he said to the camera, “I think tonight is the beginning of our love story”. After walking him out, she pulled him up against a wall and into a deep kiss. She said to the camera “I’m definitely developing some feelings for Blake” She also said, “If he keeps giving me what he gave today, I can see him as my husband, my partner, my everything”. So, he’s obviously doing something right.

Date 3 – Group Date
Participants – Garrett, Ricky, John, Ryan, Alex, Chris, Trent, Leo, Wills, Colton
Date Prompt – “Love comes at you hard and fast”

The men got onto a yellow school bus. They met Becca in front of a school and she lead them into the school gymnasium where kids started pelting them with dodgeballs. Three adorable child actors started yelling at the men like real coaches. They made the men do suicides, catch some very fast dodgeballs, they called the men trash and said that Becca doesn’t deserve trash.

Becca tells the men that they’re going to be competing in the ultimate dodgeball championship in front of a huge crowd. They showed an auditorium filled with viewers. The floor was made up of trampolines. Chris Harris and Fred Willis are commentators for this event. Half of the men were wearing bright pink and the other half were wearing bright green. The matches were best 2 out of 3. Green won the first round, pink won the second, and Leo was the last man on the pink team fending off 5 greens. Unfortunately, he couldn’t take them all.

During the second part of the date, they show the men sitting around a table and the trophy that the green team won was on the table. The men joke about hiding their trophy, in reference to what happened with Lincoln’s picture. Becca came out wearing a sparkly black dress, which was stunning.

Colton said to the camera that he had something to tell Becca and he was worried about how she would handle it. SURPRISE! Apparently, he had a relationship with Tia (another contestant from Arie’s season) and Tia and Becca are good friends. He hoped that Becca would take his conversation as a sign of respect for her. Becca said she was surprised but also a little sick. She said it’s a “tricky situation and it puts me in a strange scenario”. Overall, she seemed super put off by the fact that he had a past with Tia. A concern of hers is that she thinks he might have entered this season of the Bachelorette with hopes that Tia would have been the Bachelorette.

In the end, the rose from the date was given to Wills. Becca did seem a bit distracted from the most recent news about Tia and Colton.

The Night of the Rose Ceremony

The night of the rose ceremony, most of the men are trying to make Becca feel better. Connor took a photo of himself and had Becca throw it into a pool, which I think might have turned her view on him around a bit. I think that was the best way he could have done it.

Jordan, the male model, stripped down to his skivvies and walked out to Becca. “Tick Tock, let’s make it rock” is something he said right to the camera. With a set of cohones like that, I’m not shocked he was so eager to strip down. Becca laughed it off and didn’t acknowledge it as much as I expected her to. He did drop the line “I’m very comfortable in my skin” which is very obvious. Since David was the one who got interrupted during his alone time with Becca, he decided to target Jordon by calling him out. He asked if Jordon was really there for the right reasons. He told Jordon that he’s in the wrong, multiple times. The two had a back and forth that didn’t really escalate further than that.

Colton approached Becca. She said she was struggling with the fact that he had a relationship with Tia. He said that the conversation they had was very important and hard for him to articulate. He mentions that relationships are built on honesty and trust and she’d never have that doubt with him. She feels like she sees something in him that she’s very attracted to but its now hard for her because she needs more clarity before she invests in this relationship. If he feels like she’s holding back with him, it’s because she is. She wants to get to know him, but she’s having a hard time bringing herself there.

The Rose Ceremony

The list of men who receive roses:
🌹 Jean Blanc (Group Date 1)
🌹 Blake (Single Date)
🌹 Wills (Group Date 2)
🌹 Chris R.
🌹 Jason
🌹 John
🌹 Clay
🌹 Mike
🌹 Connor
🌹 Leo
🌹 David
🌹 Garret
🌹 Nick
🌹 Ryan
🌹 Christon
🌹 Jordon
🌹 Lincoln
🌹 Colton

List of the men who were cut this week:
Ricky
Alex
Trent