BACHELOR NEWS ALERT: Between last week’s episode and this week’s episode, a huge announcement was made by Bachelor Nation. The announcement was that Matt James, a black man, would be the next Bachelor. A number of people are applauding Bachelor Nation for this huge announcement, but I can’t help but be a little frustrated. I’m obviously not frustrated that they chose a black man to be the bachelor, I’m frustrated that it took Bachelor Nation almost two decades to finally select a black Bachelor.
I’m frustrated that this was an announcement that was made during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. I’m frustrated that they’re using this announcement as cover to prove that they’re progressive, even though “progressive” is the furthest word that I would use to describe the Bachelor Nation. They’ve only ever had one black Bachelorette (Rachel Lindsay) and that was only a few years ago. And they only just announced having an upcoming black Bachelor.
I’ll change my mind about Bachelor Nation being progressive once we start seeing a serious and continued attempt at cultivating diversity on the show, starting by including more non-white and queer Bachelors, Bachelorettes, and potential suitors. Till then, I’ll be watching and judging.
The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever – Kaitlyn Bristowe
This was another season that I had originally missed. So, I was intrigued by the idea of having two Bachelorette’s! I was then immediately disgusted when I found out that the men got to make the decision of which girl got to be the Bachelorette for the season. The men controlling the beginning of what is typically the “woman’s” season is hella chauvinistic, and I’m not surprised that they didn’t repeat this formula again.
For those who haven’t seen it, or need the reminder, the producers had the two potential bachelorettes’ split up so that when the men got out of the limo, they had to decide who to walk up to first, which was incredibly awkward to watch. Then the Bachelorette’s had to fight for their time with the individual men so that the men could make the decision of which girl they wanted. I’m so grossed out by this concept that I’m having a hard time realizing that this was only five years ago, and not like 10 years ago or even more than that. The men obviously chose Kaitlyn Bristowe, so Chris Harrison had to send Britt home. It would have been way more interesting and scandalous if they had both girls be the Bachelorette through the whole season.
They did a quick recap of Ben Higgin’s time on the season. Chris Harrison then had a video call with him and discussed how they will be reviewing his season next week.
There were recaps of Kaitlyn Bristowe building deep, meaningful connections with multiple contestants from her season. One of the contestants that they focused on was Jared Haibon.
Chris took time to video chat with Jared and Ashley Iaconetti. It was a little awkward because Chris asked Jared about his time with Kaitlyn Bristowe during her season and he got really uncomfortable. Like, Jared knew that having that conversation would cause a fight with Ashley off camera. He gave her worried looks and she kept telling him “It’s fine, babe” which usually means it’s not fine. Apparently they’re newly-weds, and their interactions convey that.
Back to Kaitlyn’s season. The man who went on the first one-on-one date insisted on ignoring Kaitlyn during the cocktail hour because if she wanted more time with him, apparently she would make time (which is always a killer strategy on The Bachelorette). He ended up being sent home only after being thrown under the bus by his best friend in the house. What a shitty way to go out.
Chris Harrison spent more time talking about Peter Weber (which I think everyone is done with), and he had a video-chat with Hannah-Ann and Madison. Chris asked Hannah-Ann if Peter has become a man, and her amazing response was that she hasn’t put much thought into it. Madison, as usual, sounded so cool and collected. Madison and Hannah-Ann are apparently great friends, and I’ve gained such respect for Hannah-Ann. Chris Harrison asked both of them if Peter came crawling back to them, would either of them take him back, and Hannah-Ann was like “Chris Harrison, what kind of question is that??” which is an awesome answer. She doesn’t have time for those kind of bullshit questions.
During one of the group date’s, Kaitlyn ran into Nick Viall, who she had communicated with prior to meeting him. She had made the decision to bring him onto the existing season. Of course, that decision pissed off the other men in the house. They felt disrespected and like they were not enough for her.
Kaitlyn had a one-on-one date with Nick and invited him back to her hotel room after the date. The scandalous thing from her season is that she had sex with Nick prior to the Fantasy Suites episode. Quick aside, they played sound clips of Kaitlyn moaning behind closed doors, which was really unsettling to listen to. Yes yes, we all know she’s having sex, we don’t need to actually listen to her moaning.
Chris had the upcoming Bachelorette, Clare Crawley and also DeAnna Marie Pappas Stagliano on a video chat (I don’t remember the last episode having this many video chats). They spoke about Clare’s upcoming season and how empowering it was that Kaitlyn slept with a contestant on her season. She And that Kaitlyn shouldn’t feel shamed for doing something like that.
They recapped the drama that happened after it was revealed to the other contestants that she slept with Nick. One of the contestants on her season basically called her out for being there for the wrong reasons, which is a bold thing to say to the Bachelorette herself. That contestant obviously went right home.
Side note, did you guys know Chris Harrison wrote a book? Me neither. But he had it propped up in the back of his shot whenever they cut away from him. It is called “The Perfect Letter: A Novel” and it is apparently a romantic work of fiction. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I definitely plan on adding that to my summer reading list.
They get to the final episode with the proposals, and I have to admit that I love the dress that Kaitlyn Bristowe was wearing during this. I think everyone was shocked when she didn’t pick Nick after all of the shit, she went through with him. She cut him off mid-speech because I think it was too hard for her to listen to. What shocked me is that he kind of tore her apart when she rejected him though. He claimed that her moments with him weren’t real, which doesn’t seem fair to her. She had to make a decision, and he had no right to say that she didn’t love him. She could have loved him but still could have loved Sean more (which is what the case was).
Chris had a video-chat with Nick Viall. He asked Nick a few random questions, nothing particularly interesting. After the brutal breakup, Nick said that he still had a good time and didn’t regret it.
Interestingly enough, they didn’t show Sean’s proposal to Kaitlyn. Chris kind of glossed over how Sean proposed, Kaitlyn accepted, but a few years later they broke up. I think he glossed over all of that because he wanted to jump into the video call with Kaitlyn, who said she didn’t regret anything. Most of the conversation was around how Kaitlyn had sex with Nick in the middle of her season, which I’m hoping they only focused on because she was a pioneer in this aspect. Peter and Colton were far more sexual with the women on their seasons and I feel like that rarely gets discussed.
Kaitlyn Bristowe is currently dating Jason from Becca’s season. I’m happy to hear that Jason was doing well because he was my favorite contestant from Becca’s season. They were gushing about how happy they were. There was a joke about how Jason was going to propose (which would have been the shittiest proposal) but Chris Harrison asked Kaitlyn if she’d be on the next season of Dancing with the Stars and she flipped out and said yes as if she had just gotten proposed to.
At no point did Chris Harrison mention Matt James. Even if the episode was pre-recorded, how hard would it have been to splice in a small segment about him? I feel like something this monumental should be shouted from the rooftops, but they haven’t even kind of brought it up during this Greatest Seasons crap.
