By: Rebecca Capozzi | Staff Writer and Treasurer
If I had to describe this week’s episode of The Bachelorette in one way it would be that there were constant battles. There was a math battle, spelling battle, cooking battle, battles for Tayshia’s time, battles because of the infamous “you’re not here for the right reasons”, and of course actual, physical battles. Everything turns into a battle when there are a group of men fighting for one woman’s love, I guess.
The first battle of the episode was for the men to fight over who is a “Grown A** Man” versus a “Man Child”. The hosts of this battle were Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon, who found love after having a very complicated on and off friendship/relationship for many years and being on many of the Bachelor Franchise’s shows. Do you want to hear a fun fact about this couple? On August 11th, 2019, they got married at Rosecliff, which is a beautiful mansion right on Bellevue Avenue!
There were a set of three challenges on this group date. The first was answering Bachelorette related math questions. All of the men were worried about this, since one of them, Bennett, is a Harvard graduate. The men really had no reason to worry at all, since Bennett got every single question wrong. He also got every single question wrong during the spelling challenge. Is there another Harvard besides the one in Cambridge, Massachusetts? If so, that must be the one that Bennett graduated from.
He definitely did better than the other men who were on the date, especially Chasen, who took off his shirt and said “I am a full course meal.”
Although Bennett did not do well in the math and spelling challenges, he did phenomenal in the “Breakfast in Bed” challenge. He made Tayshia some gorgeous beignets and a delicious smoothie. He also got in the spirit by wearing a robe, getting into the bed with Tayshia, and feeding her the breakfast. He definitely did better than the other men who were on the date, especially Chasen, who took off his shirt and said “I am a full course meal.”
At the end of the day, Ed was crowned “Man Child” and Bennett was crowned “Grown A** Man”. Naturally, the men were upset. They had worked so hard during all of the challenges, while Bennett only did well in one of them and was still crowned the winner. Chasen said that Bennett was classless when he kissed Tayshia in front of all of the men and wore only a robe. However, Chasen was the man who took his shirt off and called himself a “full course meal”… I thought that that was pretty interesting. Anyway, I do understand where the men are coming from, but if a man made beignets for me, it would have been game over too.
During the afterparty for the group date, Ed suddenly brings up that he does not think that Chasen is here for the right reasons. Ed has noticed that Chasen uses the exact same adjectives and terms to describe Clare and Tayshia, which he says is not authentic. This has led Ed to believe that Chasen had no interest in Clare and has no interest in Tayshia, and is just here to gain Instagram followers. He brought this up to Tayshia, and told Chasen that he did. Chasen stood over Ed quite aggressively, and tells Ed that he is indeed here to find love.
The next night at the cocktail party, Ed tells Tayshia that Chasen was nearly physical with him the night before. Tayshia was not happy about this, and decided to pull Chasen aside. In her interview, she said, “I was starting to develop feelings for Chasen, but if that’s the way he handles his situations then I don’t want any part of that.” At the end of the night, both Ed and Chasen get a rose. This normally does not happen. It is either the “bad guy” gets sent home, or the guy who tattles on the “bad guy” gets sent home. When Tayshia talked about her decision to keep Chasen, she said, “Although I don’t agree with the way that Chasen handled things with Ed, I’m starting to develop feelings for Chasen and I just feel like he’s a good guy deep down and it’s now on my radar. I formulate my own opinions… I trust my intuition.” Part of me understands where Clare is coming from, but the other part of me does not. I understand that she is starting to develop feelings for Chasen and wants to see where it will go, but I do not understand how she can still have feelings for him if she ways that she thinks that he is a good guy deep down. I do not know about everyone else, but I would not be interested in a guy that is not obviously a good guy. I do not think that I should have to look deep into him to figure out if he is actually a good guy.
On the second group date of the episode, the date is about wrestling. The men have to wrestle each other in order to spend extra time with Tayshia. By the way the men were talking, preparing, and actually fighting, you would have thought that this date was WWE’s WrestleMania. The fights got very intense and caused some minor injuries, making Tayshia very nervous. She kept telling the men to be careful, but I am sure that deep down, she was happy to see men fighting for her to this extent.
The producers “coincidentally” had Ed and Chasen lined up to fight each other. It was obvious how nervous Ed was, and when they were called to the ring, Ed approached Chris Harrison and said that he could not participate because he has chronically dislocated shoulders. So, Chris asked if there was anyone in the audience, which was the rest of the men, if they wanted to fight Chasen, so Noah jumped in the ring and was ready to go. Chasen ended up winning the right, but Tayshia was still very happy that Noah stepped up to the plate, so she let him go to the afterparty with the rest of the men who were on the group date. And you guessed it! The other men were not happy. They got even more angry when Tayshia gave Noah the group date rose! But hey, the guy shaved his beloved mustache for her; I think he deserved it.
There is always a lot of fighting and competition between the men on every season of The Bachelorette, but this episode was full of it! I honestly love watching the men get all aggressive and defensive when it comes to these competitions. The men literally argue over a spelling test. In all honestly, and I have probably said this before, I really just watch this show for the drama, not the love story. What is really more interesting?
Image: “Rose romance” by Maria Eklind is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
