The Bachelor Update
I was finally able to watch my tivo’d copy of The Bachelor last night. Shayne, Amanda (meeps), and Chelsea were in Barbados with Matt and he got to have really long, one-on-one, overnight dates with all three women. The day-time part of the dates were spent either on the beach, in the water, or zip-lining through the tropical forests. When watching this episode where all four of them are secluded on an island, you always wonder if the Bachelor is getting lucky with all three women.
You even saw Chelsea genuinely worry about it on her date (which was the last of the three) where she was noticeably distant from Matt all day. He confronted her about it that night over dinner and at first I did not want to believe what she was saying…but her words and her letting go of her emotions let the viewers see that she was being completely truthful at that moment. Now, I do not personally know Matt, but from what he says to the camera when he is alone and how he acts with these women, he seems like he is a bit of a goofy guy with a really great sense of humor. I think Shayne was always a lock so when he gave her the first rose, I was not surprised. But Chelsea and Amanda were really competing for Matt based off of the characteristic of humor: Chelsea goofs around a lot and her personality is naturally goofy (in the same ways as Matt) and Amanda is big on pulling pranks on him (fake parents) and he said right away that he dug that.
During all three of the dates, each woman (whether in exact words or not) told Matt they loved him or were in love with him. Shayne is totally putting it out there. She had a freak-out earlier in the season when they were in Las Vegas at a casino, where she and Matt even had a private bickering-type fight and she exclaimed that it was really bugging her that Matt would be with other girls when he was not with her. But after that episode, it has not come up again, either in front of Matt or in front of the camera. This shows real strength on Shayne’s part because it appears as though she has adjusted her frame of mind where she does not show him she is thinking about the other girls (whether she is or not) and just that she is thinking about him and her exclusively. Maybe this is why she told Matt that night that she was falling in love with him.
After Matt mentioned to Chelsea on their date about how he felt she was distancing herself from him and that the connection he felt in her home town was no longer there, Chelsea revealed her true emotions about Matt and about how hard it was to think that he was in Barbados with two other women. She let him know that it was getting to her and you could tell that Matt’s heart began to melt for her the minute she broke down and told him all of this. Then she got into a sexy black dress after dinner to show him her romantic side and it really made me think that she was what Matt was looking for. More so than Amanda, but a tie for first with Shayne.
When Chelsea got the last rose that night, Amanda looked at Matt in dismay. She did not shed one tear, nor did she look sad–she was pissed. She just stood there, frozen, looking at Matt. After she said her goodbyes to the other women, Matt lead her to a private area out of ear-shot from Shayne and Chelsea and began the dreaded explanation for why he rejected her. She was totally shocked. The whole time, no tears, just utter shock as Matt repeated twice that everything he said to her was still true. Now, Matt is so careful in what he says to these women in private and from what is shown on the camera, he never tells the girls he loves them, not even when Shayne put it out there and said she was falling in love with him. This does create difficult moments, but it makes the goodbyes that much easier.
Amanda was not buying it. She kept saying that she did not understand how those things he said could still be true and she even called him a douche bag. I had to rewind to catch it because ABC had bleeped the meeps name calling episode. Then it got to the point where Matt just kept repeating himself and he was showing more tearful emotion than her! Finally he said he would walk her to the limo, but she was clearly not ready to end the conversation (as if he would change his mind and hop in the limo with her). She was short with him when saying a final goodbye and it sounded like a lot of “Yeah, ok, whatever” as he closed the limo door behind her. And of course there is a camera in the limo and they caught Amanda letting her emotions go as she began balling her eyes out. I have to mention (because this is a huge pet-peeve of mine) that during this whole Barbados episode, I caught about a hundred uses of the word “like” come out of Amanda’s mouth. She sounded so juvenile when she was telling Matt how she felt about him. So go home meeps.
Next week is the Women Tell All episode where the rejected bachelorettes get together in front of a live audience and Chris Harrison asks those penetrating questions that are on the minds of all the viewers. They also let the bachelorettes vote for whom they think the Bachelor will pick next week at the final rose ceremony. I must say, I am so excited to see the results and am going to make sure I watch it live.
