-The group date begins with 6 girls (Rachel, Raven, Corinne, Danielle M., Vanessa, and Jasmine) boarding a catamaran and sailing to Abi Beach for a day of fun and games…and some seriously wonky editing. On the boat ride over, Nick asks a couple either or questions because they must’ve been bored senseless. “Christmas or Halloween?” “Chocolate or Vanilla?” Not sure why, but Vanessa felt the need to shout all the answers at the top of her lungs like a 5 year old wanting attention. That was weird. But seriously, Christmas or Halloween? Is that even a question? Is it possible people even answer Halloween on that one? My sister’s birthday is on Halloween and I don’t even think she would choose that over Christmas. I guess this was just a time killer as we got to the real “fun” part of the group date, which was basically to make everyone have the worst time possible on this date.
-The funniest part about the volleyball date (and we’ll get to the editing in a minute) is the fact that a lot of these girls were on the group date in Wisconsin and they all had this peppy, upbeat outlook on the date. Remember girls? You were all willing to do whatever it took, embrace the day, even if it meant shoveling sh** just to impress and be by Nick? Do you all remember back, you know, a week ago in real time? Well here you are now, playing a game of beach volleyball in your bikini’s, there’s 7 less girls on this date than there was on that date, meaning that you’ll ultimately get more time with him alone during the after party, yet they acted as if they were told they needed to dig ditches and pick up trash the whole time. Pretty ironic. So they’d rather milk cows and shovel manure in Wisconsin than play volleyball on the beaches of St. Thomas. Toooooootally makes sense to me. I mean, who wouldn’t? Then again, the editors made this date out to be something that it wasn’t, which was quite ridiculous.
-The whole volleyball date didn’t make any sense in the context that they showed us. From what they showed us, they started playing, score WAS being kept on the sidelines, but then all the sudden the girls started doing their own thing, Corinne is quitting in the middle of it getting a drink, and others just stopped playing to go sit under trees and sulk. Over what, we have no idea because it was never shown. As reported in the spoilers, the teams were told whoever won would get extra time with Nick and the losing team would be sent back to the hotel. Something they’ve done numerous times in the past on group dates, so it was nothing new. Yet, they never showed that. They just showed Vanessa and Danielle M. (two who were both on the losing team) off by themselves crying, then us hearing Nick basically say the date ended up being a disaster. I have no idea why they never showed the premise of the volleyball game and what really happened since, like I said, it’s not like we haven’t seen this numerous times before on a group date in previous seasons where a losing team had to go back home. It is certainly possible they were covering for Vanessa again, as after the Wisconsin group date when they decided not to show her and Taylor turning on DLo and the others confronting them about it. Anything’s possible at this point. But again, something we’re never gonna get an answer to as to why it wasn’t shown the way it really happened.
-After commercial break, they immediately skipped to the after party where all 6 girls were there. Nick pulls Rachel aside first and judging from her conversation and her saying, “I didn’t like the way things went down,” surely a strong case can be made for the fact that she was upset Nick decided to allow the losing team to join the after party when the initial rules said the losing team would return to the hotel. There’s really nothing else it could’ve been since, well, that’s what happened. Rachel even uttered the phrase “It was a competition…” when speaking to Nick. So she was clearly bothered by the fact the rules were changed by Nick once the Rachel, Raven, and Corinne team won. And boy, what a game that must’ve been. How bad are Vanessa, Danielle, and Jasmine if they lost to a team that had a three sheets to the wind Corinne on it? You’re basically playing 3-on-2 and you still couldn’t beat them? Just for that alone you deserved to be sent back to your hotel rooms with no dinner. Go in your room and stay there until I tell you to come out!
-The one who really had an issue on this date was Jasmine. We see .5 seconds of Nick’s alone time with Vanessa, and we saw him walking hand in hand with Raven but got none of his conversation with her either. It was all about Jasmine at this point and her basically feeling ignored by Nick and she needs some sort of validation he still wants her around. Everyone else there has either gotten a group date rose or a 1-on-1. She’s gotten neither and she’s none too happy. And she’s about to say something to Nick, so batten down the hatches, because Hurricane Jasmine is about to huff and puff and blow your house down. So when Jasmine gets her time with Nick, she confronts him and tells him she’s confused. Everyone’s had a 1-on-1 or a rose, she likes him a lot, feels she’s being overlooked, she hasn’t had that validation from him yet, she wants that, it sucks, does he not notice her…and then she starts crying. She says she wants reassurance like everyone else has had, then gets all weird on him by playfully saying she wants to choke him. She calls it the Chokey. Nick calls it “not foreplay,” has zero interest in her choking games, and realizes they aren’t on the same page. Maybe Jasmine needs a Christian Grey in her life for her little sex games. Nick wanted none of it. Or again, it could’ve been his excuse to send someone home he knew was leaving before they ever arrived in St. Thomas.
-He tells her he realizes they aren’t on the same page and needs to let her go. Asks if he can walk her out, she says yes, then takes a couple shots at him in an ITM by saying, “I don’t think he knows what he really wants…it’s not gonna work for him.” But yet again, a major part of this storyline was left out as Jasmine told him after he let her go that she previous had hooked up with one of his friends in the past. Not sure why she said it, exactly what point in the conversation it came out, what Nick’s reaction was or what, but it was definitely brought up by her. I’d say that would’ve been a nice little juicy nugget to get from Jasmine as she heads out the door, no? But then again, they’ve not shown quite a few things this season that did happen, so I guess we can just chalk another one up to them being weird and something we’ll never get an honest answer to. That’s what I’m here for. Your honesty about the show. Honest Steve. Thanks. I do my best. And for those asking, no, I never heard who the guy is that Jasmine is referring. Well, I take that back. I did hear one name thrown out there, someone from this franchise, but it’s not nearly solid enough for me to run with. Sorry.
