-Time to head to Montreal for the final hometown date of the week to see Nick and Vanessa show all of America how strong and solid the foundation of their relationship is. Anyone who’s watched this show for any significant amount of time can clearly see what they were doing last night. Every season the lead always has some sort of conflict that makes you think either: A) the one they end up with is thrown into doubt or B) they end up alone. We’ve seen this time and time and time again season after season after season. So last night was no different. If you just look at the four overall hometowns and judge from best to worst, with best being “no drama” and worst being “questions being brought up and someone not being happy,” obviously Vanessa’s last night was the “worst.” But we know he chose her, and they are still together. So watching all that manufactured drama last night was par for the course for this show, although their major issue is something I’ve definitely heard and reported post-show. Whether or not that ends up being their break up reason, only time will tell. But it’s obviously a concern, as it is to any couple on this show that don’t live next to each other.
-They first go to Vanessa’s school to have her students re-create the scrapbook that they made for Vanessa before the show started. You can see how close Vanessa is to her students. Really drives home the fact that, well, really? She’d leave her family and her hometown to pursue a TV relationship with some guy in LA? From everything I’ve been told, Nick isn’t moving. Anywhere. Not to Canada, not back to Wisconsin, not back to Chicago, nowhere. So you watch Vanessa last night in her element, you listen to her family even bring up the concerns and it’s perfectly legit. Will she actually leave all that to pursue a relationship with a guy who just had his 4th appearance on a reality show – a show that also has produced ONE marriage from the guy and the final girl he chose in 20 previous seasons. One. I think when you think logically about the whole situation, you can see why these two lasting long term just doesn’t seem viable. I don’t see Vanessa leaving and Nick isn’t leaving. And well, if you’re engaged and you live in California and your fiancé lives in Canada, someone kinda needs to move for a marriage to happen. Time will tell. Just don’t get your hopes up.
-Vanessa informs Nick that her parents are divorced and really aren’t that civil, so he’ll be having two separate dinners. One with her mom’s side, and another with her dad’s. Her mom’s side is gonna be filled with “loud Eeetalians” as she calls them, not to mention a whole bunch of skepticism. We met her mom Mary, her sister Melissa, and 13 other people I didn’t bother to write the names down of because, well, I didn’t care. Neither should you. I think she had a couple third cousins once removed that were there, so yeah, a bit much. Maybe Vanessa and Luke wanna get together once this is all said and done since they like having whole towns come together for their hometown dates. When Nick talks to Vanessa’s mom, she asks about the first thing that stood out to him about her. “When she got out of the limo, I liked her right away.” Mary immediately stepped on Nick’s balls and told him she doesn’t care about the physical part. Yeah, this Grimaldi family is full of ball busters. And rightfully so.
-When he meets her sister Melissa? More of the same. She starts crying and basically tells him she’ll hate him (for real) if he breaks her heart.” Oh Melissa. Now, are you talking about breaking her heart by not picking her at the end of this thing, because that’s kind of a ridiculous ultimatum to make on a show like this. Or are you talking about if they get engaged and then, oh I don’t know, break up shortly thereafter? Then yeah, that would make more sense. But don’t kill the guy and basically “force” him to get engaged to your sister at the end of this for fear of you. As I reported back in November (it was at the time they were filming overnights), that Nick was going to pick Vanessa. And he did. Do I think it was because her sister twisted his arm? No. I’m sure he knew when he went to hometowns who he was picking at the end. It’s just funny to watch the family express the most concerns over their relationship, all of which are realistic. It’s like THEY knew he was gonna pick her but had to create “doubt” amongst viewers.
-When they go over to daddy’s house, it becomes even more tense. Nick asks him, “If it gets to that point, and we decide to get engaged, do I have your blessing?” Daddy becomes very realistic about this and doesn’t immediately say yes. He asks Nick if he’s asked the other 3 families, Nick hems and haws about it, the dad says, “it’s a yes or no,” and Nick says “yes.” But then yet somehow later in the same conversation, her dad gives his blessing. There was obviously plenty in that conversation that wasn’t shown, but at least the dad stood up to the farce of the show initially. But when he relented, and basically went with the “If my daughter is happy, I’m happy” line, Nick got what he needed. But when Vanessa talked to her dad and he told her Nick asked for his blessing, she was over the moon giddy. “He asked you? That’s a very big deal. Takes a lot. Expresses how they feel towards the other person they’re dating. Did you ask if he asked the other parents the same thing?” He told her he did, Nick said yes, and Vanessa basically pouted the rest of the date questioning Nick’s intentions. This is strictly a case of is Vanessa now acting because, c’mon. Seriously? This show has been on 15 years and 33 seasons. The lead always asks more than one family for their blessing if not all 4 hometowns. So for her to get all butt hurt is her either acting and playing up a storyline for show purposes, or, she genuinely felt that way but then is all better come the final rose ceremony when he proposes. Either way, kind of turned off by her actions last night. I just don’t get why you’d act that way knowing what this show entails. Get over yourself. The sense of entitlement she portrayed last night was kind of a, ummm, thing. Apparently not the first time she acted that way.
-Then of course we end the episode with the appearance of Andi at Nick’s door, putting on her acting chops pretending like she’s really coming there to compete for Nick and whatever other BS she was trying to sell. All of you who haven’t read a spoiler in 2 months and are asking what she’s doing there, here’s your answer: She’s there because they asked and they paid her. She’s not there to compete for him, she’s not there to make Nick jealous he can’t have her, she’s not there to spill her guts to him – she’s there for a paycheck which will add to their drama for the season. Zero chance Andi does that as a favor to the show. No chance, no how. She gets paid to do something like that. And since I you’re your next question is, “How much,” my guess is probably in the low 5 figures. So frankly, I don’t blame Andi. Talk about the easiest $10-20k she’ll ever make in her life. Why wouldn’t she show up? She gives him advice, she leaves, he eliminates Corinne at the rose ceremony, her check clears and she’s happy. Something he easily could’ve done without Andi appearing on the same night to “talk” with him. But by teasing Andi at his door, and by checking Twitter having so many people freaking out over why she’s there, only proves even further what this show’s bottom line is about.
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