-Jason has a date and we get something that I don’t think we’ve ever seen before. You know when the date card comes, and it’s some silly one sentence line written by a producer? Well, this date card was two full cards written by “Clare” to Jason telling him to write a letter to his younger self. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a date card that was two full cards long and basically a note to that date’s recipient of what to expect. Usually it’s just something stupid like, “Let our love soar to new heights!” So it was interesting seeing something different this time around and I was curious what this was all about. Well, it turned out to be an all night therapy session that I’m not sure Jason thought he’d ever sign up for.
-Plenty of you expressed your thoughts on this date on social media (as you did with every date basically), and for me, of all 3 dates, I thought this one was a little heavy handed. Everyone knows I’m a fan of Clare. But I can absolutely be objective when it comes to this season. I will call out shit when I see it. While I didn’t have a problem with this date overall, I thought it was a bit toooooo much. Because look, you ask any contestant in the history of this show who lasted past the first night, and every one of them will tell you basically all you do on this show is talk about your feelings. And essentially that’s what this date was. In case you didn’t know, Jason’s backstory is he was a former NFL player, played on the offensive line, and once weighed 325 lbs. He’s lost over 100 lbs. Here he was in his playing days:
So I commend anyone for losing that much weight after their playing days. Usually most athletes go the other way after retirement or leaving the sport.
-Clare and Jason do a little bit where they each write down things they’ve been told about themselves by others that hurt them. Jason said things like manipulative, selfish, insecure, cold & mean. Clare had needy, picky, can’t be loved, a bitch, etc. They then took these things they wrote down and threw them against the rocks to rid themselves of those labels. I think. Look, I get what the exercise was trying to do. And it actually was about as open and vulnerable as we’ve ever seen someone have to be on a date. Not many people are forced to talk about stuff like that publicly, even on this show. However, there’s strip dodgeball which is just silly, stupid fun and there’s this date. Can we find a middle ground maybe? It just seemed waaaaaay to heavy to do with someone you barely know. I didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it either. I thought Jason came across great though. If there wasn’t another Bachelor and Bachelorette season before we have our next Bachelor season filming next September, I might even think Jason would be a possible Bachelor candidate. But just seems like he’ll get lost in the shuffle with two more seasons in between them.
-Jason even talked about his parents who’ve been married for 35 years and what he said was quite revealing. “Should they be together? I don’t know.” I mean, maybe Jason has discussed this privately with his brother and parents, but that seems like kind of a big thing to share on a first date on national television, no? Calling out your parents 35 year marriage? This date kinda went all sorts of ways for me. Parts I liked, parts I didn’t. Put it this way, I’m sure this is not what Jason had in mind for a first date with Clare. No doubt. Who would? I hope he at least got something out of it and that wasn’t just lip service he was giving us. It seemed genuine on his end, but I’m guessing the dude would’ve rather gone in a jacuzzi or maybe did something other that reveal all the nasty things he’s been told about himself.
-So the whole date was basically cleansing yourself of your past and moving forward with life. Like I said, major therapy sesh here. I’m just not sure that was first date material. Then again, we’ve had a ton of cringeworthy, awkward, and uncomfortable dates in this show’s history, so what do I know? Clare even ended up throwing her dress she wore in Juan Pablo’s finale into the fire as a way to move on from that. I don’t know, does burning a piece of clothing really make you forget that whole experience? I guess each individual person is different. The thing is, Clare is not a professional therapist, this show isn’t professional therapy, but sometimes they like to treat others like they are. And that’s where they miss the boat. No, every date doesn’t have to be some garbage strip dodgeball, but it doesn’t have to be this either.
