-Speaking of strip dodgeball, here’s a date that surely got some people riled up. Whether it was the date itself or what happened during the cocktail party, quite a few of you have your opinions on this. And I’m pretty sure mine differs than most, which is fine. But as I brought up earlier, I’m not sure what people want. Because those complaining this is the Clare/Dale show, can you imagine if they DIDN’T leave together after 3 rose ceremonies? You’d be complaining that it was obvious she was into Dale the most from the beginning and that she led all the other guys on. So which is it? What exactly do you want from her at this point? You ask for love stories, you ask for less focus on the drama, and then you get it, and you still find a way to complain about “Oh, it’s so obvious they were talking pre-show and it’s not fair to the other guys.” Just because that’s your narrative, doesn’t mean it happened. And you’ve yet to have any proof it did. Clare has said publicly and on the show she wasn’t in contact with any of the guys. But because you think she was, you just dismiss it? Man, why do people have such a hard time accepting something that maybe doesn’t line up with their thought process? Bizarre.
-So we have a dodgeball date. Red vs Blue. Red team is: Eazy, Jay, Brandon, Chasen, and Joe. Blue team is Blake Moynes, Kenny, Garin, Demar, and Brendan. By the way, the first group date had both Zac and Zach and Ben and Bennett on it. Now this one has Brandon and Brendan. Can we mix this up please? Or hey, maybe stop casting guys with such similar names? Will make it much easier for the rest of us. We all saw what happened on the dodgeball date. Clare upped the ante and made it a game of strip volleyball. Losing team had to strip down into their jock straps. The black box was the hero on this date as it was completely uncalled for and unnecessary to do this date. However, jumping on Clare for this is barking up the wrong tree. And if you were, I hope you were just as loud last season as Peter made the women lingerie pillow fight each other. As Kristen Baldwin of EW.com pointed out on Twitter this morning, this is what a part of the contestants contract states:
Last night on #TheBachelorette, Clare had the guys play strip dodgeball. Was it objectifying and humiliating? Sure. But hey, producers are pretty up front about how this show works, so I’m hard pressed to feel like these guys were truly “exploited.”https://t.co/CWrA7E3Lkn pic.twitter.com/JJmUUwF7O9
— Kristen Baldwin (@KristenGBaldwin) October 21, 2020
Yes, while it’s right there in the contract the show can to do anything they want to embarrass you, that doesn’t make it right. This here is what will make Yosef’s argument next week look so stupid. 1) he wasn’t even on the date so why does he care so much and 2) if you don’t like it, then don’t go on the show. That contract is 20 pages long. I’m guessing absolutely 0 contestants read the whole thing word for word before coming on this show. So it’s kinda on you at this point when it comes to dates like this. The show shouldn’t do them in the first place because it’s completely demeaning, embarrassing, and a huge double standard since you’d never make women strip, but as a contestant, you can’t complain about it because it says they can do it in the contract that you signed. It’s a debate that’ll go on forever when it comes to this show that basically will never get resolved. No matter what, this show will never have any problem finding people to willingly sign up for this. They also will continue to embarrass and humiliate them whenever they can and suffer no consequences for it.
-The Red team ended up winning to get the after party, while the Blue team had to walk back to the villa in their jock straps. No, I don’t think for a second any of them were completely naked. You could clearly see the jocks underneath the black boxes. Some guys were just covering up because maybe they, ummmmm, were embarrassed. You’d have to ask them. Blake Moynes though had other plans. We know this show has a storyboard. If you’ve seen UnReal, you know what I’m talking about. It’s not like on the first day of filming, produces see the hand their dealt with contestants and go from there. They already know everything about you before filming even starts, and they can shape and mold contestants how they see fit. Clearly through the first two episodes, Blake Moynes is gonna be the guy that’s the “rule breaker.” You don’t find it the least bit coincidental that in the frst episode they made sure to show us Clare’s conversation with him where she said he “broke the rules” by contacting her pre-show, and then the very next episode, he’s the only guy from the losing team who technically “breaks the rules” by going over to see her while she’s with the winning team? I’m guessing every guy on the blue team would’ve liked to have gotten time with Clare that night, so why did only Blake Moynes get to go? Because production allowed him to to fit their character they’ve created.
-Then again, Blake didn’t really help his case when confronted by all 5 members of the Red team as to why he was there, his response was, “I wanted to show her I had balls, so that’s what I’m doing.” Huh? That was your reasoning for going over there? Look, we know you were told to by production and already you’re looking like this season’s “I’ll do whatever production tells me to do” guy, but you gotta come up with something better than that. I mean looking at it realistically, there’s no reason that Blake should’ve been allowed to go and visit Clare and no one else could. Well, other than to advance a storyline. But we see this every season. I mean, I can’t remember the last time at least one point during a season where a contestants didn’t sneak over to get extra time, or invade a group date, etc. It’s the same ol, same ol. Blake is just this season’s puppet.
-The other major issue people had last night was with Brandon’s time with Clare. Brandon tells her he was so excited Clare was chosen as the “Bachelorette,” but when she asked if he knew anything about her, he didn’t have anything saying he didn’t know her on a personal level and that he didn’t know her history. Again, people seem to be jumping down Clare’s throat for this but I just don’t see it that way at all. She’s not asking the guy run down a laundry list of everything she’s accomplished in life. She’s not asking him to even know every detail about her life. She’s asking him if he knows ANYTHING about her. Which she clearly has a right to considering he JUST SAID he was so excited she was chosen as “Bachelorette.” How can you be excited about someone you know nothing about? And then when she asked what you’re excited about, all you could say was something about her looks? I’m stunned at how many people think this makes Clare self absorbed or some sort of narcissist. I’m sure you’ll think it’s because I’m biased. But when Sharleen’s recap says the same thing, will you say the same thing to her? I know this because Sharleen and I spoke about it last night. We’re in the same boat. We don’t quite understand all the hate Clare is getting. I’m sorry, but in this case, she did nothing wrong here. You know who did know plenty about Clare before appearing on her season? Dale. Seemed like it was important to him to know who he was going on for. Can’t say the same for Brandon. Doesn’t make Brandon a bad guy, but certainly Clare isn’t some mean girl for sending him home.
-Clare ended up giving the group date rose to Chasen, but when the guys got back, they told everyone Blake showed up, and none were too pleased. And oh yeah, Yosef still has a stick up his ass about a date he wasn’t even on. Said Clare was classless and “making 10 guys strip down butt naked to play dodgeball” left a bad taste in his mouth. Again, that’s not what happened. Did you see 10 guys butt naked playing dodgeball last night? I sure didn’t. The exaggeration and his overreaction is ridiculous. Next week sure will be fun.
-Next week will be the wrap up to this rose ceremony including the argument with Yosef where she sends him home. But based on the spoilers, we know Clare only has 2 rose ceremonies, and during those, she sends home Tyler Smith (who?), Garin Flowers, Blake Manor, Yosef, and Jordan Chapman. So 2 or 3 of those 5 will be at the next rose ceremony, but we already saw Jordan Chapman in the group date preview for next week, so we know he’s not one of them. Next week Clare has two 1-on-1’s – Dale Moss and Zach Jackson. Dale we know gets a rose. Zach she sends home during their date. The group date I believe is a roast. However considering last night didn’t end with a rose ceremony, I highly doubt next week does either. So that means Clare will be in at least 4 episodes, if not 5 this season.
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