-This episode did not have a lot of depth. Like, at all. It was two guys puffing their chests out all episode with neither one of them presenting a remotely good argument for why they disliked the other one so much. It got real old, real fast. We’ve seen drama happen on this show before. We expect it. And usually, the drama makes some sense. We barely even knew Chasen and Ed for the first five episodes, so to be really invested, or want to take sides on each of these guys was damn near impossible. I think I speak for everyone when I say we just wanted the whole thing to end. And soon. This was honestly one of the worst episodes I can remember in recent history of this show. Very few bright spots, the drama they presented us completely fell flat because it was with two guys we were essentially just meeting for the first time, and we only saw two dates. We’ve NEVER only seen two dates in an episode in the history of this show. That whole episode was just weird and underwhelming.
-The group date to begin had Montel, Ivan, Demar, Ben, Chasen, Ed, Joe, and Bennett on it. Ashley and Jared made an appearance for the Grown Ass Man Challenge, and honestly, if I never hear the phrase “grown ass man” again, it still won’t be soon enough. Another lame date that we’ve seen variations of in past seasons, where guys competed in multiple challenges. One thing we learned? Because you have a Harvard degree doesn’t mean you spell a word that most 4th graders could. Bennett couldn’t spell “limousine,” he didn’t know what time 1 hour and 42 minutes after 7:35 was, and thought 25 -10 = 19. These weren’t hard. Maybe he was under pressure. Maybe he sucks at basic math word problems. Maybe he threw it on purpose. Hell if I know. But Harvard grads must’ve had a major eye roll watching Bennett suck at everything last night. I wish they would’ve given Bennett the Wonderlic test last night so I could see him grind out a single digit score on it.
-One of the other challenges was a 1-on-1 Tug O’ War, which Bennett conveniently skipped out of. You know, the ol’ college knee injury flaring up caused him to sit. So this man was clearly behind the 8 ball after two events. Absolutely sucked at the spelling and math game, and sat out the other one. Last challenge was to make breakfast in bed for Tayshia, which Bennett showed up for in a robe, made a beignet from Bennett, and that apparently did the trick. If you were ever questioning the role production plays in this show, look no further than Ashely and Jared giving the “Grown Ass Man” Award to Bennett, even though he failed 2 of the 3 events. For those that don’t know, anytime they bring someone in to “host” a date, and they are in charge of who “wins,” 100% of the time they are told who to give it to by production. If they say they didn’t, they’re lying. Every single one. So just keep that in mind for future episodes. You know, like next week when Becca and Sydney Lotuaco are the hosts for the group date. The “winner” is always chosen by production and it’s to advance a storyline either overall for the season, or for that particular episode. Bennett fit the latter.
-At the group date after party, Chasen got to talk to Tayshia first and we learned two things:
1. Family is super important
2. He’s never been in love
Whoa, Chasen. Who do you think you are? Matt James? Lovely. Can’t wait. A Bachelor next season who’s never been in love. You think that storyline will be shoved down our esophagus every episode? Ugh. Chasen also joins the long line of contestants who have uttered the “family is important to me” quote. Great. Is that supposed to earn you points or something? I’d say that’s kind of expected. Because if ANY contestant came on this show and said, “Yeah, not much of a family person. Not a big fan of my dad and mom or my siblings,” my guess is they wouldn’t last long on this show. It’s very much a crutch used on this show waaaaaay too much and it doesn’t say much about you to admit that. At all.
-Oooooohhhh, you know what other line is getting asked way too much as well? Someone on this show asking someone else, “Why are you still single?” Tayshia asked it to Ben last night and I cringed. First off, there’s nothing wrong with being single. Secondly, the tone of that question makes it seem like you think they’re inferior because they’re single. I think something more appropriate would be to ask them about their dating history, or their last relationship, or their longest relationship. THEN if they come back with, “I’ve never been in a relationship before,” THAT would raise a red flag. Because someone who’s never been in a relationship going on a popular nationally televised dating show where the ultimate goal is essentially to get engaged would raise a lot of questions in my mind. Call me crazy.
-This cocktail party after the group date is where the Chasen/Ed fight started to escalate seemingly out of nowhere. All the sudden Ed just tells him he thinks he’s fake, he’s phony, he’s an actor, etc. Which he’s totally entitled to those opinions, but we didn’t really get much depth on why he thought that. Because he said the same things to Clare he said to Tayshia? I mean, maybe, but as we saw last night, I don’t think any of us watching mistook Chasen for a wordsmith. He has a very limited vocabulary when describing the female species, so I don’t know if that qualifies him as a fake, phony, actor. Lacking depth or any mental capacity to look at a women as more than anything other than a piece of meat? Probably. But the other charges seem to be rooted in something that we never actually got to see. And lets make no mistake about this, EVERY contestant on this show is on there for followers. You’re not original by calling someone out for that anymore.
-This continued into the cocktail party before the rose ceremony as Ed committed the biggest Bachelor/ette 101 crime: Never use your time with the lead to talk about someone else. He did, he rambled on about Chasen some more, said Chasen was being aggressive with him last night, got in his face, yelled, and zzzzzzzzzz…Seriously, this is so bad. Hilarious that there was a grown ass man challenge and both of these are acting the complete opposite of what that phrase entails. It’s petty, it’s middle schoolish, and I wish Tayshia would’ve just cut both of them last night at the rose ceremony. 40 seasons of this show though, we know exactly why these two are still around. It’s the definition of “filler.” They are just there to advance storylines and to add drama to episodes, even though they aren’t a major player in who Tayshia has interest in.
-We see some of her time with Ben at the party who said he didn’t get to kiss her all day, so he does at the cocktail party. Then Zac talks about why he’s 36 and single. He still hasn’t dove into his past yet, which we will get in upcoming episodes. I guess he’s biding his time to where he thinks it’s more appropriate to tell her about his prior divorce, his past addictions, etc. Yeah, maybe a cocktail party isn’t the time and place so I can’t disagree with him there. But it was clear why they showed us Tayshia’s time with both of these guys now knowing how long they last. Tayshia in separate ITM’s makes sure to tell us she really likes Zac and Ben. That would be foreshadowing for people who may be unspoiled. You aren’t now.
