-Inside the cocktail party and, uh oh, people are already getting triggered. Instead of Matt giving a speech to the women, he asks them to bow their head in prayer. Clearly all 32 women are not down with this, even though they all act like they are. Again, something we can debate until we’re blue in the face. There’s no right or wrong here. If Matt wants to pray, let him pray. If you’re someone who doesn’t pray, then I guess fake it or don’t pray at all. But seeing the response online tonight, again, it was mixed. Of course people who have a strong faith and believe in prayer think it was the greatest thing they’ve ever seen on the show. And those who don’t, didn’t. No joke. What timing. I’m writing this sentence at 9:21 am CT Tuesday morning. I just got an email at 9:18 saying, “I turned off the show as soon as Matt started his prayer. Does Matt not realize that over HALF of people surveyed no longer believe in a God?” Here we go.
-Rachael is someone that was very impressed by Matt’s opening prayer. It brought her to tears actually. She gets some alone time with him and says it’s always been tough for her being vulnerable, she’s always had her guard up, etc. It’s probably become my biggest problem with the show over the years in that, I just don’t take contestants and what they say at face value anymore. How can we? We don’t know these people? Maybe they are telling the truth, who knows? But every single person on this show knows they’re being watched by millions of people and knows to build their brand, they need to come off a certain way. So how can you not question what someone says? Are they saying it because it’s true, or are they saying it because they think that’s what America wants to hear? This goes for anyone, not just Rachael. There’s been so many instances in the past of contestants just flat out lying, it really is impossible to just blindly believe what everyone says. Another situation where it’s more of a case-by-case basis. But surely on the first conversation we hear of Matt and Rachael, I can’t be like, “Yep, I’m all in. Totally believe her.” I don’t know if I do or not. I need to see more of her and who she is. Her friends think she’s great. Her enemies say she and her group of friends are mean girls that had no problem using racist language towards them.
-Serena P. steals Matt from Rachael and takes him outside to play a giant board game of chess. I would’ve preferred Twister since I’ve been on this planet 45 years and have understood chance for none of that time. “Steve, you gotta watch the Queen’s Gambit!” No. Leave me alone. I’m too busy re-watching “24” right now. I’ve literally powered through almost 6 seasons over the last couple months. It’s been awesome. I know I’m pre-judging, but c’mon. I’d much rather watch Jack Bauer interrogate some terrorist while screaming at him than some woman playing chess in the 1950’s. Sorry. I just can’t.
-Mari is talking to Matt about her family in Puerto Rico, he asks how they managed with all the hurricanes and everything, but of course, here comes The Dildo swooping in to steal time right when a meaningful conversation was about to happen. Shocker. Katie uses The Dildo to tap Mari on the shoulder and it sent germophobes scurrying everywhere. Mari wasn’t too happy about that. Yeah, The Dilly is already wearing out its welcome. They are beating this joke into the ground at this point.
-If Dildo-gate doesn’t suit your fancy, may I interest you in a little Queen vs Princess battle between Victoria and Kit? No, you say? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Victoria the try hard calls herself the queen, but Kit has labeled herself a princess and I’m already throwing up in my own mouth. Like, doesn’t this show want the audience to actually like their contestants and not make us think of them as petty high school kids? Because they aren’t doing a good job of that with this silly nonsense. What’s next, they gonna pull each others hair? Start a burn book? I’m not naïve to think this show won’t have any drama, but “I’m a queen” and “I’m a princess” rhetoric is quite frankly the bottom of the barrel. Did anyone find this remotely entertaining or funny? Really?
-His alone time with Abigail led to his first kiss of the night and then he ends up giving her the first impression rose. Of course the Queen thought she’d totally be getting it for reasons I’ve yet to understand (Translation: a producer probably made her think that). Abigail getting the first impression rose was a no brainer based on the conversations we saw. Something that’s been brought up to me numerous times by people is how little presence Abigail has had in all of the promos for this season. I haven’t studied all of them with a fine tooth comb, but those that have say she’s barely in anything. So I know a lot have asked me since last night how far she lasts, but unfortunately, I don’t know. You’d think someone who got the first impression rose would last a decent amount of time. At least Top 10, no? We’ll see. Maybe I’ll find out before she gets eliminated how far she gets.
-Rose ceremony time. Abigail safe with a rose. Matt: “Thank you for an amazing first night…shared things with a common ground…tough decisions part of finding love…excited to see where this journey goes…how many times a day am I allowed to FaceTime my BFF Tyler? 5? 10?”
Roses go to: Bri, Rachael, Chelsea, Sarah, MJ, Serena P., Khaylah, Kristin, Kit, Magi, Pieper, Mari, Illeana, Jessenia, Kaili, Marylynn, Serena C., Lauren, Sydney, Alana, Katie, and Anna.
“Ladies, Matt, it’s the final rose tonight. When you’re ready. I have an 8am tee time so can we please hurry this along? You thought I played a ton at La Quinta? I’m gonna wear out this Nemacolin course.”
Victoria gets the last rose because they need to keep her performative character around for another few episodes so it will grate on people even more.
So the 8 that were eliminated last night were: Emani, Carolyn, Alicia, Amber, Corrine, Kimberly, Saneh, and Casandra. Of the 12 women I gave yesterday that I know don’t make it past episode 3 or so, Casandra was the only one I didn’t have on there. But there are definitely some women this season I have no idea of even a range of when they go home. No clue. Next week, I’m pretty sure Illeana and Sydney are two that are eliminated if my math is correct.
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