-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.
Send all links and emails to: steve@realitysteve.com. To follow me on Twitter, it’s: www.twitter.com/RealitySteve. Instagram name is “RealitySteve,” or join my Reality Steve Facebook Fan Page. Talk to you tomorrow.
irisvioletgrey4
January 5, 2021 at 10:30 AM
I always like to read RS’s recaps before I watch the episodes the day after on Hulu, but this season already sounds so appalling that I think I’ll skip the watching.
shenanigans
January 5, 2021 at 2:08 PM
Hannah Godwin and Dylan Barbour are still together.
joanne
January 5, 2021 at 3:59 PM
I really like Matt a lot. Not impressed with most of the women.
ctrealitygirl
January 6, 2021 at 6:03 AM
I wholly agree with you joanne. I actually feel badly for Matt as his lot of women is pretty lame. And, was it just me, or did all their gowns look a lot alike?? Maybe a couple who wore something drastically different but mostly strappy, glittery long gowns. BORING! I really do think with the emphasis on social media, the pickings for decent Bachelor/ette participants will get slimmer and slimmer. I miss the “old” days when the contestants seemed more genuine. Beginning to be a farce. I so looked forward to Matt’s season and wound up sleeping thru most of the episode.
ladyjane747
January 6, 2021 at 8:18 AM
Matt’s okay. Kind of came across as awkward, which was hard to watch. Hopefully, he’ll relax as the season goes on. Victoria is super annoying and not very attractive. The woman from Africa is gorgeous. And I’m scratching my head over claims that Rachael is “racist.” Why would a racist go on a show to date a black guy? And then possibly get engaged to him? Yeah, okay. And those little brown shirts need to stop with the mask-shaming, already. Mind your own business. If you’re so terrified of a cold-like virus where you have a 99.97 (higher for people in this age group) chance of survival, you should stay home under the covers. Sheesh! Can’t imagine what these people would’ve done during the AIDS epidemic. Once you got HIV, it was all over. I had two friends die of AIDS. There was NO survival rate back then.
rob22
January 8, 2021 at 9:37 AM
ladyjane, the death rate is around 1% overall, obviously less for younger people. About 20% of cases require hospitalization. Obviously that will skew lower for younger people. But hospitalization is no picnic. I’ve had 3 friends hospitalized & 1 died. The ones that were hospitalized & came home described it as a traumatic experience and were thanking God when they were able to come home. They were basically suffocating for 2-3 weeks, which is a panic inducing state to be in. That’s not what happens with Colds or Flu. You also have people with lingering symptoms & there are some that are “long haulers” that are sick for months with no explanation or treatment available. Permanent lung damage as well as other permanent side effects such as blood clots have also been observed in too many people. My son’s 25 year old fiance had it, and though she had a mild case, her sense of taste hasn’t returned after several months. Also with the social distancing & mask wearing (though unfortunately not universal) has driven down the Flu rates to historic lows, showing how effective these precautions can be. You’re fooling yourself if you think COVID equates with the flu or a bad cold and that death is the only thing to worry about with COVID (though rolling the dice with a 1% chance of dying doesn’t seem like a wise move). This isn’t a political issue. Until COVID is eliminated, or at least driven down to low levels, our economy and our way of life will not return. Be a patriot. Do your part!