-Before Serena P’s 1-on-1 date, when Matt arrives, Sarah is the only one who hasn’t joined with the rest of the girls, so Matt talks to her. She’s struggling, laying on the bed, isolating herself from everyone else, yet getting the attention from Matt she wants. They kiss again, he tells her he’ll be thinking about her, and this infuriates the women yet again. All of them can see right through what she’s doing, and frankly, there’s zero explanation given as to why the rest of the group is all sitting around waiting for Matt to arrive to pick up Serena P., yet Sarah is allowed to just lay on her bed in the room. I mean, it’s clear now why we know it happened, which was to make sure the women started shit talking Sarah even more, but I’m curious is if someone didn’t even tell Sarah she needed to be downstairs. That just seemed really odd.
-Serena P. is basically just a breath of fresh air. This girl is only 22? She carries herself much older and mature than that. I mean, just the fact that she said in an ITM, “I’m falling in like with Matt, not falling in love” should tell you a lot. She’s not falling for the regular BS jargon we normally hear from people after only one date on this show. They went horseback riding then sat down for a picnic where they had their own charcuterie board, something that Matt has never had in his life. Wait, he’s never eaten one or never made one? Not even one of those ones you can get at the grocery store with the Ritz crackers, different cheeses, and ham and turkey? Damn those are good. I feel like one right now. Don’t ever invite me to a party and throw one of those out there. I will devour everything in site. Cheddar cheese cubes and crackers are like crack for me. I’ll go non stop on those things until I feel I’m done, the hell with everyone else picking at it. I know. I need to show a little more restraint. Hey, what can I say? I love me some charcuterie boards.
-Over dinner, Matt and Serena talk about past relationships. Serena says she’s had 1 serious relationship, she thought he was the one, until he wasn’t. As for Matt, he told her his last relationship was a year ago and lasted 4 months. And that he thought he’s been in love in the past, but when he looks at it now, he realizes he never was. Matt’s done a lot of interviews recently talking about past relationships, how he’s dated all across the board, etc. But he’s gotten real confusing. Because didn’t we hear him say when he was in NY he never dated because he was broke. Now he’s talking like he dates all the time and dates all mixes of women. His stories aren’t lining up really. Then again, I’m not sure what Matt considers dating versus hooking up. Because just during last night’s episode I was told of two different women he’s been with in the last year. But in terms of the extent of it, how long they lasted, did he consider them girlfriends – that’s hard to say. Again though, after last night, I expect Serena’s popularity to jump. She almost seems too normal for this show.
-During Serena’s date, they bring the date card for the last group date, but then Sarah arrives downstairs finally which, again, seems like the timing was planted by production. She JUST happened to arrive right before the reading of the group date card? Really? Not buying it. The girls are not thrilled with Sarah. We have about 30 minutes left in the episode and we don’t even know who’s on the next group date yet or what it is, so you pretty much knew from this point forward, the rest of the episode was going to surround Sarah and the girls reaction to her. Which was quite negative to say the least. Deserved based on her stunt she pulled during the group date after party, but, way too excessive.
-Here’s where I’m at with Sarah. I’m not buying what she’s selling. Doesn’t make her a horrible human being, she doesn’t deserve to be called names or spewed hate on her social media, but for me personally based on what I’ve seen, things just don’t add up to me. And here’s why. Her dad has ALS. We know this. That isn’t a made up story or anything like that. But just like I have an issue when contestants with kids come on the show then complain about missing their kid, it’s kind of the same issue with Sarah. No one forced her to come on this show. She chose to leave, which in turn, means she would not see or speak to her dad while away at filming. So then to turn around and say how the process has been so hard on you, I don’t know, it’s just hard to get behind that. Of course it’s hard. It was hard on everybody. But it was still your decision to leave CA, quarantine in PA for a week, then start filming the show, meaning you wouldn’t have contact with your dad.
-The women piling on Sarah certainly didn’t help matters. What they did was stupid. While I’m not a fan of Sarah, I can admit she took waaaaaay too much criticism from the women after she came downstairs. She came down, apologized personally to Katie for interrupting her time with Matt, then apologized to the rest of the women. Done. Over. Why none of those women were able to accept that apology and kept telling her how wrong it was, was beyond me. Yes, she knows that. That’s why she apologized. But then they all started in with reasons why they were upset with her. I don’t know what else Sarah is supposed to do at that point? What she did by interrupting Katie and getting extra time with Matt by not being downstairs when he came to pick up Serena she can’t take back. It already happened. So now she’s apologizing for that. I saw a lot of people online last night criticizing the other girls for how they treated Sarah – and rightfully so. But I just want to make this one point. The show LOVES this. This show for 41 seasons has made sure their contestants hate on one another. They practically promote girl on girl hate on every season. They make sure other girls talk shit about others and tear them down. So shame on the girls for participating in it, but, lets not pretend like production aren’t the ones who egg it all on.
-Now as for Sarah, while the treatment the other girls gave her last night was embarrassing and deserved to be called out, lets just say that I’m not buying the character Sarah is portraying. From the second the cast was announced on Oct. 6th, I’ve heard nothing but questionable things about Sarah. And again, it’s not that she’s a horrible person or she should be cancelled, but just more of the same that we’ve seen from contestants season in and season out. I do not expect Sarah to post pictures and/or or videos of her father with ALS all over her Instagram. But nothing in Sarah’s public persona on IG screams “I live at home and am a caretaker for my dad.” She’s not. So I have a real hard time with her playing a role that’s a flat out lie. It can’t be easy dealing with what she’s dealing with in regards to her father. I get that. We all feel sorry for what’s happening with her dad. Just don’t sell to America you’re his caretaker when you live in LA (clear as day based on her IG), your parents live in San Diego (all it takes is a quick look on Facebook), and every picture and video you post on IG are thirst traps and modeling pics (speaks for itself). Just be real. That’s all people ask. This “caretaker” role is a bit of a stretch.
-So there’s that aspect, and then there’s the rumor that’s been floating around that she had a boyfriend pre-show, she did the show strictly to build a brand and gain more followers, and that she’s already back together with him and has been spending time with him since the second she got back. Here’s what I know. I have video of them on a trip to Mexico a month before filming ended. They were seen together in LA a week before she left for filming. He’s got both a work IG and private IG, and she follows him on both. I’ve been told by more than one person they are clearly back together post-filming, they haven’t hid it at all privately, and her whole appearance was just to get noticed and build her brand. Again, not the first person to do this and certainly won’t be the last. But when we see the “character” being portrayed on television, it’s not lining up. And lets refrain from the “why do you hate Sarah so much” nonsense, which I’m sure is coming. I don’t. I report on this show. I report on things that 95% of the audience doesn’t follow. I’m pointing out what you’ll never see on the show since I know a lot of people are interested in anything behind the scenes. Well, that’s Sarah’s. Will this guy she’s dating come forward and admit this? Probably not. Can I prove it without outing sources? No. And he’s just as big of an idiot for letting her go do this show and taking her right back. Why? Because I guarantee she’ll do this to him if they’re still dating when Paradise rolls around. But it is possible to feel sorry for Sarah for what she’s dealing with with her dad all while acknowledging that the story she’s selling on TV isn’t the most genuine. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
Next week, we’ll get the conclusion of the group date, the rose ceremony, then the entrance of 5 “new” women, which causes a stir with everyone already there. These 5 women are basically treated as outsiders and don’t immediately blend well with the others. Also, in case you missed it in the spoilers at the beginning of the season, Brittany Galvin is the one accused of being an escort. Kaili knows her from the Chicago club scene and then Anna joins in as well since she’s from Chicago and has apparently heard stuff herself.
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