There is A LOT to get to this week. So much so that my recap isn’t going to break down every portion of last night’s episode. I will give my overall impressions of all the craziness we saw last night, but mostly focusing in on Victoria, Anna, and Katie, since they were the three most talked about last night. And Michelle too because she had the only 1-on-1 date. Victoria and Anna for not so good reasons, and Katie and Michelle for positive reasons. Last night had so much in it, they just blatantly rushed through things we usually never see rushed through. Like, ever. Do you realize last night we had THREE group dates, with all three after parties shown, a 1-on-1 date, the entrance of 5 new women, a rose ceremony cocktail party, AND a rose ceremony? Without having a detailed description of every episode in 41 seasons memorized in my head, I still feel pretty confident in saying we never had any episode that had that many different things in it. There’s no way. A standard episode has 2 group dates, the after parties, a 1-on-1, cocktail party before rose ceremony, and a rose ceremony. That’s if they don’t show shit out of order or whatever. So how was that even possible they squeezed all that in?
Well, here’s how. They didn’t give any particular segment more than 10% of the show, which is something we’ve rarely, if ever, seen. Usually each date gets anywhere from 12%-15% of the episode. Not last night, except for the 3rd group date:
Get your “Reader Emails” in for tomorrow’s column as I’m sure after today’s post, you’re going to have some new questions to ask and comments to add. A little low right now so get those in when you can today.
Lets get to some of the stuff I’ve been able to find out over the last week or so. Again, kinda like last season, I’ve gotten information about things we’re going to see this season (and next season for that matter), I just don’t have exact details behind some of them. Yet. Lets get started:
-First off, lets start out with the next “Bachelorette” season, which will begin filming in March per usual. I’ve been telling you for the last month on my IG live with Ashley I’ve heard about where they were filming, but I wanted to wait until I found out the resort first to reveal. Since I don’t know when I’m gonna find out about the resort, I figured I’d just tell you the location first. Next season of the “Bachelorette” is filming in Canada. It will be another quarantine shoot just like Clare/Tayshia’s & Matt’s season. Cast & crew, once they arrive in Canada, will quarantine and test for 2 weeks before production begins.
I know this will bring up a ton of questions, namely, “How can they film in Canada when Canada has closed their borders?” I don’t know. Clearly production has already worked something out because I’ve heard from 5 different people now that Canada is where they’re filming next season. I don’t know the city/region or the resort yet. But just know it’ll be there. And the thing about looking at resorts, which I’ve already tried to for the last month, is that a lot of resorts there are seasonal. Some aren’t re-opening until May. So it’s tough to tell based on availability (like I did with La Quinta along with a couple phone calls) are these resorts closed all of March/April because of “Bachelorette” filming or just because they’re seasonal? Hopefully I’ll find out soon, but that’s the plan for next season. Hope the guys pack heavy because from everything I’ve been told, March/April aren’t exactly the most warm months in Canada no matter what part of the country you film in.
–The “Women Tell All” for this season films next Thursday in LA. Just like last season, they will have to quarantine for at least week. And there will probably only be about 10-12 women there. And again just like last season, I would expect those women who are attending, will start flying to LA this Wednesday or Thursday. I doubt many will be shy on their IG’s showing us they’re getting on a plane, so, you’ll probably be able to see who’s attending if you’re just following their stories since I doubt many will hide the fact they’re getting on a plane and/or packing, at an airport, etc.
–They are planning to have an ATFR this season, except, it will be pre-taped some time at the end of February. Normally in a non-COVID year, the “Bachelorette” starts filming later the same week that the “Bachelor” finale airs. The guys set to be on the show are already isolated in their LA hotels watching the “Bachelor” finale, the “Bachelorette” is named on the live ATFR, they bring out 5 guys on stage so she gets an early “start” then filming begins later that week. Well, because of COVID and quarantining, they can’t do a live ATFR this year, because even if they left for Canada the day after filming, due to having to quarantine for 2 weeks, that would push the start of filming back to beginning of April. I’ve been told cast & crew will leave for Canada (production/crew probably a week or so earlier than cast like they did for Matt’s season) at the end of February/beginning of March, quarantine for two weeks in Canada, so they can begin filming the week Matt’s finale airs, which looks to be March 15th or 16th, depending on if they’re gonna do a one or two night finale.
-A couple notes I found out about this season that happens later on. I don’t know at what point it happens, but I’ve recently found out the show brings Matt’s dad on this season. Matt doesn’t speak much about his dad publicly, and when he has, it’s to say the guy wasn’t around and that he and his brother were raised by their mom. So just like last season where I reported they were trying to get Kelsey’s dad to show up for her hometown date, I guess they succeeded with Matt’s. I don’t know the outcome. If it was contentious, if Matt got closure, if it’s a touching moment, etc. Not sure. But I think now that scene they’ve shown a few times of Matt sitting down outside on a curb and Chris Harrison asking if he’s ok and him saying “No, I’m not,” without knowing 100% for sure, I can probably guess now that scene has to do with Matt and his dad. Either he’d just met him or was just told his dad is there to speak with him.
I know immediately people will think this is a low blow by the show because clearly they didn’t consult Matt beforehand. Which is why I think that this meeting between Matt and his dad probably ends cordially at least. I just can’t see this being a complete disaster, because then the show looks horrible in the end for bringing him on without Matt’s consent, and they’re never going to openly say they never should’ve done something. I’m guessing it’s probably a tough conversation they have, probably very emotional, but when it’s over, Matt probably feels better. I can’t imagine for the life of me that Matt calls it a disaster/walks off set/f-bombs production for bringing him on, etc. So without knowing exactly what the final result is, I tend to think it ends up being on the more emotional but positive side. Just a guess.
-One final note that I found out regarding the ending. I’ve been told that Matt actually lets Michelle go before the final rose ceremony. Take that as you will, as they usually don’t let the “Bachelor” do that, that’s always been more of a thing on the “Bachelorette” where the lead will save the final 2 guy the embarrassment of “walking to the altar” only to get dumped. Colton I believe was the first guy to do it when he sent Tayshia and Hannah G. home early. Well, apparently it happens again and Matt eliminates Michelle before the final rose ceremony.
Whew. Five good nuggets for you today that haven’t been reported anywhere else. Anybody with a blog, podcast, Instagram account, access to the internet could’ve reported that at any point in the last 2 months since filming ended.
They didn’t.
