-The group date happened and 12 guys ignored Michelle. The end.
-Ok, that’s not ALL that happened, but that’s what they focused on. I wonder if this was yet again another work of production. Didn’t we have the same exact thing happen last year with Clare? She had a group date, the guys weren’t paying attention to her, she felt like she wasn’t being seen, and she called them out on it? I believe we did. I also believe Clare got called crazy for that. I heard exactly zero people calling Michelle crazy last night, nor should they have been. My point is the same exact scenario happened to both women, and it drew two different responses from the audience because…why? You don’t have to like Clare, but at least be subjective when looking at two situations that both women had to deal with that were exactly the same. Michelle wasn’t crazy for calling the guys out on their shit last night, just like Clare wasn’t for doing the same thing last year. But try convincing people who already didn’t like Clare who didn’t react that way last night about how hypocritical that is. You might as well bang your head against a brick wall 400 times.
-Do I think production had something to do with getting in the guys ears on both occasions? I’m sure they did. Just seems rather odd that on night 1 (probably about 10 days ago in real time) these guys can’t stop talking about what a catch Michelle is and she’s a queen, etc, then now they’re bro’ing out because there’s candy and stuffed animals around. They had to have been prompted to do that because it really makes zero sense. Last night was very low on drama and it seems like what little we had was created by production. That shit with Chris S. later on was so forced and totally producer invoked it’s laughable. What happened on this date was just dumb.
-So the Bella Twins from the WWE introduce the guys to a game of Whack Each Other With a Giant Stuffed Teddy Bear. A game that’s not really a game unless it’s done on this show. Six 1-on-1 matchups and the team that racks up more wins gets alone time with Michelle later on that night even though by the time this contest starts, Michelle would rather have a root canal done than hang out with these guys. Clayton beats Joe and, well, I guess we know now why he’s the Bachelor. He wins at pounding someone with a stuffed animal? Leroy beats Rodney. Will beat Nayte. Casey beat Chris S. Chris G. beat Romeo. Olu beat Brandon. So the team of Clayton, Nayte, Olu, Casey, Romeo, and Leroy are the winners and get to spend the night portion with Michelle, who looks like she’d rather throw up then hang with these guys who seemingly are more interested in playing grab ass with each other.
-Michelle sees the guys at the night portion and reads them the Riot Act. Says she didn’t feel seen earlier that day, the guys seemed more interested in each other, they didn’t come up and talk to her or go out of their way to make her feel special in any way. Now these guys feel like buffoons and essentially kiss her ass for the rest of the night. She pulls Nayte aside first because he’s clearly the guy she cares about the most in that group, and he says he does see her but his actions aren’t showing it. He’s willing to make that more known and obvious in the future. I think the show basically creates conflict in places they don’t necessarily need to just to further storylines along. Nayte has his first 1-on-1 date next week in Minnesota, the episode after he and Michelle have a minor hiccup. I don’t think that’s coincidental at all. And as I said in “Reader Emails” yesterday, there’s a reason two of her front runners – Joe and Nayte – didn’t get 1-on-1’s until Minnesota. It’s because she likes them the best and is not going to waste some BS date on them in Palm Springs. Would you rather play Truth or Dare with Nayte, or go boating with him on Lake Minnetonka where your friends join in? I think that’s a pretty simple answer.
-All the guys they showed Michelle get time with apologized for making her feel that way, but Olu seemed to empathize the most with her about it. He has 4 sisters and he put himself in their position like Michelle is in and realized how shitty she probably feels about now. Again, I’m not gonna doubt the guys made Michelle feel unseen during this date. I’m just wondering if it was because producers maybe kept pulling guys aside, possibly told them to do things together, maybe even specifically told them to give Michelle a little space that day because there were so many of them. The show is all about getting time with the lead. You ask ANY former contestant from ANY season their biggest complaint and it’s that you barely get time with the lead. So when you do, you better make the most of it. So now on a date with 12 guys, NONE of them decide to talk to Michelle? It really doesn’t make much sense at all which is why I believe there was some producer manipulation behind it. Olu gets the group date rose, and rightfully so.
