So what does this mean for that infamous final 3 rose ceremony where in the very first promo of the season, we see Clayton standing in front of two women, identified to be Gabby and Rachel, telling them he was intimate with both of them, then watching them storm off crying? Those were the details I was hoping to find out in the last week because now knowing the ending, I’m sure you wanted to know how that played out. Unfortunately I don’t have that answer. I brought this up in my open of my podcast with Rob Cesternino on Feb. 24th, but at the time, I didn’t know the Susie ending. I mentioned out loud that I thought Susie eliminated herself at the final 3, but we all know that when someone either doesn’t get a rose or self eliminates at final 3, they don’t actually LEAVE the country they’re in. They have to stay until all of filming is over. So while I don’t know for sure how it plays out, Susie does technically “leave” after her overnight date with Clayton, she just never left Iceland and is convinced at some point to “return.” Either Clayton talks to her, or she goes to talk to Clayton. Something like that because obviously she’s still there on final rose ceremony day.
So there’s a myriad of things that could happen at the final 3 rose ceremony, and since we’ve basically been given no footage of anything post that rose ceremony (except a shot last night of Clayton talking to Gabby in a hotel room saying “I can’t believe anything you say, not one thing”), it’s all just guessing at this point.
-After Rachel and Gabby gather themselves, does he just cancel the rose ceremony because he’s distraught over Susie?
-Do they leave on their own?
-Do they continue on and he gives them both roses and they’re his final 2 until some revelation that Susie is still there?
-If he did give one or both of them roses, they would’ve met his family at that point. I have no idea how many of them met his family. Tried to find out, but couldn’t.
-Now we know he speaks to Gabby post rose ceremony, does that mean she actually got a rose? Or was it cancelled, he needed time to think, and in that convo he lets her go? Or she eliminates herself? Same with Rachel?
-Once Gabby and Rachel are eliminated/left on their own, how do they fill Monday and Tuesday’s episode with only one woman left? I know they’ll be a lot of live segments in the studios with former alumni, but still seems like they have A LOT of time to fill with not a whole lot of footage left from Iceland.
-When and how does Susie return? Does she return that night of the rose ceremony? The next day? What does she say to him as the reason she decided to stay?
The only thing I think I know, is that final rose ceremony day only Susie was there. I haven’t heard anything about there being a final 2 and he chose Susie over someone else. And since we’re probably not even getting the final 3 rose ceremony in tonight’s episode, and looks like it’s just ending with the Susie/Clayton blow up and her “leaving,” we won’t be able to dive into the final 3 rose ceremony until next Monday.
So what convinced Susie to stay? Don’t know. But thinking about it logically, I could see her being taken aback and frustrated in that moment when he told her he had told Gabby and Rachel he was in love with them too. But she goes back to her room, she talks with producers, and it’s not hard to believe she was convinced to stay. Production has convinced people to do much worse things over the years than stick it out, so while it’ll seem like all hope is lost, it’s not and she ends up staying. Now what is gonna be interesting, and I’m curious to how the fans take it, is Susie being convinced to stay, only to reject his proposal at the end. Will that be looked at as a boss/women empowerment move, or, will people think that was shitty of her to do? I guess I have to watch it play out before answering that. Too early right now.
So what does this mean for “Bachelorette?” The one reason why the “Clayton is trying to date Susie” post show was falling on deaf ears with me was because last week when I mentioned I was hearing one name for “Bachelorette,” that name was Susie. Doesn’t mean she’s 100% gonna get it, that’s just the name I was hearing before people go running and screaming that I said Susie’s the “Bachelorette.” I don’t know who it is. But filming for “Bachelorette” starts next weekend, so they gotta be making a decision soon if they haven’t already. If/when I hear, I will let you know. But based on the ending we now know, it certainly seems like Susie has a perfect built-in storyline for “Bachelorette,” no? They’ve certainly made choices out of left field for their lead, so nothing is ever official, but this one seems to be set up on a tee for them. All 3 of them have fans. People are gonna piss and moan no matter who they choose. I’m hoping to hear something more concrete in the coming days about who got the gig.
So that’s where we’re at. I don’t think anyone is too shocked to hear Clayton’s single. But HOW we got to that point is definitely something that nobody has talked about for 3.5 months. Not to mention, we’ve truly never seen an ending like this where on final rose ceremony day, the Bachelor gets rejected. So yes, the hyperbole from Mike Fleiss and Jesse Palmer is somewhat warranted this season. As for Jesse saying he still doesn’t know how it ends yet, clearly he knows what happened in Iceland. He was there. But maybe he’s thinking that there will be a reconciliation of some kind. I don’t see it, it’s nothing that I’ve heard, Gabby and Rachel are completely out of the picture, and I’d be real surprised if Susie were to take him back. Gonna be an interesting last week, that’s for sure.
