Well, today starts 48 hrs of madness. A 2 night, 4 hour finale where we see the culmination of what happened in Iceland, while also having the live segments happening in front of a studio audience in and out of commercial breaks. In addition, probably getting the announcement of our “Bachelorette” at the end of tomorrow night’s episode. Then the reveal of all the possible men on her season on the “Bachelorette” Facebook page is probably coming early Wednesday morning as it did last season when Katie’s guys were posted the morning after Matt’s ATFR. There will be alumni in the audience tonight and some of them are already hyping this two night finale, and yeah, it’s a lot. Is it hyperbole? That’s up to each of you. It’s definitely something we’ve never seen and there are a lot of moving parts. I’ve got it for you here. Like the spoiler for Arie’s finale was, “they filmed his breakup with Becca and we see all of it.” That spoiler definitely couldn’t do that 30 minutes of breaking up justice. So will this? I guess we’ll see. Now, I don’t know exactly how they will spread this out over two nights and what tonight’s episode ends with, I just finally have for you everything that happens in Iceland. Maybe that’s all shown tonight and tomorrow night is a 2 hr ATFR with all 3 women confronting Clayton, along with the “Bachelorette” reveal and probably meeting of 5 of her men like seasons past. Or maybe tonights episode will bleed into the beginning of tomorrow’s. Whatever the case, here’s what to expect on what went down in Iceland. I did not see the episode myself, but lets just say I heard indirectly from someone who did, so this is a paraphrase of everything I’ve heard:
-At the final 3 rose ceremony, the “Rose Ceremony from Hell” as they’re calling it. Clayton has already sent Susie away, so that leaves only Rachel and Gabby. Clayton tells both of them that he’s in love with them, and that he was intimate with both as we’ve seen numerous times all season in the promo. Both of them walk away crying to make you think they’re leaving. They don’t. Clayton practically begs each woman to stay and they do. He ends up giving a rose to both of them.
-Both Gabby and Rachel then meet Clayton’s parents.
-After Gabby and Rachel meet his parents, Clayton makes the decision that he wants to talk to Susie still. This I believe is when we saw in the promos of Jesse knocking on a door. That’s him going to Susie’s room to tell her Clayton wants to see her.
-They meet up, Clayton apologizes for how everything went down when they last saw each other, and he asks her to stay. She agrees.
-Susie then ALSO meets Clayton’s parents.
-After all 3 women have met Clayton’s parents, Clayton decides that he’s in love with Susie and makes the decision to send the other two home.
-Clayton speaks with both Rachel and Gabby separately in their hotel rooms, telling them that he wants Susie and that he’s in love with her.
-Been told that Rachel was more sad at this, and Gabby was more angry at him. We kinda see a glimpse of that in the promos. He pretty much just begged each of them to stay at the final 3 rose ceremony, to then only turn around and let them go a couple days later because he’s in love with Susie.
-There is a final rose ceremony day. Clayton has a ring, and Susie arrives in a final rose ceremony dress like a regular final rose ceremony we’ve seen in the past.
-At this final rose ceremony, I had reported two weeks ago that Clayton proposed and Susie rejected the proposal. That did NOT happen. However,…
-Clayton did tell Susie he was in love with her. Susie tells Clayton in return that she is NOT in love with him, and she walks away.
-Clayton leaves Iceland single.
-In terms of what’s happened since that day, with all the interviews Clayton is doing, it’s making it seem like Clayton and Susie have somehow rekindled. I’ve never been led to believe that Clayton is with Susie, and while I think he’s single, I really have no idea if he is or not. I guess that’s where the “nobody knows the endng yet” comes in. Because he definitely left Iceland single, so I guess it’s just a matter of where any relationship with Susie stands now. A lot on the table in terms of what could’ve happened these last 3 months. Some signs have pointed to them being back together, and some haven’t. We will see on Tuesday night where their relationship stands.
-There is zero chance he is rekindling anything with Gabby or Rachel. They have nothing to do with anything since they left Iceland. So Clayton is either back with Susie or he’s single. I’ve been told single, but it’s nothing I could get confirmed. A full blown, “Yeah, we patched everything up after Iceland and we’re dating now” would shock me. But maybe they’re trying to rekindle something I guess is a possibility. Just a weird way to start a relationship between these two. It’d be very similar to Colton & Cassie. We’re gonna see Susie tell the guy to his face she’s not in love with him and leave him single. Any relationship going forward would be them trying to convince us that she really likes him as much as he loves her. Can it happen? I guess. Likely to lead to a long term relationship? Hard to believe.
-I expect the “Bachelorette” announcement to come Tuesday night, and my GUESS right now is it’s gonna be Gabby. Nothing solid, not confirmed, but after hearing some more things this weekend, that’s who I’m leaning towards. Also at our “Bachelorette” announcement, I expect them to bring out 5 guys from her season like they have in the past, since all the guys on the next season arrived in LA this weekend and have been quarantined. I only have one guy I know for sure, and others I thought I had looked to be cut last minute since they’re active on IG. But we’ll know who the men are shortly, and once they’re released (even though I’ll be on plane Wed morning when it happens), I’ll be posting their last names and IG and anything else I can find on Twitter and IG as the day goes on.
So there you have it. Gonna be a wild next 48 hrs that’s for sure. I’ve realized that Bachelor finale week is officially my busiest week of the season. I don’t do myself any favors by always going to Vegas on Wednesday of finale week every season, but hey, sometimes you gotta do stuff for yourself. Tomorrow ends 9 straight months of “Bachelor” related programming. Remember:
-Katie started airing June of 2021
-Went straight into BIP in August 2021
-One week off then straight into Michelle’s season Oct 2021
-One week off then straight into Clayton’s season Jan 2021
So yeah, it’s nice to finally take a little breather. Sure I’ll be spoiling what I can when “Bachelorette” season starts filming this weekend, but as you know, that’s a much slower time, less columns, and no “Reader Emails” until “Bachelorette” starts airing end of May/beginning of June. So while it’s my favorite Vegas trip of the year, it also comes at the worst time. Oh well. We’ll all get through it.
Enjoy tonight. Get your popcorn ready.
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