-I noticed on the limo entrances this season, they really toned down the gimmicks. Like, A LOT. Which is probably a good thing. Very few over the years have ever really been creative or funny. Most have been cringeworthy. By my count, there were only 3 women who didn’t get out of the limo on their arrival: Christina (party bus), Vanessa (walked up the driveway throwing beads), Mercedes (walked in with her pig). I feel like that’s way less than in years past. So 27 of 30 women actually stepped out of the limo, and if there was a gimmick, it was pretty small and insignificant. Very few props: Davia had a champagne bottle, Gabi had maple syrup, Bailey had a name tag, Katherine had SPF, and Kylee had a megaphone. Weren’t too many other props that I remember, really. Again, this is a GOOD thing. I hope producers keep this in mind for next season. And the season after that. And the season after that. And so on and so forth.
-Once inside the mansion and the cocktail party began, something amazing happened that I don’t think has ever happened in the history of women: two women wore the same dress to a function and didn’t tear each others extensions out. Christina and Sonia realized they had on the same exact dress but in a different color and, by golly, neither of them seemed phased by it. Is this a first? Obviously neither of them could’ve known what the other would be wearing that night, but, wouldn’t this possibly lead to one being totally upset over this? Or is that only if it was the same dress in the same color as well? Maybe that’s what made it easier to digest? I don’t know, but props to Christina and Sonia for handling it like professionals. What was that one season where like everyone showed up in some sort of red dress for the night? Was that Nick’s? I was shocked there wasn’t a full blown, claws out cat fight when that happened.
-Katherine and Kaity were the first two women we saw him with at the cocktail party and both are two clearly to keep an eye on. Katherine he commented after her limo arrival and after this talk how attractive she was. And Kaity just told himi how lucky she was to be there and he ended up kissing her. I’m sure I won’t mix them up 100 times this season. While they kind of look alike, I can definitely tell them apart. And I know Kaity makes final four and Katherine doesn’t. But the whole Katherine/Kaity thing, both being front runners and what not I know I’ll screw up at some point this season. It’s inevitable.
-Did you see this tweet from Fleiss a couple hrs before the show last night?
Major Announcement regarding #TheBachelor !!!Tonight’s season premiere will feature constant (and potentially annoying) identification of the cast members!!!
— Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) January 23, 2023
When I saw that, the first thing that came to mind was when we saw the women’s name on the screen with their age, job, and city, that it was gonna maybe include their IG accounts. Nope. Now having watched the whole episode, I have no idea what he was even talking about. What “constant identification of contestants” was there last night? Because I certainly didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Other reality shows do that, right? Where they have contestants IG handles on the screen when they’re showing them. Why this show doesn’t do that, I have no idea. If you heard the conversation with Suzana Somers (@Bachelordata) last Thursday, she talked about how for the first time, the Bachelor IG account is tagging contestants they include in pictures. You’d think the next logical step is to constantly show their IG handles on the screen. Guess we’re asking too much of a show to promote their own contestants. How silly of us.
-If you also saw Suzana’s post last night regarding kisses, Zach has taken the new lead as the “kissing bandit” as he kissed 7 women on the first night that was shown, which is a record. One of those was Greer, who got the first impression rose. Her story to him at the cocktail party was the fact that her parents were married since they were 25 (or maybe it was 25 years – I can’t read my own notes), but that resonated with Zach so I guess that’s why he ended up giving her the first impression rose. Seemed like he actually had a better connection with a couple other women – like Charity, Kaity, or Katherine – but alas, Greer got the rose and she was safe along with Brianna, who got America’s first impression rose on the ATFR.
-There was only one piece of drama on the first night, and it was with Madison. And it was just Madison in a battle with – herself. So the drama wasn’t even among the women for this episode. Madison, who you could clearly tell had a couple drinks too many, was just getting clingy with Zach and thinking she should see him a lot because she wanted a kiss so bad. When she did, she got a peck and she wasn’t happy with it. Zach said he wasn’t feeling it either so we could see where this was headed a mile away. She approached Zach for a third time that night (that was shown) as he was talking to Jesse, saying she didn’t want to waste any time, and Zach told her, “buh bye.” Wasn’t feeling it, didn’t want to lead her on, and its best she be gone immediately and don’t let the door hit her on the ass on the way out. Ok, maybe he didn’t put it that way, but that’s basically what he meant.
Just thought I’d post this here: I’ve heard of 3 women this season that absolutely were seeing someone pre-show and immediately got back together with them after they got back from filming. So there’s that. No, not gonna give you names because it’s still hearsay for the most part and kinda hard to prove. But it’s out there. You’ll possibly hear more online elsewhere. This is nothing new. This happens every season so it’s not really all that big of deal. Just something to note.
-You know what was weird at the rose ceremony? We never saw Zach give a speech. Basically right after Madison left, the next scene is Zach standing at the rose ceremony already with a rose in hand. Brianna and Greer already with roses and are safe. Christina, Charity, Bailey, Jess, Genevie, Davia, Aly, Brooklyn, Kaity, Anastasia, Kylee, Gabi, Katherine, Mercedes, Ariel, Victoria J., Kimberly get roses.
“Ladies, Zach, it’s the final rose tonight. When you’re ready. Sonia already was on my ass telling me to get back to ESPN, and frankly, I wish I was back there breaking down the big SEC matchup for the weekend rather than standing here doing nothing.”
Cat gets the final rose of the night.
Our preview for the season was again really no different than any past season preview. Starts out with positive clips from all the dates, a bunch of kissing, the women glorifying Zach, then moves into drama with a ton of shots of women crying, then ends with Zach saying how he’s happy and will find his best friend. So there you go. Same ol, same ol. Good times.
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