-We start off and we’re in Tallinn, Estonia. You want to know something about Tallinn? “It’s a beautiful place to fall in love.” Interesting. So was San Antonio. And Virginia. And Cleveland. And the Bahamas. And London. This show never ceases to amaze me that, crazy I know, but every place they travel every season just happens to be the best place to fall in love. I’m half expecting them to go to Russia next season and talk about how much love is in the air and they can’t wait to fall in love there too. Greer is quarantining because at some point she got sick so now only 8 women will be on dates in Estonia. Maybe that was the reason some of the claws came out this week, but immediately when we start off, we’ve got an issue. Charity, whose date was cancelled in London last week, gets the first 1-on-1 this week. But not if Kat can help it. No, she didn’t crash her date. She just made sure Zach knew what flavor gum she was chewing before he went out with Charity.
-This was one of the two big storylines last night and here’s my two cents. I think both Kat and Brooklyn were wrong. Was it the most egregious thing we’ve ever seen a contestant do when Kat pulled him aside before his date with Charity? No. We’ve seen much worse. However, she had to know that it was going to bother some of the other women. All except Gabi got to see him in person in London, so yeah, I’m guessing they all would’ve loved time with him. So Kat was naïve for thinking what she did wouldn’t ruffle some feathers. With that said, it certainly is coming across as producers are using Brooklyn as their puppet this season and making sure she’s the one who points stuff out. And Brooklyn has no problem obliging. No, Kat shouldn’t have done it, but, to call it out in front of everyone else as if she did something so heinous, nobody could believe it was a bit much. They went out into the hallway and she kissed him. I was expecting a full makeout session, and if you watch, it really wasn’t. It was just a, “Hey, don’t forget about me” convo with a kiss. Certainly every woman would’ve liked to get that extra time, but, 46 seasons in I just can’t take this as some major thing to get bothered by. If they don’t realize they’re on a TV show by now and these women are doing stuff told to them by production for reasons to specifically get under women’s skin, I don’t know what to tell them.
-What made it worse for Kat was how she tried to defend herself to Ariel. She should’ve just owned her mistake and moved on. But she basically said she did it only bc she didn’t get to see him last week due to COVID. Yeah, we’ll neither did anyone else but Gabi and you didn’t see them pulling him aside. With that said, it’s hard to get worked up and form Team Kat or Team Brooklyn over this when no one will care in a week, both women will be down in Paradise this summer and be popular amongst the men. But for the short term, I guess this “feud” will have to do so they can have some drama for an episode. I just can’t see this as all that big of deal. So Charity’s date starts, and we see the horse carriage ride that was filmed in real time back when this date was taking place. What we didn’t know also happened on this date was the crazy Estonians creating a race where you carried your wife over your shoulders in kind of a reverse 69 position and ran through an obstacle course with her. So Charity’s face is basically right in Zach’s ass as he runs and jumps over shit, as she’s upside down bopping her head all around. Who thought this was a good idea? There was nothing about this race that was remotely comfortable or endearing. I’m thinking Charity would’ve much rather gotten a Big Ben date in London and caught COVID then had to deal with this.
-We see Jess and Gabi talking back at the hotel and they are most definitely setting you up for what’s to come later on because Jess is worried she’s the only person who doesn’t have COVID that hasn’t gotten a 1-on-1 yet. While she’s onto something (which we’ll get to later), she also has to know up to this point, only 7 women have had 1 on 1’s once Charity’s was announced (Christina, Kaity, Aly, Kat, Brooklyn, Gabi, & Charity). No one’s gotten two yet, and has one of the women pointed out, Greer hasn’t gotten one either. So of the 9 in Estonia, Greer, Jess, and Ariel have yet to have one, and with only one 1-on-1 left this episode, that means two were never going to have one by the end of Estonia. It’s simple math. Yes, means you’re pretty much screwed in the grand scheme of things, but it’s not like this doesn’t happen EVERY SEASON.
-On the night portion of the date, Charity tells Zach over dinner that she was in an emotionally abusive relationship where she was never seen as a good partner or good girlfriend and a lot of infidelity happened. Because seemingly every woman who’s ever been on this show and has gotten a 1-on-1 one, has had some horrible ex-boyfriend in the past. I’m not denying it’s happened. I’m sure they did. But they always seem to be the ones getting the dates. It’s almost liked you’re docked “points” or not given a fair shake or edit if you HAVEN’T had some shitty experience with men in your past to open up to about on your date. Has there been any this season that didn’t talk about a shitty ex during their 1-on-1? As a viewer, when it seems like they’re all saying the same thing, it loses it’s luster. Sucks that they all had to deal with it, I just wish maybe someone could get a 1-on-1 that isn’t such a downer for the rest of us. Charity gets a rose, they kiss, and somewhere off at the hotel, Kat is plotting to tackle Zach the second she sees him again.
