-The show started out with the live shot of Jesse and them bringing Ariel on stage, then having her joined by Zach. Ariel couldn’t have handled herself any better if she tried – calm, poised, got every point across in a very articulate way, being stern without being a bitch about it, held Zach accountable but also didn’t rake him over the coals. Again, these type of interactions are always very hit-and-miss because they are so far removed from what happened during filming back in November that, although Ariel was bothered by what she saw last week on the show, I think for the most part she’s over it. But, she still wanted to let Zach know how he made her feel, which she had every right to do. There was really nothing Zach could say to Ariel other than what he did. Apologize, say he would’ve wished he handled it better, and tell her that basically, “Yeah, you’re right. I should’ve told you earlier.” That’s all he could do since the last time they saw each other, it was before Thanksgiving. Everything she called him out for was on the dot. If Zach even remotely tried to defend his actions, it would’ve been even worse for him. He didn’t, Ariel got her closure, and without a doubt she’s going to be original cast down in Paradise assuming she doesn’t get a boyfriend before then.
-Gabi was out of the car first and we knew what was coming. Well, we knew much earlier than that, but I’m talking about the episode. I’ve always said I don’t envy the Bachelor’s position. Breaking up sucks. No matter who it’s with, how long you’ve known them, who’s doing the breaking up, etc. It’s never fun. Now just imagine having to do that with cameras in your face to someone you developed pretty strong feelings for over the course of a couple months, days after you’d had sex for the first time, and knowing how much her insecurities played on her all season, AND how much she was dreading being broken up with. Yes, this is what Zach knows he signed up for, but it certainly doesn’t make it any easier. It was also four months ago, but having to re-live it last night as you saw for Gabi, made it that much worse.
-Before I get into everything that Gabi nailed last night, I do wanna mention something she touched on that I think isn’t all Zach’s fault. And that’s this notion that he put her through the whole song and dance of showing up that final day knowing he was gonna pick Kaity, and she felt embarrassed. I wouldn’t put that all on him. For the longest time, that was ALWAYS the case on this show. For whatever reason, they never let the Bachelor let one of the women go early that they weren’t picking. Always made both of them show up to final rose ceremony day so they could get the reaction of one of them being dumped. Why? Because they don’t give a shit about your feelings whatsoever. They want the most desired dramatic effect for their show. Now, in recent seasons, we have seen either women leave at the final two point, or, the Bachelor lets her go. But just know for the longest time, while they seemingly never had an issue with the Bachelorette letting their final 2 guy leave and not show up on final rose ceremony day, they’d NEVER do it for the Bachelor. Wasn’t til the last 3 or 4 seasons where they let it happen, so lets not place all the blame on Zach here for this one. It’s very possible he didn’t have a choice in the matter.
-Then once it’s established it’s going to happen on final rose ceremony day, look, nothing Zach says in that moment is going to please Gabi or anyone in that position. They are getting dumped on national television. And that was BEFORE she knew Zach had outed their overnight date sex to all of America, since we found out last night she didn’t know that until last weeks episode. Which is a whole other conversation. But just going back to that day, hearing Zach say “But…,” it was all she wrote for Gabi. She didn’t want to hear any more, and Zach tried to soften the blow, but he had to realize in that moment nothing he said was gonna make things any better. Gabi knew. She talked about her gut and the questions she’d asked him on their last date, both during the day and the night time portion, he was clearly avoiding saying anything to make her think it was gonna be her. She picked up on that and her intuition ended up being right.
