Well needless to say, I think last night provoked a lot of emotion in the viewers due to being two episodes into the season, and last night gave us a glimpse honestly of what to expect all season. We’ll get to Devin in a little bit, but, lets start with the fact that the show traveled immediately for the first time after the first rose ceremony. For “Bachelorette,” yes. They did it once before with Ben Flajnik’s season, but it wasn’t immediately international. For Ben’s season, they went to Sonoma in episode 2, then San Francisco for episode 3. If I’m not mistaken, those are the only two times the show didn’t stay at the mansion after the first rose ceremony. So yes, technically Jenn is correct when she says they’ve never traveled this early before. But I just didn’t want any of us forgetting that glorious season that was Ben Flajnik’s.
-On the group date, Jenn and 8 guys went walking around the food court in Australia where they ended up eating kangaroo testicles. Disappointed to see that they didn’t hit up the Sbarro. Does Australia not have those? What about a Panda Express? Anyway, back to Sbarro. Is there a reason Sbarro is in every food court in America yet I’ve never seen it anywhere else? Then again, I can’t remember the last time I went to a mall food court. Is Sbarro still a thing? For mall food court food, it ranked pretty high up there on my list. But now I don’t even know if it’s still in business. Let me Google it. (Googles Sbarro). Yep, it’s still around. And now the fact that I just mentioned it makes me want to have it today for lunch. Sbarro, save me a slice of pepperoni. I’m coming your way today. Unless Cheesecake Factory sidetracks me when I walk in the Stonebriar Mall.
So the big “controversy” on this group date, is Devin pulling Jenn aside away from the other guys to get some ice cream with her. Something we’ve seen happen a million times on a group date. Yet somehow, this set off Aaron like no other. Aaron, who literally has a twin brother who’s been on this show before, and Aaron acting as if Devin is doing something so egregious he’s beside himself. Quite odd behavior. Aaron saying he feels disrespected and makes it into a much bigger thing than it should’ve. You know what, Aaron. YOU could’ve pulled her aside yourself. Why take it out on Devin when Jenn was fair game to anyone to pull aside. Not to mention, this is completely producer induced and to draw the exact reaction it did. Just ridiculous how much this got blown out of proportion.
This then turned into the roast date where every guy made sure to take a shot at Devin. Not surprising. But what happened later at the after party made it even more staged. We see her getting alone time with Jonathon then Grant, who she makes out with and ended up getting the group date rose. But when it’s Aaron’s turn, of course that’s when they send Devin in to interrupt him. He does, Aaron goes outside to vent, then goes back in to steal Devin’s time, to which Devin then comes back AGAIN to finish off his time with Jenn he originally stole. Again, nothing about this is organic. Devin was told to do this during Aaron’s time, and I’m sorry, Aaron has seen this show. He knows how this works. His exact reaction is what production wants. If he felt safe in his own his relationship with Jenn, he wouldn’t be threatened by Devin. But he does clearly, and that’s why he’s reacting the way he is.
This isn’t some “lets praise Devin” thing for me. I don’t care what he does. Is he my cup of tea? No. Do I find him to be obnoxious? Yes. But in THIS situation, he did nothing wrong. In the premiere episode in his intro video, he told all of us he’s loud. So basically he’s being himself. Is that gonna sit well with the audience? Probably not. But as we say every season, there’s a level of villainy with contestants, and to me, while within the definition of this show’s “villain,” Devin certainly fits that because he’s already given the “I’m not here for the guys I’m here for Jenn line,” I can name at least 10 former contestants who acted worse than Devin. Hell, you even got other guys there openly supporting him and saying he’s being who he is. But Aaron, and later Thomas, have the biggest issue with him. I don’t care for the guy either, but he’s not hurting anyone. He’s just super cocky and overconfident and isn’t afraid to say it to the other guys or in ITM’s. Some people love it, some people hate it. But get used to it, because you’re gonna get a season of it.
