The franchise might not be back, but I sure am. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but The Bachelorette has been getting some welldeserved negative press as of late. The video I made last year on The Bachelorette has only become more relevant, which is not great, but it does prove that I’m right. As of right now, it seems unclear whether the franchise will even continue into the future.
The most recent season of The Bachelorette has yet to air. Maybe will never air. Who knows? Somehow, I do think we’ll all live and we’ll all be okay if that’s not the case. But among the many things that the recent news has made me think about, I really became fixated on a story I’ve been wanting to tell y’all for a while. You may know that The Bachelorette is no stranger to controversy.
And it just had me thinking about what was simultaneously one of the best seasons of The Bachelorette and also without a doubt one of the most cursed seasons. I would like to share with y’all season 16 of The Bachelorette. Picture this. It’s 2020. [music] Everyone’s in lockdown. Millions are dying. Mass civil unrest and social upheaval.
Everyone’s weirdly obsessed with putting items in resin. I know in this moment everyone’s first thought was, [music] “How does this impact the Bachelorette?” And more importantly, did Pilot Pete start the CO 19 pandemic? Because he has yet to answer that question. After a historic run with Hannah Brown and Pilot Pete, whether successful or not, this franchise was no doubt on a high.
Maybe this wasn’t so much a show about finding love anymore, but it certainly was a great show to watch grown men throw baloney at each other. This is a pile of baloney. Look at that. >> Needless to say, expectations were high for this next season. But as we all know, this wasn’t going to be a normal season.
And because of that, it’s also not a story that I can tell in chronological order. So stick with me here. The Bachelorette was set to film its 16th season in March of 2020. Filming was, of course, pushed back to July of that year, and in that time, many a potential D-lister male influencer left the cast. Matt James beefed with members of Bachelor Nation because he started a cameo before he was even on the show.
You know, most people have the decency to charge 50 bucks for a birthday message after their 15 minutes of fame. Brett Angman left the cast to taste the Fruity Pebbles of his future wife De from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. >> Since she wants to be petty, I think I’m just going to go ahead and say that Grandpa Brett likes to like it’s dirty soda and he gulps it down like water and that’s what Fruity Pebbles is.
>> You know, they met when he was 25 and she was nine, so it just made sense. What can I say? But there still were over 30 men who remained willing and able to secure a spot on Bachelor in Paradise. >> Wo, I’m super happy about getting that off. >> So they quarantined for 2 weeks at their new location, Lita Resort.
>> Pulling up to Lita [music] Resort and Club and it’s amazing. >> Not to be confused with Lita Hotels, the mid-tier hotel chain one stays at out of desperation after Delta Airlines delayed your flight 4 hours and cancelled it. This place is a little different. It has a pool. It has a golf course. >> It’s amazing.
> Now, they couldn’t access the golf course because of course lockdown procedures, but trust, this hotel was okay. When you compare the co bachelorette seasons to the co bachelor season, the budget difference is actually astounding. Regardless, the men documented this twoe journey most often by jumping on their beds, hitting their head on the very low ceilings, and resting to repeat the cycle once more the next day.
And I do love the very of its time dramatic display of them taking their last COVID test, tearyeyed and all. Finally, they were just one COVID test away from launching their influencer careers. You can only imagine the humiliation felt by the men who got kicked out the first night, who not only waited 4 months for the show, but also stayed in complete isolation only to make small talk with a guy wearing a pregnancy belly and no socks with his dress shoes.
The stakes had truly never been higher at Lita Resort and Club. There was however a problem on top of obviously co being a problem. Production realized just a little bit too late that actually a key factor in manipulating their cast is the pure disorientation, jet lag, skydiving dates. These people who stayed at the Lita resort were just not in the mood to be produced.
They did not care to pretend to like the Bachelorette. They did not care to waste any time. And when their first Bachelorette, yes, the first Bachelorette of the season, Claire picked her final man the second he walked out the limo, Bachelor Nation, needed to call in the big guns, someone to wow these socially isolated horn dogs who could also quarantine locally without delaying production.
They needed Tesa Adams. For those of you who only consume Bachelor content through my recaps, first of all, you’re so valid. You also may remember Tesa became the first woman in history to chase after a man living in his parents house in Maryland. That man of course being you all know him, John Paul Jones. [screaming] Tragically though, as most Bachelor Nation couples go, this pairing didn’t last beyond their contractual obligation to say that they were together.
Tesa first appeared on Colton seasons of the Bachelor with Hannah Brown. Despite making it to the final three, she was not considered for the role of the Bachelorette at the time because, you know, the Bachelorette had already had one black Bachelorette like four years ago, you can’t expect them to have another. Oh my god.
Some say it was because there were rumors she had a boyfriend before the show, which I actually at this point think is a requirement to be a lead on the franchise. That didn’t stop them from casting Pilot Pete or another more recent Bachelorette. Maybe it just adds to the spice. I don’t know. I know Jed was just fuming.
So, the fact that she wasn’t initially considered at all was crazy to me. This woman has lore. She was married previously and divorced her husband after she found out he’d been cheating on her for months. She was hit by a truck in 2008. Spent 2 months learning how to walk again, only to be hit again by a car in 2011.
I’m telling you, someone was after this poor woman. She also, I think, had a lot of very key characteristics to being a good lead in this franchise. She’s got a real like princess quality about her. She’s uncontroversial. She’s likable. She can carry a conversation and not say a single controversial thought. And I think every straight woman would want the reaction that Tesa got when she walked into that room as the new Bachelorette. Like she’s gorgeous.
These men were aruck, joyous, and were very quick to tell her, even knowing nothing about her, that they already liked her way more than that other stinky Bachelorette who was just there. >> I like her way more than Claire already. >> You can’t deny, you know, the beauty. >> No, you’re like more my type, my style in every way.
So, I’m >> Trust me, you have never seen a group of men so damn chipper in your life. Despite being a lastm minute swap on a season with a roughly $2 budget, I would say Tesa gave truly I think the last season of The Bachelorette where there were multiple good options for her to choose from. The bar is low.
Dear severely underrated, not nearly enough screen time. >> Took me back like a kindergarten crush. Ta. She’s my [music] caffeinated crush. >> Riley, a lawyer, aka a person with a real job. >> What do you do? I travel quite a bit for work and for pleasure. >> Cool, cool, cool. >> What about you? >> I am a medical malpractice defense attorney in New York City.
>> Who connected with her about their love for family and kids. Blake, a historic bachelorette contestant who has managed to date not one, not two, but four different Bachelorettees and is still single. So, the odds that he snuck on Taylor Frankie Paul’s season are low, but not zero.
There were multiple times this season where Tesa would send a man home and he would come crawling back begging for her. She has an aura. But since Tesa was coming in basically partway through the season, Clara had already sent men home. So they needed to grow four more contestants in a lab just for her. Two of which we never see again.
First came Noah, a man from Oklahoma ahead of his time with the mustache, much to the distaste of the other men around him. >> It’s a totally unremarkable. >> Doesn’t fit his face. >> I don’t understand it. Then Spencer, who had the disrespect to ask what happened to the last bachelorette when he walked in. >> So which one of you guys scared away Claire? >> Jeez.
>> Too soon, buddy. Watch yourself. Spencer, though, he wasn’t threatened. He secured that first impression rose despite being what Riley would call lunch meat. >> We call you lunch meat. >> Made his fried bologna sandwich with the mayonnaise. >> Like most lunch meat though, Spencer simply did not last.
He hung around in the background for a few episodes before disappearing into the outreaches of Lita Resort. They say he’s still wandering the desert to this day. One man who I think was especially dead set on Tasa was Ivan, the 28-year-old engineer from Texas. And my personal pick from the group. You know, they had a lot in common. Ivan is Filipino.
Tasa had a lot of Filipino friends in school. >> Well, I had a lot of Filipino friends [music] in school. >> I haven’t been to the Philippines, but I grew up with a lot of Filipinos. Really? >> Yes. My best friend that I grew up next door to was her her mother was from the Philippines. >> They shared a distressing amount of ice cream, a cramped RV right next to the luxury suites that they could have stayed in instead, and a six-minute kiss in an ice bath where Chris Harrison struggled to come up with interesting commentary. Also, as two black people
locked down on the most conservative white dating show that there is, these two had a historic conversation about the impact of police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, which had only just begun at the time of filming. It’s one of the very, very few times that The Bachelor has ever managed to capture the moment of when it was filmed and not just give light social commentary a decade too late.
Ivan truly was a great addition for that season. Sadly, he was eliminated after Hometowns. And by hometowns, I mean the Lita Resort. This is the only place we’re going, babes. It’s the Lita Resort. >> It’s amazing. >> It’s important to remember that when I say Tasa had good options, generally speaking, Bachelorette contestants are most desirable when you know significantly less about them, right? Front Runner and fan favorite Brendan being a prime example.
Tasa was very quickly into Brendan. He has the wideeyed stare of a man who doesn’t quite know where he is, but he’s going to figure it out eventually. >> Tasa looks absolutely beautiful in her little hat. If he looks vaguely familiar to you, this man is booked and busy with every commercial brand you can think of. Truly, a Jay Crew sale hates to see this man coming.
On their date, they rode horseback around Lingington Resort. As Chris Harrison continued to pop out at every corner, no matter where they were, Chris Harrison was there in a new outfit, coconuts in hand, which is a nightmare I myself have had many times. Because Brendan knew nothing about Tesa before being on her season, he was incredibly nervous to tell her that he’d actually also been married and divorced Young.
Brendan swore since that day that if he proposed again, that would be the last time. And I don’t know if you know, but this whole show is kind of about proposal at the end. Naturally, production sent Tesa and Brendan on a wedding planning date, you know. So, they went to a different room in the hotel where Neil Lane decked Tasa out in every tacky piece of jewelry he had on display while talking about how exciting it would be if they got married in like a month.
This sent Brendan running for the hills, turtleneck and all. At the time, he said he didn’t feel like he’d fully unpacked his trauma from the divorce and felt like it wouldn’t be right to propose on the timeline Tasa wanted, which is totally understandable. Very reasonable. A little bit less understandable when he immediately went on Bachelor in Paradise right after, pretended to be single only to wait for his secret girlfriend, Piper, who was also a contestant on the show so that they could pretend their relationship started there and get a paid vacation
out of it. This was quite the scandal at the time. his longtime sponsor, Nordic Track, could no longer pedal by his side. He lost thousands of followers. In a lastditch attempt to save face, he posted a Tik Tok apology, where he explained that if he was only on Bachelor in Paradise for clout, he would have dated someone with way more followers than his girlfriend Piper.
>> Um, if I wanted the max amount of followers, I would not have pursued Piper or Natasha. I would have went after a girl with a million followers. >> And they say love is dead. On January 6th of 2021, Brendan had to apologize for posting a thirst trap during the riots, which honestly he shouldn’t have had to apologize.
We should have been grateful for them because that’s what we like to call establishing an alibi. This is just a sampling of the men on this season. The only good thing about watching this pandemic time capsule is it is a good reminder that I need to stop procrastinating making doctor’s appointments. That’s why I use today’s sponsor, Zach.
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com/ashley Norton to find a doctor that’s right for you. Thank you to Zukdoc for sponsoring today’s video and helping us all take better care of our health. But let’s talk more about the group dynamic. As per usual, The Bachelorette is here to reinforce the gender binary by having a grown ass man contest. Fun fact, this was hosted by future real housewife Ashley and Jared.
Well, he’s not a housewife, but you know. So, the loser of this contest had to hold a fake baby for the rest of the evening. The winner gets the satisfaction of knowing that he is well within the beneficial bounds of the patriarchy. So, to prove their worth, they must do math, play a slightly more degrading version of Tugle, then make Tesa breakfast in bed.
Far too many people, by the way, took that last prompt as a way to take their shirts off and say that they’re the breakfast. Like, just scramble the damn eggs, man. Bennett at least had the decency to make a beignet, which was probably having the producer run to the local Safeway or something. >> And naturally, [music] you needed to have a beignet from Strato Benet.
>> And he tastefully freeballed it under a robe. Bennett is the former Zodiac Killer turned Harvard graduate. >> I went to Harvard. Of course, I’m a very, you know, proud alum >> who would like you all to know that he is the furthest thing from privilege. >> My life has been challenging and hard. When Noah asked me how to [music] spell privilege, that is the furthest thing from what I grew up with.
Yes, he went to Harvard. Yes, he went to a boarding school that cost 60K a year. But he’ll have you know that before that he went to a private school that only cost 30K a year to attend. All right, you simply don’t know what it’s like to be a hedge fund manager in New York City. >> I spit some flow for my my high school friends over, you know, some retreats.
>> The manchild of the day is Ed. And it’s actually super chill that he won the manchild award because he’s like so funny and Taser likes a funny guy and he’s chill and fun and he didn’t want to win. Anyways, >> I view it as a fun thing. I mean, I think Tata knows only certain people in the room could take that.
I mean, I I’m a fun guy. I love a little joke. >> But please stop calling him a manchild. He’s actually really smart. He got a perfect score on the math section of his SAT. >> As ridiculous as Ed is, he is the smart guy. The guy got a perfect math SAT, >> which as a man in his 30s is very relevant information.
I bet most of you guys don’t even know that I got a perfect score on my reading ACT. It matters. It’s relevant to my life currently. Ed really was there to secure his paradise spot. Never have I seen a man more dedicated to playing the producer game. Damn near every postredit blooper was Ed up to some foolishness. None of which involved pursuing Tesa or Clare.
Really, he was there for Chris Harrison, which probably speaks to his terrible, terrible taste. Much to the chagrin of Chason and Ivan. Bennett, our underprivileged Harvard grad, won the grownass man award despite missing every math question and opting out of the tugof-war humiliation ritual. >> Do you think you earned it, though? Does a grown ass man not compete in a physical competition? >> You competed poorly as well.
That was the other thing. >> When Bennett tries to steal Tesa for time at the cocktail party, the second she arrives, like she’s still mid-sentence, she’s confused. She’s like, “Well, can I can I say hi to everybody?” Maybe. But because this is not America’s best friend’s race, Chason pulls Tesa first.
This leaves Bennett in his robe, Ed with his newborn child to discuss their new enemy, Chason. The longer Chason spins this [music] web of deceit over to Tesa, he’s going to be around. >> Just look at this guy. You just know Chason is up to no good. According to Ed, Jason is what he calls the three Fs. Fake, fraud, and a phony.
Because Chason is so dumb, he thinks phony is spelled with an F. Ed had a lot of time in quarantine to come up with that one, I guess. Turns out Chason is a duplicitous weasel because he liked Tesa and he also liked Clare. Meanwhile, everybody else was just pretending to like Clare. I suppose Jason had the nerve to say he was on cloud9 about both of them.
>> What was your cliche last night? I’m on cloud9. What is that? Like literally Zack Efron movie. I’m excited. >> It’s a Zack Efron movie. >> Is he making an incredibly niche reference to Zack Efron’s appearance in the 2009 movie Charlie St. Cloud? Because if he is, that is an incredible pull.
Also, are we sure that Jason maybe just doesn’t have a limited number of cliches in his arsenal? >> Bennett, it’s called a cocktail party for a reason, buddy. You don’t wear a robe. >> But it’s even worse. Chason has described both of these women with the most demeaning, disgusting word known to man. He called both of them a smoke show.
I don’t even know if I can say that on YouTube. >> I did use [music] one adjective to describe Claire and Tata. You know, my new word, she’s a smoke show. Tata is a smoke show. >> Jason isn’t even sorry. He’s not afraid to admit it. He’ll say it. He’ll say it again. And he’ll say it again. >> I am here for Tata. I mean, she is a smoke show.
And Tesa, she’s a smoke show and I’m here for her. Tata is Mo Caliente right now. She is a smoke show. >> And by say it again, I mean most likely the show just kept dubbing in the same audio of him saying it. But it did get a laugh out of me every time. >> She’s a smoke show and I’m here for her. >> Ed does have a point though.
I mean, women hate being called a smoke show. >> What woman wants to be called a smoke show? >> Every day y’all are commenting about how I’m such a smoke show. Oh my god, smoke show Ashley. It’s like, guys, at least comment on the actual video. Like, I get it. I’m a smoke show. Jason, however, says that Bennett and Ed can keep up the whole Batman and Robin bit.
>> Those guys can come at me all they want. Batman and Robin. I’ll be Superman. So, >> no, actually, he wants to be Wolverine. >> Actually, I’ll be Wolverine cuz that’s kind of my nickname. >> Wakanda forever. This man is an enigma and he’s about to go wolf mode. In a dramatic confrontation, Chason towers over Ed and his newborn child and calls Ed chicken legs.
>> You’re holding a baby. You have chicken legs. which as Ed will later tell Tesa is basically the same as him punching Ed in the face. >> He just called my legs chicken legs. Jason towered above me like right here and he just he screamed at me. >> Ed says, “Hey Jason, back off with your medium shirt.
” To which Jason replies, “Fuck you. Actually, it’s a a large. I’ll have you know. >> Take your medium shirt and sit down. My medium shirt’s actually a large. >> I have a tiny waist chest huge. Built like a cool ranch dorito. And I know you just hate it, Ed. I have an idea for the plot of season 2 of Heated Rivalry. I’m just saying Ed does eventually send Chason home and god if Jason doesn’t look like a smoke show walking out that door.
But both Ed and Chason really lose the war to a 25-year-old with a mustache. This cast of men was the oldest they’d had to this point, which didn’t really improve the quality, but it did mean that Mocknay Noah was hated on site for his youthful glow and questionable choices in facial hair. >> Childish, crass, you know, but greedy. If you have a mustache, you got to be like just actually hilarious and actually a solid dude.
>> Trust round here. The mocknet does not eat first. On one group date, Tesa had asked some of the men to wrestle each other in front of a live audience. And by live audience, I mean the other seven men who weren’t asked to be on the group date, just awkwardly shaking the prop fence and acting a fool.
Ed and Jason are both on this group date, but Ed refuses to fight because he has a shoulder injury. And you know, he can’t you totally do it, but you know, you can’t fight. You can’t date Tesa if you’re in the hospital. He’s got shoulder injuries and big toe injuries and all sorts of injuries. Apparently, >> Noah in skinny jeans hops the fence, which I’m sure gave Tesa immediate Colton flashbacks and not in a good way.
[music] >> He just jumped the fence. >> Noah is here to fight for Tata in skinny jeans and so much oil. Even though Jason absolutely pummeles Noah, Tesa invites Noah on the rest of the group date because he was such a brave, brave boy. Great. So that means the other eight guys who are already on the group date have to fight even harder for time with her.
They’re so irritated about this why they could just sit there and complain amongst themselves how they haven’t talked to Tasa yet, as if they can’t change that situation for themselves. Noah talks to her at the cocktail party, not once, but twice. once with a mustache and a second time after Tesa essentially demands that she take it off if he’s going to kiss her again.
It’s not that I don’t like it, but I wonder what you look like without that thing. What if it would be like fun if they like shaved it off or something? >> And at the end of it all, Noah gets the group date Rose for the date that he wasn’t even supposed to be on. >> NOAH. NOAH from Oklahoma. Rose means nothing. >> There’s truly no justice in this world.
From that moment forth, Bennett will take every opportunity to remind Noah that he’s a little baby. >> So, I sent little Noah around the corner back to where he belongs. Obviously, he’s being greedy. And, you know, you got to teach these young kids some manner sometimes. >> Bennett is a big adult.
He went to Harvard. >> Now, I’m missing out on more time with her, but seems a little greedy, Noah. >> Noah, don’t you think it’s a bit greedy to want to spend time with Tasa after you already got the rose? Like, what is this? A dating show where you’re supposed to get to know Tesa? Hey, Noah, look at this doodle I made of you.
I added a little bit of the background noise. >> But what Bennett doesn’t realize is that if Bennett wants a villain, Noah will give him a villain. The next night before the rose ceremony, Noah pulls Tesa aside with some serious concerns. Tasa girl, I don’t know if you know this, but all the guys in there, they think you’re a dumb idiot for giving me this rose and that you’re basically just pretending to like me to make them fight over you.
And if you think about it, Tesa, basically them hating me and that I got a rose is really them questioning your character. Cocktail party cancelled. We are now engaged in a true class war. Noah, what have you done? Noah basically recounts how he feels he’s been ganged up on with a lot of snide remarks, which is true, but according to Bennett, this is the first he’s ever heard of this.
Be so for real right now. >> I am glad that he shaved that terrible skid mark above his lip. >> Yeah. Don’t be like Noah and worried about looking stupid. Maybe you missed what I just said. It’s okay. No sweat. Yeah, I’m not sweating, man. Thank you for your input. >> But if Bennett’s going to get accused of being a bully, he might as well just be a bully.
Noah, there is 0% chance you end up with Tesa. I hate your mustache. You look like a 14-year-old boy. And no, I will not breastfeed you anymore. >> I’m here for love, not for breastfeeding Noah. >> Damn it. The tension between Bennett and Noah gets so bad that Tesa pulls them on a twoon-one date. One person is about to get sent home and they’re both about to be humiliated.
Bennett has prepared a little something for Noah on this date. A gift, a peace offering, a box. Been a minute since I’ve done this, but I have to show you what’s in the box myself. Is that a war gift? Um, you know, I wouldn’t call it a war gift. It’s more of a gentlemanly gift. I think it’s for you.
I uh like to, you know, explain it to you perhaps. Maybe I open and go through it. What would What do you prefer? You want to open it? It is for you. That is the proper way to give a gift. Uh if you want to explain it, that’s fine. All right. Yep. Yeah. Um well, you know, first and foremost, I’ll start with, you know, the friendship gift, red bandana.
One of our first conversations was talking about the ranch and, you know, your upbringing in Oklahoma, my former cowboy days. And it’s red because I hope there’s no bad blood between us, [music] you know, going forward. Simple small one. Um, I was wearing your next present the other evening.
Since then, it has been washed. Mustached socks. I hope it is a good memory. The only place that you should wear mustache is on your feet. More serious and a bit of a life lesson that I think it’s going to be helpful and impactful to you is this, you know, book on emotional intelligence. There are actually four components of emotional intelligence. One is self-awareness.
Two, self-management. Three, social awareness. [music] Four, relationship management. I think you are deficient in three of those four. Self-management, I think, is your best from what I’ve seen. But I think I’ll let you go on with this before I respond. I’ll let you say your piece with your fake gifts.
It’s a real gift and I think it’s very important [music] for you. Listen, you don’t develop it out of the womb. It is something that you gain over life. And I’m not talking down to you. I did not have emotional intelligence at your age. Every step of the way with Tesa, [music] you’ve been talking about other people and other things in your conversations.
It [snorts] is now a trend. [music] I’ve never once had a conversation with Tesa where I’ve spoken about any other gentleman in the house. Not once. It is about me and my relationship with her, [music] and that’s all that matters. Sincerely, Noah. This book will be really helpful to you. These are tools that any woman is going to want [music] to have in a husband and a father.
And I’m not trying to belittle [music] you. I’m literally trying to love you up. Well, um, come on to this acting 100% myself. You have I know that but no 100% true and genuine misconrue these prejudgments you have cuz I’m walking in as a 25-year-old and there’s no way a 25year-old has a chance [music] with Tesa because he’s not a Harvard grad that got this good education you know that people don’t step up to my friend is where we start to folly I am fully [music] aware of everything that I am as am I >> okay now if you thought this exchange
was cringey the first time. Wait till Tesa comes in and Bennett sheepishly has to reexplain his presence to her. What’s in the box? >> Um I >> It’s also worth noting that he presumably carries a book on emotional intelligence around with him at all times because that book is well read. You can see that thing has been highlighted and annotated.
But I guess Bennett didn’t read it thoroughly enough because Tasa sends him packing immediately. An L for Harvard, a win for mustaches. And Noah actually did read that book afterwards. It’s really good. Fun fact, Noah’s brother Aaron later competed on Jen’s first season of The Bachelorette: History is a circle because Aaron gave Devon a different book on emotional intelligence.
Except this one didn’t exist. This is a fake cover. The author listed on the front is a producer of the show. People already thought that Bennett was a producer plant. You can only imagine the response to Aaron. This show though stage I shiver to think about it. So Jesse Palmer had to dedicate five minutes of the men tell all that season to explain that yes the book cover is fake but there definitely was a totally real emotional intelligence book under there.
They just uh didn’t have the rights to show it. But trust it’s there even though only a few years prior they had no problem with Bennett whipping out his emotional intelligence book which does exist. At what point is any of it real? Is Bennett real? Is emotional intelligence real? I’m still waiting to figure that out.
Even though Tesa keeps Noah around, she does not want him to be happy about it. And he is also sent off before hometowns. The final two of Tasa’s season were Ben and Zach, which I think must be in the top five baby names for guys who grow up to compete on the Bachelorette. Ben is a veteran who left the military after a lifealtering back injury.
Throughout the season, you really do get the sense that Ben, one, was really into Tasa, but two, was also carrying a lot more emotional weight than this reality show probably deserved. Ben’s storyline was that he failed to show up when talking to Tesa because he was often hesitant to express just how deeply he felt for Tesa at the time and also wouldn’t really get into his traumatic past without being really pushed by production to do so.
And it turns out for good reason. Ben on one date talked about his near decadelong battle with an eating disorder. On top of that, in a later date, Tesa asked him to dig deep and to that he revealed something that even his sister didn’t know at the time. that he had attempted to end his own life in 2018 and 2019 and was still actively working on that in therapy.
Remember, this was filmed partway through 2020, so I can only imagine what that felt like talking about that on reality TV. I think it was very brave of Ben to talk so openly about these things, especially because that isn’t something a lot of men are comfortable acknowledging. If you’ve ever watched these shows, you know it is a core element of these one-on-one dates for people to reveal their deepest secrets and traumas purely for our entertainment.
And I just really hope that Ben felt comfortable saying all of that and that he wasn’t super pressured to share things like that. At the hometown dates, Ben admitted to his sister that he loved Tasa, but was too nervous to actually tell her at the time. But he thinks that he’s going to be the final pick and that he has time to tell her eventually.
Tesa though thinks the opposite and thinks Ben isn’t forthcoming and sends him home. It’s a really bad miscommunication because Tesa takes him not sharing his feelings as him not having strong feelings. And when Ben is sent home, he’s genuinely speechless and Tesa again is confused by his lack of emotion at the time.
So when he finally processes that he got sent home, he comes back as many of the men did to tell Tata that he loved her. And this moment is so cinematic. She kissed him and I think unfortunately immediately regretted it. At this point, it was pretty evident that she was going to pick the other finalist, Zach.
But it also would be really mean to send Ben home after putting him through all of that. Normally with the final two, both men have to propose to the Bachelorette so that, you know, one of them can be humiliated in the most vulnerable position they can be. But the night before they’re supposed to propose, Tesa goes to Ben directly and breaks things off ahead of time.
And I assume the Bachelor team was okay with that because even they knew that this man had been through enough. Zack, sorry, Zach C, there are two Zachs on this season, was one of the oldest contestants ever at the ripe ancient age of 36. And Tesa loved to emphasize how much she normally didn’t go for old withered men like him.
But there was just something different about him. Maybe it’s the bisexual way that he sat. >> Look at you. Are you comfortable? >> I don’t know. or the way that he always wore basketball shoes with his formal attire. After having emergency brain surgery in his 20s, Zach got introduced and then became addicted to pain medication, which spiraled out of control.
He also got married at a young age, but this fell apart because of that addiction, and that became his wakeup call to not only become sober himself, but now be a board member at the rehab facility that he recovered at, working to support others going through the same addiction. on this show. He really does come across as one of the few like adults in the room and so I can very much see why Tesa was interested in him.
When I watched their proposal the first time live, I actually did tear up, which does feel embarrassing in retrospect, but at the time it just felt so nice that against all odds this season with 2020 being a terrible year for everybody, it was nice that this season got a happy ending, at least, you know, as far as we saw on the show.
Of course, things in real life were a bit more complicated. In real life, Tasa and Zach broke up in November of 2021, a year after their engagement, which may shock you to hear, but that is actually very long by the show standards. But this was a huge surprise at the time because just a week prior, they had run the New York City Marathon together, and he wrote this extended essay about how she was the bravest woman he knew.
And then, I think immediately after that, she wound up in the hospital with a kidney infection. There really is some truth to the longer the Instagram caption, the worse a relationship is, I suppose, because it got even worse than that. After Chris Harrison was fired from the show, Tesa temporarily took over hosting the Bachelorette with another former Bachelorette, Caitlyn Bristo.
They weren’t close friends per se, but obviously worked closely with each other for months on end. So, when Caitlyn started dating Zach, you know, people had opinions on it. Still together to this day, by the way. Crazy Po show Laura aside though at the time Tesa’s story was a by the books classic Bachelorette success there was some heavily produced albeit very minor drama she found love fans loved her and she is still regarded today as one of the best Bacheloretses we’ve ever had almost like call me crazy she deserved a full season
in the first place but what do I know because of course Tasa was not the original Bachelorette for season 16 another woman had a historic 4 episode run and is widely regarded As the worst Bachelorette we ever had, we need to talk about Cla Cwley. Normally at the finale of the previous season, they will reveal the new lead for the next season.
Usually, this person is someone who is in the top four the previous season. They’re generically charming, easy to produce, historically white, and even though famed champagne lover Kelsey was considered for the role, production wasn’t really interested in Peter’s cast at all. They wanted something big, something never seen before.
And since Hannah Brown had already said no to coming back, they needed to think fast. They were going to make history. Imagine a bachelorette who isn’t 27 years old. That’s what we at ABC call diversity. Claire at 39 years old was literally the oldest person ever to find love. I suppose at least that’s how they marketed her at the time.
>> You’re watching the current season. I know a lot of the three finalists, there’s not nobody’s older than 25. But you think that being 38 actually works to your advantage? Guess she’s just become the newest Bachelorette. She says one of her advantages will be that she’s 10 years older than the average contestant. Take a look.
>> Well, now look, you’re the most mature Bachelorette we’ve ever had. >> When Claire was announced, I’d only just started watching The Bachelor, so I had no idea that I was looking at a true MVP of the franchise. Claire first appeared on Juan Pablo season, ironically considered to be the worst Bachelor in history.
On the surface, Juan Pablo had it all. He was handsome. He had a sexy accent. He was a single parent. And he was Latino, so everyone stopped complaining about how white the Bachelor leads are. As the season progressed, though, the audience, the women, production turned on him. Literally, the women on his season were quitting in droves.
They did not want to be around this man. >> Will you accept this ros? >> Sure. Every single time, Juan Pablo would say just two simple words. It’s okay. >> I knew what kind of man you were. >> Okay, it’s okay. >> Until Andy Dorfman said, “Actually, it’s not okay.” >> I had a lot of thoughts running through my mind. And >> all of us have thoughts.
>> It’s okay. >> It shouldn’t just be okay. It’s not okay. >> That’s how you get the role of a bachelorette. Claire, though, was the perfect kind of vulnerable for the show and Juan Pablo at the time. Cla’s parents met and married each other within 2 months of meeting. Sadly, her dad passed away when she was only 23.
And before he passed, he recorded a video that was meant for her future husband to watch, which is a recording that she at the time of filming the Bachelorette had yet to watch decades later. Prior to going on Juan Pablo’s season, she was also in a deeply abusive relationship and only felt brave enough to leave said relationship when she was cast on the show.
Claire also is just a hopeless romantic at heart. She’s one of those rare people who actually believes in the process of finding your own true love in six weeks on a television show. But there was zero romance to be had in Juan Pablo. After one of their dates, Claire snuck to Juan Pablo’s room. And by snuck over, I mean she was miked, he was miked, there was a full camera crew there at the time.
They were staying on a beachside resort and the two had, you know, a little makeout sesh in the ocean. Harmless stuff. This being the Bachelor though, they of course edited it to make this make out seem like it was much more than a makeout. And in the midst of it all, she was depicted as this siren harlot villain, the likes of which we never seen.
The next day, Juan Pablo basically confronts Clare and says that Clare, not him, made a shame of Juan Pablo in front of his daughter who could be watching and essentially that she disrespected his daughter by asking him to make out. >> Look at me. >> I’m sorry. That was the last thing I would ever want to do. >> I know. Hey, and I know listen.
I’m just letting you know what I think. so you understand me. >> Clare was of course mortified, very apologetic, deeply uncomfortable scene, but Clare stayed on and eventually made it to the final two. However, after their overnight dates, they were intimate. On what’s supposed to be her final date before he proposes when their mics are off, Juan Pablo whispers to her something I can’t really say on YouTube, but basically along the lines of, “I love hooking up with you, but I don’t know you,” except, you know, said in a
much uh grosser way. She reasonably felt very objectified by this and basically tried to leave the show. But Juan Pablo convinced her to stay by implying that he was going to propose to her tomorrow. They’d get married in a year and they’d have a kid right away. So the next morning when he in fact didn’t choose her, the love spell that she’d been under this whole time finally broke and she let this man have it.
>> I thought I knew what kind of man you were. >> Okay. >> What you just made me go through. >> Mhm. >> I would never want my children having a father like you. >> Okay. Oo, I’m glad I didn’t pick her. >> Claire showed up that day with a polyester dress and a dream. She made Bachelor history.
Everything about Juan Pablo season was so unprecedented because normally the lead is really romanticized and devoid of flaws. But the demeaning way he spoke to women had even Chris Harrison rooting against him by the end. And I’m sure some of it was a language barrier, cultural differences, definitely not all of it. Certainly not the homophobic remarks he made unprompted in the press.
So, this was the first time that the Bachelor team felt comfortable making their own lead the villain of their season, which is quite the precedent to set. But Claire wasn’t done on Juan Pablo season. She went on the first season of Bachelor in Paradise, had a crash out, and ranted her frustration to a producer, only for the editing team to crop out the producer she was talking to and make it look like she was trauma dumping to a raccoon.
>> And that creates drama. I don’t want it. which is funny, but there are people who sincerely believe this about her. Despite, I would say, the show editing Claire to look delusional and emotional two times in a row, she went right back for Bachelor in Paradise season 2, but again, only made it to week three.
Still not done, she caused an international outrage like no other on Bachelor Winter Games when she was late for a jacuzzi appointment with former German Bachelor contestant Christian. >> I waiting maybe 1 hour and I go in the jacuzzi, but I go alone. I’m not sure what has happened in America. In Germany, when we have a a meeting appointment and we go in Jacuzzi, it’s a date. I wait one hour and go in Jacuzzi.
But Cla, I don’t know where’s Cla. >> As someone who lived in Germany, I can confirm they don’t play about Jacuzzi appointments over there. On that same season, she got engaged to another Winter Games contestant, Benois, who surprise proposed to her on the finale in front of a live studio audience. Needless to say, that engagement lasted a month, and she doesn’t really talk about that at all.
In short, Clare was ready and willing to be messy on television, put men in their place, and find love. And a little pandemic was not going to stop her. But even before Claire’s season was supposed to film, it was already controversial. For the, let’s again say it, the oldest bachelorette to ever exist. >> They cast mostly men in their mid20s.
And yes, they were also very white. What’s new? So when filming was pushed back to July, a good amount of men were recast to make it an older and more diverse dating pool. Once Clare was done spending two weeks making dood coffee and resin pyramids, she was ready to go. So, let’s look very respectfully at her in her night one evening gown.
You know this woman’s gorgeous when she can pull off the terrible styling of this show. So, let’s bring on the men. Some of them you already know. We’ve got Chason, Jason, Basen. The men’s introduction are the standard visual puns that really feel like a stretch. Men arriving in rental cars bragging as if that’s the car that they own. Confirmation that M prag is real.
the usual. That is until Dale walks out. Dale, like many a Bachelorette contestant, is a former NFL benchwarmer hoping to find love and rebrand on reality television. He’s also a model. You may recognize him from your local Spirit Halloween in 2017. Maybe Clare was in the market for a Cinco de Mayo Taco costume then.
She is part Mexican after all. I’m part Mexican. >> Because when she sees Dale, she is smitten. >> All right. Not just smitten though. She says out loud, “Oh my god, I think I just met my husband.” It doesn’t feel like I just met my husband. Oh my god. And she is not in the least bit hyperbolic when she says this. She genuinely gets shaken emotional about it.
>> Claire, you say you think you may have just met your husband? >> Yeah. Now, I’m sure most leads in reality do feel an instant connection with probably one or two of their cast just from the intros. But what makes Claire’s four episode season really unique is that she was never afraid to voice the crazy out loud.
>> I’ve been doing this a while. >> Yeah, >> you were the first person that stood here and said, “I just found my husband.” >> I mean, listen, Dale’s a handsome guy. Maybe she’s on to something. And when she talks to him, they do have a lot of striking things in common. They both have lost a parent.
Cla’s mother, at the time of filming, was in a care facility for Alzheimer’s. And of course, it being locked down, Clare wasn’t really able to interact with her mom nearly as much as she wanted. Dale also had a sister who was living in a care facility, so they could relate over that. You can tell by the way Clare is constantly biting her lips that she is all in on Dale, who for what it’s worth does seem like he’s into it, too.
Maybe not to the level of I just met my wife, but there’s something there. That being said, Dale is not the only one she finds common ground with. And prick Jason loves that she goes outdoors. He wants a cabin in the woods, isolated, where no one can find you. >> Oh my god. Honestly, don’t even put me indoors at all.
I just want to live outdoors. I want a cabin in the woods. Music on. We’re going to have a little whiskey. We’re >> God, he hates being indoors. It’s crazy, Claire, that you said that you like the outdoors. Claire, are you going to be murdering people there? Or is it like >> I’m kind of obsessed with Claire making the joke for me out loud in her first conversation with this man.
We also meet Blake. You may have seen the meme comparing him to Soleie from Monsters, Inc. I can’t deny the comparison, but Soleie from Monsters Inc. is a great guy. Also, in this season, you are not seeing Blake in his final form. Okay, buzzcut. Blake is a very different person. He’s Canadian, the first Canadian to appear on the American show according to the Bachelor Wiki, which seems certifiably untrue, but oh well.
He’s a wildlife manager, which means he worked in pest control and post show works in ecoourism. And he broke the rules. Never in Bachelor Nation has >> In the 18 years [music] I’ve been doing the show, we’ve never dealt with anything like this. Something very different about Claire’s season was that she already knew who her cast was because they announced it and most of them stayed on to film later.
So naturally during the pandemic, the men and her were all just Instagram stalking each other. They weren’t allowed to DM. They weren’t allowed to text, but they had an idea of what was going on and who these people were. One brave Canadian man said no. He was going to slide into the DMs.
Claire posted publicly that her mom had fallen and wasn’t doing well. So Blake risked his 15 minutes of fame to say, “Hey, Claire, I hope you and your mom are doing okay.” Which I’m sure was really meaningful at the time. He also said in preparation for the show that he bought a book on Alzheimer’s so he could understand her situation.
Blake doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who buys a book for just anybody. But of course, it’s not night one without a little bit of drama. Ysef, a single dad, is here to show his daughter how he thinks women should be treated. He brings with him moon pies, which he does not want people to mistake for thin mints.
He is thick in every way possible. >> Who brought the thin mint? Hold on. They’re Moonpie. There’s nothing thin about me. >> Especially the skull, I would argue. Tyler, a scrapped character from Better Call Saul, is a lawyer from West Virginia, and he has some information about Ysef that he is not afraid to reveal if necessary.
>> I know something that nobody else knows. [music] Um, and if necessary, I’ll play that card. which I do love that they frame this as though Yseph committed a hit and run in 1993 and Tyler was the victim. You want to know what he did? He flirted via Instagram DMs with some of Tyler’s mutual friends.
I hope you were sitting down for that. This could mean a lot of things. Are we talking about sending emojis on an Instagram story or are we talking about someone who’s like genuinely a sex pest? All Tyler says is that Yseph was sending good morning videos, which Tyler believes were sent on mass to multiple women.
Is that a crime? Not necessarily. Humiliating, sure. He also doesn’t specify when this happened, which I have to imagine means it happened months before the show because they definitely would have included that otherwise. Tyler brings this devastating piece of information to Ysef and Claire. I mean, do you honestly believe that this guy would humiliate himself by sending good morning messages via Instagram DMs? I do.
Claire by this point already found her husband Dale. So, she can’t be bothered with either of these guys. She’s like, “You guys go figure it out. I’m just going to go give the first impression rose.” Now, I’ve said it before, but I will always appreciate how the cast treats the first impression rose like it’s the reaping ceremony for the Hunger Games.
And who should get it, of course, but her future husband, Dale, who seems mildly enthused at this gift. By this point, it is broad daylight, which means these people have been standing in velvet shoes with no socks for a minimum of 8 hours. I just know the ceremony room stank. Since we really don’t know any of the guys yet, the only rose of note is the final rose that she gives to Yseph over Tyler because production trust has much more evil plans in store for Yseph.
The men who survived the rose ceremony are so excited. You have never seen 20 grown men more excited to be at the palace known as the Lita Resort and Club in Palm Springs. That’s what I’m talking about. >> And then you come into this like [music] palace. >> It’s amazing. For our first group date, we have a bunch of other guys and Dale.
I know this is a group date, but I specifically picked Dale [music] to be on this group date. I couldn’t wait to see him today. Today’s lowbudget group date consists of love languages. They awkwardly talk about their lives and profess how they like Claire while she moss them all from above. She gets emotional just at this exchange because she says it’s been so long since she’s heard so many nice things from men.
Next, the guys have to scramble to get Clare gifts from their own suitcases. Dale’s pants do not survive the journey. The thing is though, any item the men would have packed with them are either things that they actually need or things far too sentimental to give to a woman they just met.
Like Riley gives her a baseball that he’s had since 2012. Ivan gives the queen chest piece, which is the the piece you least want to lose. I’m sorry. If it were me, Clare would be getting my travel shampoo because I’m sure Lington Resort has extras. Dale gives her perfume for her dogs. You never learn what that means. Next up, physical touch.
Clare and the men are blindfolded and they each take turns hugging Clare while Chris Harrison just creeps in the corner. Clare says that she can tell who everyone is based on their smell. I’m a big smell person, you guys. I know who this is. Oh, I know this smell. >> She’s a big sniffer. I mean, she did go face first into Dale’s ripped pants unprompted, just in her own free time.
After this, Riley decides to go big and kisses her hand, which is the second time that he does that on this date. But with Dale, it’s honestly the same as the other guys, but they really boost the audio so you can hear all of their breathing and they’re just zooming in on the discomfort of all of the other men around them.
They make this as hard of a watch as possible. They skip acts of service. These men, I guess, don’t do that. And they go right to quality time, aka the cocktail hour. Claire has had such a great day with all these men, and she just can’t wait for them to grab her and get to know her tonight. Only when she makes her toast and says, “Let’s get the night started.” No one moves.
It’s dead quiet. >> So, should we get the night started? >> I think you should. You should. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> All right. Does anybody want to >> Mind you, half the drama of this franchise is everyone trying to grab the lead at once. Only after she says, “Does anybody want to grab me?” does Bennett half-heartedly respond while the others sit in silence.
Her frustration lags for a minute and she tells Bennett that sorry, she can’t focus on talking to him about how he went to Harvard until she clears up with the other men what the hell just happened. She goes back and says, “Hey men, there was a long awkward silence just then when no one grabbed me and that was embarrassing.
I’m not here for y’all to just hang out with your boys. I want someone to be here for me. Otherwise, we can just go home. >> You guys all want to hang out with each other. You can do that and I can go home and go to bed.” Yseph says if I can speak for the group and she says no actually you can’t speak for yourself. >> I’ll take a moment to speak for the group.
I don’t think I don’t think that was >> you don’t need to speak for the group. You need to speak for yourself. You guys all want to hang out. >> Riley also can sense this man. It’s a red flag and he’s like absolutely do not do that. The other men are instantly apologetic. Some of them say they just didn’t know that they were supposed to pull her aside.
But Yseph still wants to speak. He says, “Okay, maybe I can’t say this for the group, but what I was going to hypothetically say for the group is that you’re crazy if you don’t think we all came for you. >> You’re you’re crazy to think that we didn’t all come here for you.” [music] See, I got to stop you, though. >> Immediately, the other men, Riley especially, are like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There is no we.
[laughter] Do not put me on the sinking ship that is calling Clare crazy.” But Yseph in his confessional continues that he thinks her reaction was hotheaded and immature. This is very important context for you all that by the time the show aired, the public already knew that Clare was going to leave the show in four episodes and be replaced by Tesa.
So, the show itself was probably less inclined to give Cla a favorable edit. And the audience definitely going into the show did not have a high opinion of her. If you were on the subreddit, you know the vibes were not positive. So, in each of these controversies, I don’t think Claire was really given the benefit of the doubt by fans at the time.
This moment was pointed to as an instance of her coming across as self-centered, whiny. Let me say something really controversial and brave because it it will come up again. Claire may be messy, but re-watching this season made me a Clare apologist. [cheering] >> And I do not think that her reaction here was that crazy. I’m sorry, but if you’ve seen the show, you know that there was never hesitation to grab the lead on a group date.
She fully gave them the hint of let’s get this night started and they did nothing. And two, as the lead, when something bothers Claire, she’s not supposed to swallow it and move on the way you would as a normal person, right? This is content for the show. So, she has to voice things that maybe in real life you just let go. Like, yeah, she’s stern here.
She probably could have salvaged it by just asking someone to go with her instead of fixating on this. But, I get why she’s upset. I will give the other side of it, though. She doesn’t consider that this was an accident. I do think that a lot of it was the men trying to be polite to each other.
It’s the first group date, so the guys who haven’t watched the show maybe don’t know that that’s the expectation. And most importantly, producers typically coach certain contestants and encourage them to pull the lead right away, which is why we get so many conflicts about people wanting to pull her at the same time.
I think it is very possible, though unconfirmed, that production either didn’t tell the men that that was the scenario here, or maybe even encouraged them to be polite because several of them genuinely do seem confused that that was what was supposed to happen. And I think even Clare would describe herself as a sensitive person. It is the perfect storm where Clare is very much willing to say when something bothers her, mixed with quarantine men who haven’t interacted with a real life woman in months.
So these mildly awkward exchanges seem 10 times more dramatic on the show than I’m sure they were in real life. The men are able to turn the night around, though. She talks to Zach about her previous abusive relationship and says that she may not be the skinniest or the prettiest girl in the room, but she knows that she is a good heart, which is anyone gonna tell Claire that she is the skinniest and prettiest girl in the room? But the one who gets this group date Rose is not Dale, it’s Riley.
Riley is direct, apologetic, and his flirting game is so strong that it genuinely leaves her speechless. Next, we have our first one-on-one, and it is Empre Jason. Normally for one-on- ones, they rent entire museums out for the night. They go skydiving. They have former survivor contestant Chase Rice sing two feet away from them.
But on the co season, the Bachelorette had the desert therapy speak and have a dream. Claire asked Jason before the date to write a letter to his younger self, which he is very nervous about because he hates talking about his feelings. She really said, “Jason monsoon, if you could talk to little Jason, what would you say?” In the worst version of the newlyweds I think I’ve ever seen, they each have to write down the worst things that other people have called them in their life.
Claire says needy, hard to love, too picky. Jason says manipulative, selfish, can’t love, cold, and mean. Claire asks, “Did you believe those things about yourself?” And he says, “Oh, yeah. I mean, I don’t want to wake up every day and be a manipulator, be selfish, hook up with people, and then never talk to them again.” >> I don’t wake up in the morning and say, “I want to be a player.
I want to be a liar. I want to be a manipulator. I want to be just selfish.” >> I understand why you do it. It’s um self-defense, protective. Yeah, >> I don’t want to judge him too harshly because I do think he is very vulnerable in this conversation, which is hard, but I can see how that may look like a better candidate for like real therapy than the fake therapy they’re doing on this reality show, especially because there’s no one guiding the conversation on the date except for Cla.
Cla is the one who’s asking all of these questions and sort of leading him into further and further uncomfortable conversation. Clare is simply much more comfortable talking about her emotions and her experiences than he is. They both read their letters out loud. And in it, Jason says that he saw many dangerous things that he shouldn’t have seen as a child.
He doesn’t say much specific, but it’s clearly very emotional and difficult for him to even say those words out loud. Claire asks if it’s family stuff, and he nods. She asks, “Did that maybe show you ways you didn’t want to act as a partner in the future?” It is a very awkward situation because the premise of this date again is them digging up this stuff.
I do think Claire generally tries to frame the questions in a positive way, but nothing can really beat the uncomfortable energy of all of this. If there’s one thing that’s going to save this date, though, it’s the moment at the end because Claire has been handed the finale dress from Juan Pablo season and Jason says, “Let’s burn it. Burn that ugly thing.
” >> And this dress honestly means nothing to me. [music] >> That’s damn right. I want you to burn that thing. So ugly. I’m so glad you burned that. >> It was ugly. I thought it was cute. >> No, it was cute. It was a great dress. >> And at the end of it, despite the heaviness, Jason does seem genuinely comforted and happy with how that went.
Claire, too. She says it’s the best one-on-one that she thinks she’s ever had. Unfortunately, part of doing dates like this is the hope that they’ll trauma bond, which I guess means that this was a successful date. >> It was so much easier just to [music] talk to you because you listened. You didn’t run away. Thank you.
On the final group date of the week, it is time for the men to show their balls. Literally, >> you got to lay everything on the table. [music] I’m ready. I’m ready to lay my balls on the table. Yeah. >> The men are each given blue and red uniforms with suspiciously matching jock straps underneath. Fellas, Claire wants to play a game.
If you want time with Claire tonight, you must engage in a game of strip dodgeball. The only thing more humiliating than playing strip dodgeball is the Blue Ball’s team getting absolutely swept by the red team. The men on the blue team have to walk back to their hotel room in their jock straps and sit cheek to chair, explaining to the other men why they’re back so early.
>> I hope we get a new couch as [laughter] well. I think we should get a cleaning crew in there. But for real, >> this was, I think, the most controversial group date in history. Instantly, Twitter, Reddit, mainstream news articles slammed this date as degrading and also a double standard. Could you imagine if Juan Pablo asked the women on his season to strip for his pleasure? Oh, wait. He literally did.
Not going to lie, Claire kind of ate that person up. But hey, Juan Pablo did that for charity. This was all for Cla’s sick, twisted pleasure. So, let’s talk about this because there’s a lot of layers to this. I also am not a fan of the stripping dates that happen on the show. They happen every season. I do believe that they can say no, but there is peer pressure, especially in this reality show.
And I think a reasonable fear that they will be seen as less desirable if they don’t participate. For example, when a teacher didn’t want to be topless with Juan Pablo, he did basically say that he was going to send her home if she didn’t do it. This isn’t Love Island where the contestants know from the jump that they need to wear swimsuits all day and play way too many makeout games with milk on a daily basis.
This show is marketed and presented as the serious dating show. So, when Claire says, “Wow, look at look at that butt.” or whatever, it does come across icky. Look at Kenny’s ass. Just take a good look at it. >> How is he so tan? >> Of course, if everybody had a great time and were totally down for it, that’s great.
Let these adults play a friendly game of strip dodgeball if that’s what their heart desires. We don’t hear from all of the men who were on that date, but the ones who have talked about it since did say that they thought it was funny, that it was lighthearted for what it’s worth. At the end of the day though, I do just think that there’s enough risk of discomfort that they just shouldn’t be on the show.
Hey, maybe at the very least not on every season. But that being said, I also find the oh, what if the Bachelor did this double standard takes so ridiculous because they do it all the time. Not just one Pablo season. On another older season, the women had to strip to their underwear and drive a tractor through San Francisco.
One time for breast cancer awareness, they made the women make molds of their boobs. Not just the older seasons either. On Pilot Pete’s season, literally the season prior to Claire’s, they had the women wrestling lingerie. They wore bikinis so revealing that the show goofily tried to edit them in post. Victoria Fuller modeled lingerie in front of a live audience.
On Bachelor in Paradise, they had a date where the couple had to play naked volleyball with another random naked couple. After Claire’s season, on Joey’s season, they had the women catch sausages in their mouth with no hands. Joey was nice enough to step in and do it with them, but still it was nasty. So, for all of those asking what if, we know what if. It’s happened.
The Bachelor has done it. The Bachelorette has done it. The creative genius of strip dodgeball is unique to Cla season. But this is an established precedent and I would say an established problem. Part of why this was so controversial and so much of the controversy was directed at Claire’s was that all of the group dates, the one-on- ones are presented as if the lead themselves came up with the dates and are coming up with things on the spur of the moment.
And behind the scenes, often times the leads don’t even get to pick who goes on their one-on- ones. So when the men first see Clare, Chris Harrison goes, “Let’s play dodgeball.” But then Clare interrupts and says, “Uh uh uh, Chris Harrison, we’re going to play by my rules.” >> I think we should play strip dodgeball. >> Oh, so this tournament is over when the losing team has nothing on.
>> This is my game. These are my rules. >> Again, implying that she just came up with it, except the jock straps were already in their locker. So, this isn’t a spur-of-the- moment thing. And I do think if Clare unprompted said, “Strip in front of me for my pleasure.” Chris Harrison would have at least said, “Hey, at least let me creepily commentate with you.
” With how many other times the show has done similar things to it, it really most likely was production’s idea. She did like a tweet, for what it’s worth, saying that that was the case. A lot of people will say, “Oh, it’s still her show even if the producers said that they should do this. She could have said no.” And maybe that’s true.
I honestly don’t know. But by that logic, any of the leads could have done the same thing. And it doesn’t seem like that’s happened. Sending half the group home also a thing that they do every season. They’ll play a game that’s kind of humiliating, then kick the other half out. They normally just are slightly more clothed than this.
I’ll give that this date does come across extra icky with the game ultimately resulting in some of the men fully stripping down. Brendan [clears throat] does tell Claire that he’s going to keep his jock strap on, but you know, it’s also still a jock strap at the end of the day, so it’s not like he has a ton of coverage. Yeah.
strip Dodge Paul was not a good idea. That probably was an activity for the drafts. We didn’t need to watch it through the eyes of Chris Harrison. But someone who feels especially offended by all of this is Yseph, who key point was not on the date, but does in fact have a daughter.
He tells everyone unprompted, “You know what I would say if I’d been there? I’d say I liked you a lot more before you humiliated me. This microphone’s too expensive, but pretend I dropped the microphone just now.” And the other guys are like, “Well, Yseph, I think they could have kept their shorts on if they wanted to.” and he says, “Well, I just think Clare is classless, and I will be confronting her about this later this evening.
” Meanwhile, despite Blake getting sent back home in his jockstrap, he is determined to show Clare his balls tonight. His words, >> “Boys, I want to show her that I had balls.” >> He is going to crash the group date. I will tell you though, the men who won the strip dodgeball date, they take the sport very seriously. >> You mind if I steal it for just 5 minutes? I mean, were you didn’t you lose? >> We all played under the same rules, bro.
Like, we worked so hard and I don’t think it’s fair to us. >> I thought there was some fair rules. [music] >> It was a competition. We won fair and square. Like, we deserve this time. >> Blake, you lost. It is not in the spirit of strip dodgeball for you to be here right now. Claire also is like, “Oh, buddy.
Oh, Blake, you’re setting yourself up to be bullied later. Right now, you you got to go.” because the strip dodgeball winners all run over to protest Blake being there. Blake no doubt shaking in his jockstrap. When Blake leaves, he goes to kiss her and she dodges the kiss. It is crazy to say, but Blake was better off just walking home in his jockstrap because the humiliation of this carrying on was another level.
She does end up giving Blake a rose before the rose ceremony the next night. And Blake’s attempt at nonchalants while getting the death stares from everyone. Truly a sight to see. What can I say? These men earned their time and they’re not going to fumble it. For instance, forgotten Jonas brother Brandon. He said that he really embarrassed himself talking to her the first night and he is really going to redeem himself in this conversation.
Famous last words. What are you doing here? What brought you here? >> I never thought I would do anything like this before. And when I found out that you were the Bachelorette, I just knew. I knew I had to be here. >> So, what made you want to be on here for me? First of all, you’re obviously absolutely gorgeous. Oh, thank you.
But other than that, to be honest with you, I don’t really know anything about you. Uh I know you’re from Sacramento. Are you born or raised or >> Wait, so you said you knew you that I was the Bachelorette and you wanted to sign up. >> Mhm. You don’t know anything about me. >> I don’t I don’t know you per obviously I don’t know you on a personal level and I don’t know your history.
Um, you just you’re so beautiful and I wanted to get to know you. Is there any other thing that made you want to come on for me? >> Um, I don’t I don’t I don’t have a specific answer for you to be honest. >> Okay. Can we not Can we not >> What? Can we not talk about that? >> No, [laughter] it’s just I just >> No, I I understand.
like you know I no I no anybody really knew you on a personal level to you know >> I don’t think people have to know me on a personal level but there’s a lot of guys here that say my drive or they like what I have to offer they like that I stood up for myself I mean just anything other than looks no of course but they didn’t know that they didn’t know that prior to coming on the show that prior to coming on the show because a lot of them have said that I’m here to find love and you know I want to find a find someone to start a family with and you know I I I know
there’s moments between you and I where you know I know you feel too even when we haven’t had that one-on-one time there are moments there >> um you know I actually don’t feel that way You don’t I was trying to see if there was something more than that for me here and okay I just I feel like I have a really great group of guys here and I think I’m going to I think I’m going to have to just focus more on them and I don’t think that I want to pursue this anymore.
>> Okay. Um >> so is it okay if I walk you out? >> Yeah, of course. >> Okay. I’m telling you, it is just as bad [laughter] as when I played the roles. I do feel for Brandon in a sense because this is exactly like when you’re trying to be polite. So, when someone asks if you’ve read this book, you just say yes and then they start quizzing you on the parts that you like.
But also, I fully get why he got sent home after this conversation. Like, you couldn’t think of one generically nice thing to say about Claire other than she’s pretty. It’s fine if he didn’t watch her other seasons or anything. He could have started the conversation off by saying, “I intentionally didn’t watch the show because I didn’t want to have like an edited version of you.
I just wanted to know you for you.” Or he could have just not said anything at all. At the end of the day, he just kind of dug his own grave. He’s not a bad guy. She had nothing against him, but it wasn’t going to work. So, at the end of the cursed, strip dodgeball date, Jason gets the group date rose.
Not to be confused with Jason. He’s the one who got the one-on-one rose. So, it’s the night of the rose ceremony, and Yseph has just been itching these past 24 hours to berate Claire for her classless, shameless, horrific display. Ivan says, “Hey, man. I just hope you don’t talk about her like she’s the most evil woman in the world, cuz that’s how you were that’s how you were talking about her to us.” Oh, don’t worry, Ivan.
Yseph is bold. He will not be silenced. He carries the flame. He is not afraid to stand up to the oldest bachelorette. This actually is like a top five bachelorette moment for me, so just get ready for it, okay? I told you from the beginning I’m going to be open and honest and >> you know only thing I ask that you really just hear me out and >> of course >> you know you just give me a chance to say all that I have to say absolutely I feel like you might have a lot to say so >> yeah so >> I’m here >> again I said there’s been a been a
couple red flags that just kind of came out to me and you know the first thing that happened um was really in our group date >> I thought the date was going absolutely amazing and you know we fast forward forward into the evening and you basically said that you know like you guys are here for me. Okay. And you’re 100% correct.
We are here for you but like you’re here for us too. >> Yeah. >> It like it’s two-sided. >> Absolutely. Sacrificed a lot to be here. >> Yeah. >> I’m missing out on time with my daughter. >> Yeah. >> And a second that I’m here that’s one second I’m taking away from being with my child. Honestly, I get it. My mom is >> Yeah. >> dying.
>> Yeah. I’m sorry. [laughter] Let me continue. Let me continue. I totally understand. Thank you. >> Found it really disrespectful. I really did. And it’s been bugging me for the past 3 days and like it’s been really eating me up and I hate that this is the first time I’m gotten to talk to you about it. Um yeah.
The second thing is I was absolutely appalled at the group date that occurred yesterday. There was naked guys, you know, doing or playing dodgeball together. It’s so humiliating and degrading. And I don’t see how that really translates into finding a husband. Like, who’s willing to strip down butt naked and play dodgeball? It seems very silly and it seems very immature.
>> Mhm. >> And like a lot of those guys, they’re appeasing you. [music] >> If I had been on that date, I sure as hell wouldn’t have crossed that line. Not in a million years would I be caught dead doing that. >> Mhm. >> Right. Like if my daughter saw me doing that, if my family saw me doing that, like they would have thought they would have Think of the example that would be setting.
That’s why you were not on that date. >> Well, [music] I’m glad I wasn’t. >> Yeah. I’m seriously glad I wasn’t. I was so appalled. A completely classless display. I expected a lot more from the oldest bachelorette that’s ever been. And I can’t believe [laughter] I can’t believe that that actually occurred. That’s not the type of example I want to set for my daughter.
You’re not setting the right example for my daughter. Like, I feel like I even have to explain now. Like, I’m ashamed to be associated with you. I can’t believe I sacrificed so much to be here. Just to watch this distasteful and classless display. I’m serious. Like so appalled. Going back to our first date, I feel like you really overreacted.
And honestly, it sounded a little crazy. It sounded like sounded crazy. What about me saying that I want guys who are here for me, not trying to bro out with each other and want to get to know me. I’m looking for a husband. I’m looking for someone to love me. I’m looking for someone. I’ve listened to you this entire time.
Don’t let me talk to you this entire time. I’m not done. >> I’ve listened to you for 20 minutes. >> And I’m not done yet. What? You are done. Let me tell you something. The way you’re talking to me right now, >> never in a million years. >> Claire, listen to me. Listen to me. Hey, no.
Million years did I ever think I would have to utter these words again. Not ever talk to me like that. I never thought I’d ever have to tell any man that I would never want them being the father of my child. And I stand by [music] that. I never want my child having a father like you. Get out of here, Claire. Hey, believe it. You’re not fit to be the mother of my child.
That ain’t right. [ __ ] man. You okay, Claire? Is everything all right? You’re completely classless, Claire. Classless. >> Yes, bro. Yo, calm down over there. Completely distasteful, >> bro. What are you talking about? Go home. Chill out, dude. >> I expected way more from the oldest bachelorette in history. >> Yeah. Take your ass home, bro.
Remember, you’re almost 40. >> You kidding me? Don’t do that. Don’t be that guy. >> She’s all yours, boys. >> Oh, I bet. Bro, I’m so heated right now. Exactly what I was talking about the other day. Exactly what I was talking about the other day. Disrespectful as hell. This is just what he does. Talking to a woman like that.
I don’t care what was done. I don’t care what I’ve done. I didn’t even do anything to that man. Oh, sick. Sick to sit there and say, “You’re the oldest bachelorette.” Well, guess what? I’m the oldest bachelorette that’s 39 that’s standing here that’s single because I didn’t settle for men like that. I remember at the time, again, because people were upset about the strip dodgeball date, the general reaction to this conversation at the time was, “Well, he had a good point.
The conversation was going really well until she started talking about herself and then he just spiraled out of control. Too bad though, he was really having a nice conversation before she ruined it. That date was corny at best. I’m not going to die on the hill for strip dodgeball. But also, let’s be so serious.
Ysef wasn’t trying to have a conversation. He wasn’t even on the date to see for himself if it was uncomfortable. He talked a whole lot about Clare having to be a role model for his daughter. Meanwhile, he can’t even set an example of how his own daughter should be talked to and treated. He sticks to this, too. This is not like an editing bit.
In the reunion, he says that if his daughter did that, he’d hope that someone would put her in her place, like Yseph did to Claire. And in other fully unedited conversations and podcasts, he still blames not production. He puts all the blame on Cla. I’m sorry. You can’t tell me this guy wasn’t just looking for an excuse to talk down to her. Claire was right.
It’s sick, sick, sick. Sick. Sick. It is also such a parallel to Juan Pablo also putting the onus on her and not himself to be a model for his own kid. It’s honestly for the best that Ysef walked out when he did because little did he know strip dodgeball was just the beginning in this season. Again, they had no budget, no ideas.
They played water polo in speedos. They had to draw a naked couple in an art class. They were really reaching for creative ways to get these men undressed this season. But Yseph’s exit is also where Claire’s season goes fully off the rails. Normally, if a lead is super into one person, production actively does as much as they can to separate the lead from that person.
For example, Joey had pretty much an instant connection to his final pick, Kelsey. So, early on in the season, he got told by production that he was talking too much to her and he needed to actively ignore her when they were on group dates. So, she of course was reasonably hurt and confused and didn’t really know where they stood.
The producers are trying to make television. They’re not just trying to help support one couple through their romantic journey. Obviously, Colton season is a whole other can of worms, but he himself said that he purposely lied about who his favorites were when production would ask so that he could spend more time with the people he actually liked.
This time, when Clare is distraught, she’s just been yelled at publicly, they send in Dale, and he asks, “Where my hug at?” Listen, he knows women. He knows that that is not okay. If you thought Clare had tunnel vision for Dale night one, just wait for what’s next. Clare goes back to tell women that Yseph just left.
To which someone just goes, “Thank God.” Not a single Yseph defender in that damn room. But because she’s so upset, she wants to go right to the rose ceremony. Genuinely forgot who she sent home that time because at this point in the show, I knew Dale and like three other people. Don’t worry though, guys.
Chris Harrison assures the men that Yseph going all crazy last night. That’s just proof that this process works. You get a date this week. You get a date this week. Everyone gets to leave their lock hotel rooms this week. Except the day portion of the first group date gets cancelled. And the men have to wait all day to actually see her.
Presumably, it was because Claire was too busy sniffing Dale’s pants with former Bachelorette Deanna. [laughter] >> 46. Oh my god. What does that even mean? I don’t know. >> Also, let’s be so serious. I think the day portion got cut because the producers were too busy panic calling Tesa to drive faster. Of course, Dale is on this first group date.
And listen, he loves the guys. He really does. He respects them so much. Can we get a group hug, everybody? >> We got to get a group hug. >> Group hug? >> Yeah. You need some love. >> Group hug. >> Anyways, if Dale could just have the first 5 minutes to talk with her, that’d be great. 5 minutes turns into a full hour of them making out on her hotel bed.
Jason finds it unsettling, deeply disturbing that Clare cannot be cognizant of the passage of time. An hour is crazy. It’s also kind of crazy that the guys just sat around for an hour and did nothing about it. They waited that long to send Easy in to find out what’s happening. When Easy walks in the room, it’s so bad because Claire and Dale are mischievously giggling.
>> Oh, what’s up? >> D’s here. >> So, this is awkward. >> I was out. No, I wasn’t going to leave. >> He doesn’t even let Dale walk out the room without being like, where my hook at? All while Easy is just standing there with a lukewarm drink in his hand. Claire to the producers in between the guys whispers, “Can we hurry the rest of these guys along?” Okay, cuz that would be great.
Dale isn’t even done, by the way. He gets lost on the way to the bathroom. You know how you do. And just happens to stumble right back into the room where Claire is. >> Oh. Uhoh. >> Whoa. >> I’ve Yeah, I’m going to respect you. Ah. >> A shucks. I mean, of course, I’ll come it. It’s disrespectful. It’s disturbing. Distasteful.
She doesn’t even appreciate Ed when he’s blowing bubbles into his beer. You have never seen more gritted teeth smiles than the men after Dale gets the group day bros because of course he does. Clearly these men haven’t given Dale’s pants a sniff like her because they are not seeing the vision. The next day in front of the entire group they’re like, “Hey Dale, what was that?” Dale tries to apologize.
Not really. He says he just thought he was the best man suited. To which Mre Jason goes, “Best suited for what?” No, carry on. Yep. I guess you’re the best suited. What are we even doing here? I guess you know all of our relationships, D. The connection that we’ve had was really strong. >> No, the gazels were there for her either. It’s all good.
>> Yes, I went through surprise therapy for nothing. Let’s just move on to the one-on-one. But gosh dang if Dale doesn’t look hot in that hat today. God, he looks so hot in his hat today. >> It is incredible to see how over the moon Claire is for Dale. And then anytime you cut to him, he’s just like, you have no idea what’s in this man’s head. Her date today is with Zack Jay.
Zach Jay looks like a middle anomorph between former host Chris Harrison and current host Jesse Palmer. Today they are utilizing the one seeming amenity at this hotel, the spa. Except Zach is way too ticklish to enjoy the pedicure, and he gets immediately overstimulated when Clare just starts spreading guacamole on his face. I can’t say I blame him.
I’d be right there with him. He is the opposite of nonchalant, the most chalant man you’ve ever seen. Claire senses his nervous energy. And of course, inner confessional says, “It’s really hard to be open and not compare this date to Dale with that sexy, sexy hat that he’s wearing today.
God, he looks so hot in his hat today.” But she’s going to try and give Zach a chance. So, she leans in to kiss him. And what follows is truly a nightmare to watch that I don’t even know if I can fully understand. I don’t know if she thought he wasn’t leaning in to kiss her back or she just felt uncomfortable for another reason.
For whatever reason, she changes her mind. Fair, right? But then Zach tries to salvage the kiss and grabs her neck trying to turn her head so that they can kiss. Claire looks petrified at this. Clare was already flustered because of the kiss thing that just happened. Zach doesn’t seem to understand how it comes across when he like has his hand wrapped around her neck like that.
She tries to walk away and she keeps going, “Oh, it’s fine. It’s fine. Let’s just go to dinner.” He grabs her neck again. So, it’s not mentioned on the show, but Claire has been very open about how she experienced abuse from a priest growing up, and she’s also experienced similar incidents in past relationships.
So, the neck grabbing when she doesn’t feel comfortable is very triggering to her. I don’t think he had ill intent. I would like to think he didn’t know how aggressive that kind of came off to an outsider and to Clare at the time. And the lack of verbal communication in that exchange didn’t help things.
Honestly, I wish that they hadn’t aired this scene at all because it came to a lot of people having very extreme views on either end of the spectrum. I see his side, but ultimately Claire has every right to feel uncomfortable, and it’s probably hard to communicate when these very real triggers come up. I might be a little extra sensitive about it because I have done all the work these last few years on healing my traumas, but I don’t want to figure it out.
I don’t want to ask. I don’t even [music] want to talk about it. And unfortunately, she doesn’t feel comfortable going to dinner with him. So Chris Harrison sends Zach Jay home because it’s Chris Harrison and it’s not Claire. Chris can’t really explain what went wrong. So Zach still thinks when he leaves the show that it was because he didn’t kiss her back or something like that.
The whole thing is unfortunate. Not a moment that was handled well by the show and we’re only halfway through this episode. On a lighter note, the remaining men are tasked with a roast cuz Clare loves to be a little silly. She wants someone who can laugh. I wonder if Dale ever does that. This is also the perfect time for the group to make mostly underwhelming digs at Dale.
>> Dale, your last name’s Moss, right? I think the only reason teens were signing you is because they thought Randy Moss was your dad. >> How long do you really think it’s going to [music] take Claire to figure out that you’re here trying to campaign for president and actually have no interest in her? Zing. >> Only the people’s princess Bennett really delivers a half good line, but it’s more so because he dedicated 10hole jokes to Dale in his set.
>> Swing by my chateau for a little lesson in fashion before the big day. You big diva. [music] >> They show Claire’s roast at the end and she outperformed them all. It’s not even close. >> Brandon, I didn’t realize you were still here. Honestly, I thought I sent you home last week. >> Still, even Margaret Cho can sense there’s some maybe real hostility towards Dale and that a career in standup comedy is in none of these men’s future.
>> I’m like, bro, there’s one Dolly and it’s Dolly Llama and it ain’t you. So, like, your name is Dale. >> Claire said it herself. She loves a little joke. She loves to laugh, but she will not tolerate people making fun of her fiance. Yes, she does call Dale her fiance to a producer. >> Everybody was just digging on Dale.
>> That wasn’t funny, huh? >> That wasn’t funny. I really don’t think I can sit there and go, “You dished on my fiance so hard. Like, like I can’t be doing that, you know? Like, it doesn’t feel right.” >> Tasa cannot drive fast enough. It seems this is an unsalvageable situation. The men aren’t dumb and can see that something’s happening.
They see that she’s upset. Brendan makes the astute observation that maybe she’s upset because every other joke flopped. And the only ones the guys laughed at were the jokes about Dale. >> And she brought up the one-s sentence joke that I said about Dale, but I had 43 jokes in that set. >> So, she pulls each man aside on this group date and says, “Wow, you had some jokes like that one about Dale.
Is that like an inside joke between you or Dale?” Or like, “What’s that about?” “No, what’s that about?” The men at this point have really dropped the pretense that this is a normal situation. Like they can tell that something’s happening here with Dale. And they say, “Are any of you developing a relationship with Claire? Did we just quarantine for nothing?” The cherry on top of this date is that at the end of the night, Clare doesn’t feel like she talked to the men enough on this date.
She doesn’t think she can give anyone a rose. So tonight’s rose is going to herself. Claire, thank you for showing [music] up tonight. I’m so proud of you for being bold. you tonight deserve this book. >> Which, come on, it’s so diva of her. I love it. The next day, Chris Harrison has a very organic and definitely not pre-planned conversation.
>> I didn’t know you were coming. >> I know, last minute change. >> Yeah, >> little surprise, but >> Claire, baby girl, never in the history of Lima Resort have we had a season like this. >> We’ve never dealt with anything like [music] this before. >> You’ve kind of blown up our whole spot here. I’m not going to lie.
>> Congratulations. You’ve just blown up the Bachelorette. >> The people need to know, though. Did you talk to Dale before the show? Like, why are you so locked in on him? Claire swears up and down that she never spoke to him, which honestly I believe because I feel like that would have come out by this point 6 years later.
Also, just with what I know about Cla, I can see it. Cla’s dad proposed to Cla’s mom after they met one time. Dale’s parents also, I think, got engaged super super fast. She falls for people quickly, heart totally open. I think between COVID, the stress with her mom, and most importantly, the ability to pre-tock them all on social media, Clare was uniquely predisposed to get attached, she already knew that Dale had lost his mom, that he had a sister in a facility because he was posting about these things, and those are parallels to her
own life. These things can get built up in your head, right? They may not have actually spoken, but Claire absolutely was set on him before she met the men. She says that she just met her husband based on him saying hello. And in this show, it seems like this is Claire quitting in this conversation. >> So, in your mind right now, is this over? >> Yeah.
In reality, this was much more like a mutual agreement at best. Probably more like a polite firing, though, because Clare had no incentive to leave a 6 week paid vacation with Dale. Tesa was already on site at this point, right? Claire didn’t have another choice. And you may be wondering, how does Dale fit into this? To this day, I still can’t really tell.
He is in an awkward position because as the contestant, when Clare is saying, “Oh my god, you’re the one. I instantly fell in love with you.” He might have been worried that it would come off as mean or rude if he said, “You know, I’m into you, but maybe not that much just yet. I just met you.
” And like every contestant on this show, there is a very real possibility that he’s just here for followers and is now way in over his head, really trying to avoid a villain edit. At the same time, I do feel like some of the, “Oh, he never liked her at all. he just got scammed kind of thing does come from a place of just not liking Claire and not thinking that Clare, this 39-year-old, could genuinely have a connection with Dale, this 31-year-old.
Dale was pushing this relationship, too. Every corner she turned, the man was there and ready to talk to her. Claire might not be great at being the Bachelorette, but she’s loving. She’s straightforward. There are lots of reasons that he could have fallen for her. Also, Dale was actually offered to go on the Bachelorette two other seasons, and he only said yes this time when they announced that it was Cla. We’ll never know the truth.
I would guess that it’s kind of a combination of all of these things. But what about the other guys? They have questions. They want to confront Claire. They are past being annoyed at Dale and are now understandably irritated with her. But Blake says, “Guys, come on. She wouldn’t pick Dale this fast. It’s been 10 days.
” Anyways, Dale gets sent to the principal’s office for his first, yes, his first one-on-one date. Claire has picked her favorite of the three available spots for dinner at the Lintita Resort. And their whole conversation is just them rephrasing, “Damn, it’s crazy how how much I like you for hours and hours on end.
” All leading up to an overnight. Well, you had dinner. You had an overnight. Time to wrap it up, I guess. So, Claire breaks up collectively with the rest of the men, and it is as awkward as you can imagine. Kenny wants her to apologize to the group. And she’ll apologize if she wasted their time, but she will not apologize for love.
Love wins at the end of the day, Kenny. I wouldn’t expect you, Kenny, the boy band manager, to know anything about that. Blake says, “Boyfriend, I’m nervous. You just met this man, and you could be really devastated. You don’t even know what his NFL stats are, but uh you do you.” Based on people’s reactions, Blake and Jason seem to be like the only two who really felt any sort of affection for Clare at this point.
Poor Jason had to relive his trauma and genuinely felt a trauma bond with Clare. He did stay for one night to meet Tesa, but ultimately he sent himself home because he didn’t feel like he could move on. But I guess it’s a blessing in a way because she ended it now and not 6 weeks later, which probably would have hurt way worse. She’s broke up with her men.
She went on one date with Dale. We all know what’s next. engagement. They were already pushing it with the normal format of 2 months. They must get engaged in 12 days. I am sure as usual there was a lot of production pushing for this proposal. At the end of the day though, these are two grown adults who actually do go through with it and they are giddy as hell when they do.
Well, Tail says that he accepted it. >> We so saw this coming. I felt it. >> I accepted it. >> I knew it. >> I [music] accepted it. >> These two love birds, they’re going to last forever. They do have a separate tell all just for Claire and Dale where they basically just repeat how in love they are and that they absolutely never never never spoke before.
But then Chris Harrison asks what comes next. >> Obviously >> babies. >> Uh really like >> the way Dale just breezes past what she said. Now this is a great place to discuss whether marriage or kids come first because apparently you guys disagree. Clare and Dale run off into the sunset and live happily ever after for 6 months.
Then Dale posts a mutual breakup statement to which Clare responds, “Yes, I was made aware of the mutual statement. In fact, I found out the same way you all did.” At the time, a source, [clears throat] Claire’s team, allegedly said that Dale had been repeatedly spotted in New York City with his hot realtor friend. Dale told Clare that the relationship was simply business related.
Clare though, always been skeptical. She never trusted the friendship and thought it was shady. Dale would always reassure Clare that it was nothing, but multiple people have told Clare that Dale was parading around New York City with this girl. Anyways, they immediately get back together, prove all the doubters wrong, make it to their one-year anniversary and break up again in September of 2021.
To announce this, she posted this lovely picture of her holding her mom’s hand, and writes, “I’m choosing not to speak right now on the details of my relationship because at the end of the day, anyone can put up an act or throw words together to form any narratives they want. You go, Claire. Power to you.
Except she tagged someone in this post. Not Dale. She tagged Abigail Haringer, another Bachelor contestant that Dale was rumored to have cheated on Claire with. Claire. Claire. Time and plays. Days before the breakup, both Demois and US Weekly said that Abigail and Dale had hooked up in New York City because Abigail was under the impression that they were not that serious anymore.
Claire would thrive on RuPaul’s Drag Race Twitter. She is a mess, but she is not a mystery. Unfortunately, after publicly dragging Abigail, Clare went mostly silent about the relationship. She did congratulate him on his first acting role by saying she was a witness to his acting from day one. If anyone deserved the passive aggressive Instagram tag, it was him.
Because you know what’s wild? Dale just recently went on Bachelor in Paradise. First of all, would not stop saying dead it. >> So, I ded it the next day. I ded it. He’s telling me, “Well, I doubted it. I ded it.” I >> I just dedited it. And I ded it. >> Yeah. Can we d it? Also dit it. >> That’s what I said. >> Cuz we dit it.
I thought >> you cannot convince me this man wasn’t just trying to make merch for himself. He got engaged to this woman, Cat, despite not seeming that enthusiastic about the relationship and kissing other women behind her back on the show. And their relationship ended when Cat got a hey girly DM.
She starts talking about it on TikTok. Nick Viel enters the picture. It’s never good when that happens. He accuses Cat of having a secret boyfriend the whole time. So, the fact that Dale was a whole mess 6 years later and in 2020, maybe that’s a pattern. I don’t know. I maybe he’s lovely in real life. Never met the guy. But I stand by that both Tesa and Claire were done dirty by the show.
Tasa was the replacement who came in midway through a co season. And so, she had so much pressure to be the perfect Bachelorette. Of course, the second Bachelorette of color had to share her season instead of just being picked from the start. Of course, half her dates were just her riding around on a lime scooter.
Also, I have not forgotten the question that everybody had at the time. How did Tesa manage to negotiate and sign a contract, get to the hotel, quarantine when the rest of the cast and Claire had to quarantine for 2 weeks before they could even go on the set? And why the hell was Hannah Anne there? Yes, Hannah Anne, sweet angel Hannah Anne from Pilot Pete season was seen on a golf cart at the Lintita Resort and she never appeared on the show at all.
There is a theory, a conspiracy that Tesa was always meant to replace Cla because there’s no way that they could negotiate the deal and quarantine her for 2 weeks without her being there from the start because Claire left the show within 12 days. This is true. However, Tasa has since posted the day that she got called for the Bachelorette.
And according to Tesa, it really was a few days prior. I think the real reason why production refused to give a clear answer on when exactly her contract was signed was because they most likely sidestepped some CO safety rules. I think they just took her word that she had been quarantining in her own home and because she lived in the OC, she could drive herself over to Palm Springs, you know, technically fine.
And of course, she tested negative, but this was before mass vaccine availability. So revealing all this publicly would not have looked great at the time. Also, in terms of the contract negotiation, they probably did have her and Hannah an as backups because even when it’s not co, they always have at least three or four people sign the Bachelor contract, especially with CO being a factor.
If Clare had gotten CO, the show would have been over without an extra Bachelorette. We all know how that Zoom row ceremony went when Zach got co on his season. So, I don’t think the story is as exciting as other people assume, but I do agree that they probably had the idea to get rid of Clare and bring Tesa in within the first two or three days.
Clare has gotten a lot of flack this season for disregarding and disrespecting the other men in the cast, especially because in her confessionals and in her edit, she is constantly talking about Dale and only Dale, which really does give the impression that she never gave anybody else the time of day. >> Looking at Dale’s face, god, he looks so hot in his hat today.
Kenny himself did say that in his conversations with her, he didn’t feel like she was present. However, if I can be a bit of a Clare apologist for just a bit longer. I think it’s important to remember that editing plays such a big role here and the show had every incentive to make her look bad to justify why she was being replaced and make Tesa look like this big hero when she’s coming in.
All of those times you hear Cla’s voice but don’t see her mouth move and she’s like, “I’m so excited to talk to Dale.” That easily could have been her saying, “I’m so excited to talk to everyone.” Cutting in her saying Dale in a different conversation. I’m so [music] excited to hear from Dale. Looking at Dale’s face, God, he looks so hot in his hat today.
And yes, she talked about Dale a lot in her confessionals, but the producers are also guiding the questions. So, for all we know, they were asking about Dale all the time. I sincerely believe that they purposely sent Dale and nobody else to comfort Clare after the Yseph confrontation.
In that confrontation, you see Tyler C, you see Riley, you see Demar. They’re all trying to comfort Claire. They’re nowhere to be seen in that shot during that terrible date with Zach Jay. You see in her confessional that she says, “I wish Dale was here.” And they show that at the beginning of the date, but this confessional was recorded right after she got triggered and was upset.
When she’s saying, “I wish Dale was here. I wish I could see him.” It’s because she’s distressed and there is a precedent for him making her feel better when she’s distressed. Claire for sure had tunnel vision, but the show was more than willing to include every clip of her looking crazy and Dale obsessed. Also, very important context that before the show even aired, the audience knew that Clare quit the show because she got engaged to Dale and Tesa came in to save the show.
Even in the promos for this season, they teased that Clare is going to leave and that all of the men hate her. >> 15 of us walk out. >> This is hard. >> In the 18 years [music] I’ve been doing the show, we’ve never dealt with anything like this. Find out the truth behind all the rumors that Bachelor Nation is buzzing about.
>> We as the audience were not set up to like Cla. Listen, Clare isn’t perfect, but considering Juan Pablo is the worst Bachelor when he was actively misogynistic and really gross to all the women in his cast, I just feel like her behavior on her season as the worst Bachelorette is nowhere near that. Despite the absolute mess of Claire and Dale from beginning to end, I still think in those four episodes, that was one of the best seasons of The Bachelorette out there.
Like, I’m sorry, were we not entertained? Yes, Clare was sensitive. She moved too fast for her own good. She tends to make messy Instagram stories when she shouldn’t. But for the most part, her biggest crime was just refusing to play the game of the Bachelorette, and I can’t be mad at her for that. I honestly find it charming how unjaded and unguarded Clare was, even when she was 39.
It turns out you’re never too old to become a little obsessed over a guy who probably doesn’t deserve it. The men on her season had a right to be frustrated, especially at that moment when she left. Especially the guys who got sent home before Tesa got there. But also, this is the Bachelorette. For 90% of these guys, I guarantee it was not that serious.
And trust, these men got there 15 minutes and were tasa obsessed the second she walked into the room. I think in the end it all turned out okay other than Abigail catching that stray. Mostly a victimless crime. Claire’s biggest fumble was not keeping more of her thoughts to herself because she could have been dead set on Dale and put on the show like I’m sure a lot of other leads have done.
And for what it’s worth, Claire is now happily married. She is both a steparent and has her own biological child as well. Tasa, you know, Tasa is still a smoke show. She has probably been one of the most successful Bacheloretses after her time on the show. I mean, she hosted the show herself. She stays booked and busy. Like I said, definitely deserved a full co season, but honestly, I wouldn’t wish the Bachelorette role on anybody these days.
So, that is the tale of the co bachelorette. I had to take the opportunity return to my roots before the Bachelorette fades into obscurity. So, I hope you all enjoyed that. If you want to see more from me, I stream on Twitch and I have a second channel. They’re both called Extra Ashley if you’re interested in that. I also have a Patreon, which if you’re watching Love Island USA season 8, I am returning the tradition where we do weekly recap streams just for my patrons.
On top of the usual monthly bonus video that I put out for them, a lot of great stuff going on over there, but if none of that interests you, that’s cool. I get it. But if you liked this video, you could feel free to like, [music] comment, subscribe, and I will see y’all in the next one. Bye. [music] Heat. Heat.
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