The Bachelor – episode 6

This week’s episode of The Bachelor finds the gang in Panama City, Panama. Last week, Ben described this as “Central America’s most glamourous city”. I guess he got that off of some Panama City Tourism brochure. Nicki says she’s never been to Central America before which prompted me to wonder about the status of Puerto Rico. Is the Caribbean considered part of Central America? Oh, what questions The Bachelor raises.

This episode has a one-on-one date, a group date, and the dreaded two-on-one date. I don’t actually dread the 2-on-1, that’s just how they always refer to them. Here we go!

• Kacie gets the first second date. That seems like a good thing. Ben wears orange shorts that do not seem like a good thing. He also looks like he might have gotten a hair cut, which I approve of. I am not a fan of his hair.
• They take a helicopter to a deserted island. Ben calls this a test for their relationship. Right, Peter and I did this in pre-marital counselling. Seems legit.
• Kacie, who was told to bring 3 things but not told what they were doing, has brought a green monkey, a corkscrew/knife, and a bag of candy. I think she did pretty well.
• Ben brought a machete, a fishing net, and matches. He obviously knew what was going to happen.
• Yes, teamwork is important in a relationship, but this test is so artificial as to not even mean anything!
• Kacie opens up about an eating disorder in high school. I give her props for her honesty and openness but again this drives home the weird accelerated rate of their relationship. Normally, I don’t think you would share something like this on a second date.
• Ben looks really sweaty. I do not find this guy attractive.

The group date takes six girls into the jungle to meet an indigenous tribe that is most likely being taken advantage of.

• Jamie is so impressed to see Ben driving a boat that I’m positive she’s from somewhere landlocked. Nothing he’s doing is particularly difficult, dear.
• They change into beaded outfits. Courtney takes off her top. Ben in a loincloth is decidedly unsexy, as is the way he talks about Courtney without her top on.
• Courtney spends a lot of time apparently looking down at her own boobs. (At first I wrote “books” instead of “boobs”. I would have loved it if Courtney spent a lot of time looking at books in this episode.)
• Lindzi refers to Ben as her boyfriend, which seems weird.
• Jamie finally gets some time with Ben and while trying to talk to him, Courtney hangs around in the background in a bikini. Ben is blatantly distracted and Jamie sees it. This made me angry because either Ben should have focused on Jamie or, if he found that so difficult, he should have gotten up and taken Jamie somewhere private so he could spend real time with her. The fact that he just lets her talk while he stares at Courtney tells me he’s not a gentleman and has no interest in getting to know these girls beyond their bodies.
• Emily is really funny. I think I’d want to hang out with her. (I liked her second rap at the end of the episode too.)
• Emily apologizes to Courtney (which is quite big of her and another reason to like her) and Courtney is nothing but rude in response. Emily comes out looking waaaayyy better in this situation.
• Lindzi gets the group date rose. I’m not really sure why.
• Courtney invites Ben to her room afterwards, which I’m happy to report he did not take her up on. I think Courtney doesn’t know how to have healthy, non-sexual relationships with men. Then again, do any of these women?

The 2-on-1 date falls to Blakely and Rachel. Blakely goes in with a good attitude. They go salsa dancing. I think that’s a fun date, though perhaps not with a second woman breathing down my neck.

• Blakely has to wear a really ugly pink dress. Really hideous.
• Rachel overcomes her “communication issues” and expresses herself pretty well.
• Blakely has really started opening up to Ben and shows him the scrapbook she’s made of their time together. Part of me thinks it’s weird but the other part of me thinks it’s endearing.
• Ben gives the rose to Rachel and I don’t really know why. They don’t seem to have much of a connection.
• Blakely’s reaction is very genuine. As soon as Rachel receives the rose, she gets up and walks away. What else could you do? Ben tries to sugar coat it but that has to hurt, right after she was so vulnerable with him.

The big drama of the episode was Chris Harrison pulling Casey (not to be confused with Kacie) aside and telling her he’s heard she has a boyfriend back home. Does this have to happen every season? Casey says Michael is her ex-boyfriend but Chris kind of pushes her to admit that she’s still in love with him. Apparently, the ex didn’t want to get married so Casey left him and came on The Bachelor. She said she wants to stop hoping that Michael will change. If she’s being honest here, I can’t fault her for that and I don’t know that she deserved to leave. Chris takes her to Ben who cuts down her explanations and tells her she has to go. I found him to be very uncompassionate here. He says he wants the girls to be open but he only responds well if they say what he wants to hear. Blakely was open and he sent her home. I don’t like this guy. I would say Casey seems confused and probably needs to figure out some things in her life. Also, I hate when they zoom in on the girls when they cry.

OK, on to the rose ceremony:

• Pretty uneventful. Jamie has too much to drink (I think) and makes a last ditch effort to seduce Ben.
• She tries way too hard, acting like someone she isn’t and it gets awkward. I feel pretty sure she must regret this now. Poor girl
• No surprise, Jamie goes home. It looks like she gets into a car with a Latin gangster at the end.

Next week: Belize! And (most likely) more terrible behaviour from Ben!