Because she’s been there and done that, literally, former Bachelor contestant/tear fountain Ashley Iaconetti is recapping this season of The Bachelor for Cosmopolitan. With insider insight as well as a clear eye for what’s going down both in front of and behind the cameras, she’s got a whole lot to say…and you’re gonna wanna hear it.
This post contains spoilers for last night’s (1/25/2021) episode of The Bachelor.
For an episode that seemed so exciting (with the arrival of five additional women!), I actually felt like it was weak. The behavior of some of these women is bringing me down! I get that for the women who have been in the house since day one, it was annoying to see a new pack filter in during week four. But you can’t be angry at those women for walking out of that Suburban. You can be angry at production for setting that up…actually, no, you can’t be mad at production, because you signed up for this show and they’re giving you the opportunity of a lifetime.
Welcome to The Bachelor, ladies! I know it’s fun-to-watch TV, but when you’re part of it, it’s the Hunger Games of love! There are producers watching your every move, trying to figure out how to unleash your most extreme traits. This group is dealing with the twists and turns the “arena” drops on them worse than most. The OGs are coming after the new arrivals as if these women just collectively decided it was time to leave their hotel rooms and meet Matt. It’s not their fault that the producers put them in that delayed group. It was wild that the women choose to continue to give them the cold shoulder even after the initial arrival night.
However, it wasn’t surprising to see Victoria call them “slores.” Earlier in the episode, Victoria said that name-calling was a way of expressing herself. She’s so ridiculous I don’t even register her insults as insults. (I hope the women she’s insulting feel the same watching this back.) I’d take it as a compliment if she didn’t like me.
Anna doesn’t seem to feel the same, as she’s becoming Victoria’s apprentice. Anna gets so much enjoyment from the drama that she’s resorted to fabricating it. When Brittany walked into the cocktail party, Anna said that she looked familiar. Both women are from Chicago. Brittany goes from simply looking familiar to Anna to someone she remembers being as an escort back home. All of a sudden she can recall people in Chicago going out of their way to tell her to watch out for this woman she’s never met? That’s some crazy shit! I’m assuming that some of Anna’s friends got wind that Brittany was also cast for this season and they sent her photos and rumors before she left for filming. Regardless of what is being said around the Windy City, it’s totally defaming to suggest that Brittany “entertains men for money.”
Katie is the superhero of this episode. After hearing that Brittany was accused of being an escort and seeing the constant cattiness towards the new group, she goes to tell Matt about the volatile environment. Katie is not a typical Bachelor tattletale. You can tell Katie’s not ratting out the other women to benefit herself. She has a solid ethical compass. We see Katie’s genuinely concerned for Brittany’s reputation outside of the Bachelor bubble. Similarly, last week she was the only woman who vocally expressed compassion towards Sarah’s situation.
We also saw Katie shine this week when she would not apologize to Victoria. VICTORIA WANTED AN APOLOGY FROM KATIE BECAUSE SHE SHUT DOWN HER NAME-CALLING. (I think that sentence needed to be capitalized.) Katie left Victoria searching for a comeback multiple times during their conversation. Victoria tried to say that the stunt Katie pulled with her vibrator on night one meant that she wasn’t ready to be a wife.
I found this particularly amusing because of a situation that unfolded between myself and Victoria during the erotica date last week. It didn’t make the final cut, but after Victoria read me her erotic story one-on-one, I questioned whether or not Matt would appreciate a particular sexual fetish being mentioned so publicly and so early on in their relationship. Victoria said that it was something important to her. Funny how Katie’s sexual references make her ill-fitted to be a wife, but when Victoria herself expresses her desires it’s important.
Unfortunately, I don’t see Katie and Matt having a romance. I think she’s a bit friend-zoned right now. I hope we get to see this woman who truly supports other women have herself a time in Paradise if her relationship with Matt stays on this trajectory.
I was disappointed to see two competitive group dates in this episode. If you read my articles often, you know that I don’t think sporting events make for good Bachelor dates. Having the women box against each other or search for acorns doesn’t allow for the audience (or the Bachelor) to get to actually know them better. I find the most compelling moments to be when the women are sharing personal stories with Matt, like when Chelsea was telling him about feeling the need to straighten her hair growing up in a predominantly white community and how liberating it was for her to shave it off. I like seeing Matt and Michelle geek out a little when they both reveal they want three kids and when Matt picks out the Maya Angelou quote that Michelle casually drops into conversation. I assume as we start to eliminate the drama queens in the next week or two, we’ll get more of these satisfying moments.
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