'The Bachelorette' 9.04 Crowns Kasey as Mr America and Ben as The Most Hated…Again
Last week Desiree dealt with drama when one of the men lied about having a girlfriend outside of the show, and she later sent home Brandon as well. My favourites have been changeable since the start, yet there have been two constants. Juan Pablo, the sexy Spanish-speaking Venezuelan, has kept me interested since the start. Perhaps that has been due to his lack of screen time, but I expect him to go far what with his good looks, amazing accent, and clear chemistry with Desiree. Maybe he’ll get a one on one soon, but he definitely isn’t leaving until Desiree has got rid of the men she doesn’t have emotional connections with. Unfortunately, I don’t know if they share an emotional connection, so he might be the last of the unattached to leave. My best favourite has been Zak W since the first episode. Admittedly he was a bit ridiculous, showing up without a shirt, but since then he has proved himself as an emotional contender as he gives her a beautiful antique diary, sings her a song, and starts to fall for Des. This week they both continued to be favourites, and James was cute to watch but didn’t make it into the favourites list. This week, Chris Harrison came in to announce the first week of travels. I can’t believe they’re already traveling, but I guess that means we’ll be starting the intense romances really quick as well. Atlantic City here we come!
The first one on one of the week was with Brad, a bit of an unknown guy but at least he’s cute! They go around the boardwalk in Atlantic City for a few hours during the day where they goof around and go on some rides. Zak W is watching them from the hotel and getting a bit jealous as Mikey doesn’t think Brad is any fun. While Des and Brad are goofing around on the boardwalk they seemed to be enjoying themselves but it alway seemed like he was having fun with a kid rather than a girlfriend. They sit at a sand castle as the sun sets and conversation starts to slow. I say starts to slow, but there wasn’t any conversation during the boardwalk part anyway. So there continues to be a lack of conversation, and that doesn’t change during the dinner portion. The date gets awkward, quiet, and they have no chemistry. Desiree seems to realize that as well because she sends Brad back home to his son Madox.
Brooks, Bryden, Zack K, Kasey, Drew, Juan Pablo, Mikey, Zak W, Ben, Michael, and Chris are on the group date with Desiree. They meet up with Chris Harrison and Miss America at Boardwalk Hall where they soon realize they’ll be competing in a Bachelorette Mr America pageant. You know, I don’t know why no one thought of a Mr America pageant before, I can’t say I’m upset about seeing all the men shirtless for half a date. They all get to work figuring out what talents to perform for the competition before donning suits and swim trunks for the actual pageant that Chris Harrison will be hosting. If Chris hadn’t already hosted a few pageants I’d think he were trying to put in a bid for it right now. Juan Pablo grabs a baton, Drew practices Shakespeare, Chris puts on heels, Kasey tries tap dancing, and Zak W picks up a guitar… It’ll definitely be interesting! The swimsuit section requires Ben, Juan Pablo, and Zak W to put on skimpy suits while the rest of the men have hawaiian flower board shorts. Can you guess which of those three I’m not interested in seeing any more of?
The interview portion is first and Mikey tries to pull out an answer showing him as sensitive but none of his other actions mirror that. The only person who seems to fail the question is Chris when he rambles about taking girls out on dates more often… what? Talents come next where we see Mikey and Bryden stripping and thrusting (so unlike Bryden!), Kasey getting big support for his tap dancing, Brooks making up a silly song on the ukelele before smashing it, and Zak W creating an incredibly sweet love song about Des. Definitely a big fan of him. When all the men get to strut their stuff in swimsuits there were definitely a few that weren’t as impressive and others that I really wished would cover up (cough-BEN-cough). Second runner up was Brooks, first runner up was Zak W, and the first Mr America was Kasey.
During the evening portion of the date, Chris pulled Desiree aside for some echoey poetry reading in the pool. It gets all emotional and cute but I’m really not into him… They get some kissing time and he thinks he’ll get the rose but when Zak W pulls out a guitar to finish his song he wrote for Des that wins her over more. I loved his voice because it wasn’t perfect but it showed the true emotions from the song shine through. Zak has also admitted that he’s starting to fall in love with Desiree, which is really exciting because he’s my favourite and she gave him the group date rose.
As everyone else is on the group date, James lounges in a bubbly bath eating chocolate covered strawberries, drinking red wine, and having a generally lush girl’s night before his date. Normally there are extravagant dates, but this time they’re taking a helicopter to see destruction rather than beauty. Because the Jersey Shore is so close they view it from above with a Red Cross volunteer explaining everything. Later, they land to see the destruction in a more personal way and meet an old couple who pretend this whole thing wasn’t planned at all. When Des and James hear their story they feel compelled to hand over their luxurious date to the couple who missed out on their wedding anniversary because of the storm. It’s cute to see the older couple at a fancy table, looking through their restored wedding album (it really is sweet to see someone took the time to fix it for them), and later dancing to a private concert once James and Desiree have rejoined them.
With their dinner date given to the other couple, Des and James find a pizza parlour for their chat. Once again we hear about the family financial problems from Desiree before James is stealing loads of kissing and making her smile again. It isn’t a date on this show without some drama, so James tells her about his previous girlfriend, how he cheated on her, and why he knows that he’ll never do it again. Although Desiree was initially shocked she came to understand that his telling her about that showed him to have repented and now be honest. I’m still a bit wary, but the connection between those two was palpable.
Going into the rose ceremony only Zak W and James have roses leaving everyone to frantically grab one on one time with Desiree. Michael pulls out a cheesy gesture but finally gets a kiss from her anyway. Chris thinks he’s been friend-zoned before also getting a kiss. Bryden has begun to doubt his feelings for Des and how long it’s taking to get the time he wants with her, and he contemplates leaving. After relaying these concerns to Des he decides to stay for this week but doesn’t rule out leaving early next week instead. Men continuing on in the competition are Zak W (group), James (1on1), Chris, Brooks, Juan Pablo, Drew, Michael, Ben, Kasey, Bryden, Mikey.
After last week where there was lots of drama with Brian and Holly, this week was lacking. Previews for next episode try to amp it up again when they’re heading to Munich, Germany. Snow adventures, falling in love, igloos, private concerts… It all looks like a fun night of reality TV. Next episode seems to have a lot of drama with all the men thinking others are there for the wrong reasons. It seems that Chris and Bryden get into a disagreement and everyone dislikes not only Ben but James as well. Oh the drama!
I live tweet new episodes @reviewsbylauren on the west coast! The Bachelorette airs on ABC on Mondays at 8pm.
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