All posts in: The Bachlorette

Culture
28 Jun 2015

That Last Bachelorette Episode

Since I happened to be in Seattle this past week, I was very lucky to be able to watch The Bachelorette’s most scandalous episode of the season with my 3 favorite girlfriends. Every week, we’ve all watched it from our own homes – me in California and the three of them seprately in Seattle all of us texting each other throughout the two hours for our reactions, but this time it was so much better to be in one living room together!

In case you missed it, Kaitlyn had the sex with Nick Viall on The Bachelorette. Obviously, nothing was shown, but audiences could definitely hear what went on behind closed doors. Someone should remind them to not only take the mics off, BUT to not leave the mics turned on either. In the past, getting to this stage in a relationship on the show usually happens within the last two episdoes at the fantasy suite when there are usually just three suitors left. In Kaitlyn’s case, she had 9 guys left vying for her love and a long road ahead of her. For reference, the last Bachelor/Bachelorette to be intimate before the fantasy suite was Juan Pablo and Claire.

At the end of the episode, I just had to ask the girls: so what did you think?

All of us agreed that what she did was wrong. It was wrong because there were still 9 guys left and essentially still very early on in the process. When you are down to just three contestants, it seems more okay because you are starting to get more serious and having that deeper connection. It doesn’t look great on Kaitlyn because it was on television for the whole world to see it. Do we feel that she is being treated unfairly though or being slut-shamed for what she did? Absolutely. From the very beginning of the season, we saw a preview of this clip as to what we could expect from Season 11 and it seemed like this was a very pivotal moment in Bachelor/Bachelorette history. When this happened to Juan Pablo, we didn’t know it was happening until it happened. Kaitlyn didn’t get the same treatment.

I met with a former professor the next day who also watches this show and engaged in this conversation with me as well. She asked me, “Where does Kaitlyn go from here? How does she redeem herself?”

I thought it was a great question because honestly – if I were in Kaitlyn’s shoes, I wouldn’t know what to do either. Part of why I’m disappointed in what Kaitlyn did was because now this sets an expectation for the other men. In their eyes, they might now feel that they have to sleep with Kaitlyn in order to feel like they’re ahead which puts Kaitlyn in a very uncomfortable position that no other woman really wants to see her have to be in. It feels a bit unfair though as I’m writing this because while she did make herself feel a little “easy” to Nick, she wasn’t doing something that was wrong with regards to dating because when most women date, intimacy is an important part of that. However, the girls and I decided that it is wrong when you are exclusively dating 9 men at the same time.

Readers, would love to hear your thoughts on this on this episode if you have any!

 

Culture
17 May 2015

What to Know About Our Two Bachelorettes

First off, you should know that both Britt and Kaitlyn aren’t very happy about having to share the title as The Bachelorette this season. However, they are being good sports about it because if they were visibly unhappy then that would make them unlikable and not the girl that audiences will want to root for.

What you should know about Britt:

  • Britt received the “First Impression” rose on Chris Soules’s season of The Bachelor which means that she was the one that stood out to him the most and she was safe from elimination the first night while all the girls panicked and turned to alcohol. This immediately put a target on her back for the rest of the season and she became a threat to the other girls.
  • Britt is VERY pretty, but she may not be naturally pretty. She was once woken up early in bed for a date with Chris wearing a full face of makeup, which most viewers found to be pretty strange – myself included. Who puts makeup on before going to bed?
  • She’s a crier! Britt definitely shed a lot of tears on the show which the other girls (and most girls in general) find to be a little too much.
  • The other girls thought that Britt was fake for a couple of reasons and these were brought up in the season a number of times. 1. Britt told a couple of girls that she couldn’t see herself getting married yet and starting a family. A few clips after, she basically told Chris that she wanted a million kids and couldn’t wait to start a family. 2. Another time the girls took a road trip to Chris’s hometown in Iowa and the girls “say” that she could never imagine herself living there, but in another clip she tells Chris that she finds his hometown to be beautiful and that she could definitely see herself starting a life there with him. It’s important that we take these instances with a grain of salt because we all know how sneaky the producers and editors of this show can be.

In my opinion, I think that Britt seems like a really nice girl. One contestant constantly bullied her behind Britt’s back throughout the season and instead of trying to put Britt down, she made Britt look like the better person. A lot of the negativity that was directed at Britt could be attributed to just pure jealously.

What you should know about Kaitlyn:

  • Kaitlyn had one of the best opening lines to a Bachelor that I had ever heard! Upon meeting Chris, she greeted him with “I don’t know much about you. I know you are a farmer. You can plow the (bleep) out of my field any day.” It was cheeky and showed off her sense of humor even though it was slightly inappropriate. That doesn’t really matter though because Chris gave her a rose at the end of the night because he clearly found her to be funny.
  • Kaitlyn is kind of a guys’ girl. While Britt played the girl next door type, Kaitlyn was seen as “one of the boys” or the girl that can just “roll with things.” On her first date with Chris, they spent the day at Costco. To most girls, they would probably hate this, but Kaitlyn was willing to have fun with herself and enjoy her time with Chris showing that you can make the most of any boring date. Later on she had dinner with Chris and Jimmy Kimmel which made her even more likable as she made jokes along with the comedian.
  • Kaitlyn is kind of wild. She’s a dance instructor so upon meeting Chris had no problem showing him some dance moves that he performed awkwardly on television. On a getaway date with other girls she took off her swimsuit bottoms and jumped into the water to which Britt later on scolded Chris for condoning that kind of behavior.
  • She wasn’t happy about her elimination in Bali as one of the last three girls. Kaitlyn has been a positive contestant all along, but in her breakup scene with Chris, she showed a lot of vulnerability which I think audiences kind of liked seeing and felt like they could relate to. She mentioned how she had had her guard up all season long and felt like she really put herself out there so her elimination was just downright humiliating – something most contestants leaving don’t admit to. It was refreshing to see her tell it like it is.

I’m interested in seeing how Kaitlyn takes on the role of The Bachelorette and am curious to see if she’ll show both sides to her of being the funny and quirky girl while also being serious enough to put herself out there to the guys and wanting to find love.

Readers, who will you be rooting for tomorrow during the premiere?!