On ‘The Bachelor,’ the ‘Mean Girls’ drive a frontrunner away

There was some real ugliness on Monday’s episode of “The Bachelor.” The shock is that it didn’t all come from “Queen Victoria.”

In fact, the season’s reigning villain was sidelined for much of the episode while the wrath of the house fell on an unlikely target: front-runner Sarah Trott.

Sarah’s sin was to interrupt a group date that she wasn’t on to talk to Bachelor Matt James, resulting in some of the women on the date not getting time with him. And then Sarah stayed in her room the next day rather than speak to the women she pissed off. So by the time she finally did come down to apologize to them it was like sticking her head in a hive full of angry bees. It was made clear that life with the other women was going to be, in Kit’s words, “horrible” from then on.

The next morning, Sarah decided to go home.

I have sympathy for Sarah, I really do. First off, Matt and the audience knew what the rest of the women didn’t: that her father was seriously ill, which had to be stressing her out for the three weeks she was at the Nemacolin resort (although one does wonder why, if her father was so sick he could have been weeks away from death, as she told Katie, she would have come in the first place).

Secondly, I can’t imagine what it would be like to really be into someone and not only know that they were dating other people, but have to watch them go on dates with those people. Yes, it’s how “The Bachelor” works, but knowing it and living it are two different things. Not everyone is cut out for it.

Thirdly, how much of a role did production play in Sarah interrupting the date to talk to Matt? Sure, it’s possible that she independently decided she absolutely had to see Matt right there and then. But I have a hard time believing she didn’t get a nudge from production.

The episode began as it ended, with Sarah drama.

You’ll recall that last week we saw her collapse in some sort of fainting spell partway through the rose ceremony. She was fine once she went outside to get some air — with Matt by her side, which had the other women grumbling.

The rose ceremony continued. Victoria got the final rose. Marylynn, whom Victoria had told Matt was toxic, got sent home. Does that suck? Absolutely. My theory is that if if Marylynn had given as good as she got — if she’d argued with Victoria instead of trying to have a calm, adult conversation with her — they both would have been kept around for the drama.

With Marylynn dispatched, Victoria set her venomous sights on Sarah, declaring that the fainting spell seemed fake and Sarah was worse than Marylynn. Hold that thought.

Next up there was a group date that served two time-honoured “Bachelor” traditions: making the group do something embarrassing and bringing back a “Bachelor” alum. In this case, Ashley I. was on a stage reading an erotic passage from host Chris Harrison’s novel “The Perfect Letter” (what’s up with that? has he been listening outside the fantasy suite doors?) as Matt and 10 of the women walked in.

And — surprise — they all had to write their own sexy stories about Matt and read them in front of a live audience, i.e. the other contestants. Most of the prose was more suggestive than salacious, except for Katie’s and Victoria’s, which was filled with words that had to be bleeped out. But Victoria’s seemed to make everybody laugh really hard — except for Sarah.

Sarah said hearing the other women read their stories was “like a knife went through my heart.” She also said that seeing Matt with other people was “triggering” issues from her past involving faithfulness, commitment and jealousy.

Next thing you know Sarah was interrupting Katie’s conversation with Matt so she could tell him how hard she was finding the “process.”

Katie, who is nothing if not forthright, came back to claim her time with Matt, but Sarah said she needed five more minutes. When Katie came back a second time and refused to leave the room, Matt walked Sarah out of the room so he could continue reassuring her — and kissing her — in private.

Sarah then tried apologizing to the women on the group date, but they weren’t having it. Sarah left in tears; everybody else was mad, except for maybe Rachael, who got the date rose.

Would things have blown over if Sarah had come downstairs the next morning and apologized again? I don’t know. But Sarah staying in her room and Matt going upstairs to find her when he was supposed to be taking Serena P. out on a date just made everything worse.

Sarah told Matt she’d been ready to leave the night before; he told her he had “real feelings” for her and convinced her to stay. And oh yeah, not to worry about what the other girls think, which is easy for him to say.

Then we got a respite from “The Sarah Show,” as Victoria called it, while Matt and Serena Pitt, a publicist from Toronto, went horseback riding. They had a picnic and bonded over the idea of not living life the way other people want you to , and then their smooching session was interrupted by adorable donkeys.

Did Serena get a rose? You bet. She didn’t even have to make any harrowing confessions at dinner. She just talked about her one serious boyfriend and told Matt she could see herself potentially falling in love with him. And then they fell into a hot tub for Champagne and kisses.

Back at the part of the resort where the other women were hanging out, Sarah finally made an appearance just as the second group date card arrived. She apologized both for interrupting the first group date and for not coming down to “clear the air,” but it was a very, very tough crowd.

Serena C. accused Sarah of not taking anyone else’s feelings into account; Victoria said Sarah was treating her time as more important than anyone else’s; and Anna said Sarah’s actions felt calculated.

“Manipulative, toxic,” added Serena.

“I concur. You’re all three of those things, Sarah,” said Victoria.

“Why would you think that we want to make amends with you?” she added. “I do not accept your apology even if you say it 20 more times.”

Kit delivered the coup de grace: “I hope your connection with Matt is very strong right now because the rest of your living situation here is going to be horrible.”

“Yeah,” agreed Victoria, smiling and laughing.

(Just as a reminder of how classy Victoria is, she said if Matt sent Sarah home she’d want to fuck him, because it would be so “hot.”)

Is this the same group of women who said last week they could feel happy for another woman who was going on a date with Matt even if they wanted to be on the date themselves? What happened to that generosity of spirit?

Thank goodness for Katie, who went to see Sarah the next morning to tell her she’d been uncomfortable with the gang-up of the night before.

At first, Katie tried to talk Sarah into staying, saying that otherwise she and Matt would always wonder “what if.” Then Sarah confided about her dad having ALS.

“My dad passed away in 2012, so I 100 per cent encourage you to be with him,” Katie said, with tears running down her cheeks. “I missed out on my goodbyes with my dad so I would never want that for you.”

Sarah stopped to see Matt before she left and he tried once again to convince her to stay, but when she said that she’d prayed about it and she felt “called” to go home, it was clear it was a lost cause.

Sarah left in tears and Matt sadly watched her go.

It would be nice to think we could get back to focusing on some of the nice women who are left, like Abigail. But next week, the producers screw with everyone’s heads by sending in five more contestants, which probably means another week in which Victoria isn’t public enemy No. 1.

You can watch all the drama on Citytv next Monday at 8 p.m. And you can comment here, visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter @realityeo