Realityeo.com

Because I love television. How about you?

Tag: Bachelor premiere

Bachelor Clayton starts his ‘journey’ with two rejections

January 4, 2022 /
Clayton Echard started his “journey” as “The Bachelor” on Monday night.
PHOTO CREDIT: All photos except screen grabs John Fleenor/ABC

It’s been confirmed: there is at least one person who isn’t a member of the production team who wanted Clayton Echard to be the Bachelor.

Luckily for Clayton, it’s the woman who got his first impression rose and also his first kiss on Monday’s season premiere.

Teddi, a surgical unit nurse from California, told Clayton she picked him out as her ideal Bachelor from photos of Michelle Young’s “guys” because, as she told her sister at the time, “I think he’s really cute and he has such a kind smile.”

So Teddi got her wish. The rest of us? Well . . .

If you were hoping we’d learn something in the season opener that would justify why Clayton, 28, was chosen before Michelle’s season had even aired, you likely came away disappointed.

Clayton’s own explanation for why he’s the man is “because I truthfully believe in this process I think more than anybody else” — which is a pretty nifty trick after appearing on one season of “The Bachelorette” in which he was basically wallpaper.

Also, you know, he cried when he got those (possibly fake) letters from Michelle’s students after their one-on-one date. The producers weren’t going to let us forget that.

On Monday we found out that, um, Clayton’s tall, he has dimples, he used to play football, he’s “a Midwest guy who doesn’t really like the spotlight” from Eureka, Missouri. And he really, really wants to get married and have kids, so much so he tried to give his first impression rose to an emotionally unavailable woman who was still traumatized about her ex-fiance.

Like, what the hell was that?

Salley Carson, whose job description is “previously enagaged,” visits Clayton in his room.

Could the producers really be Machiavellian enough to cast a woman who was engaged to be married a month before filming began, just so she could break up with Clayton before the season had even started, stoking his fear of rejection?

Honestly, I wouldn’t put anything past them at this point.

It turns out Salley from Virginia was supposed to have been getting married the weekend she was in L.A. filming, so she wanted to go home and be with her family instead of, you know, competing with 29 other women for the attention of some dude she’d never met. “Ever since I’ve been here I’ve been an emotional wreck,” she said.

But first she decided to tell Clayton what was going on, and Clayton decided there was chemistry between them and offered her a rose.

After a tearful conversation with somebody back home, Salley rejected the rose, telling Clayton she liked him, but “my heart is just not ready.”

It all felt so manipulative, from the fact Salley was there in the first place to her showing up at Clayton’s room — why the hell would she need to tell him she was leaving if he hadn’t met her yet? — to her getting to keep her cellphone to Clayton’s bright idea to give her a rose.

Salley wasn’t the only woman who rejected Clayton on Night 1.

Clayton and Claire as their “tailgate party” was interrupted.

Claire, a spray tanner from Virginia Beach, started loudly proclaiming that Clayton wasn’t the guy for her after their one-on-one time turned into a “catastrophe,” in her words.

I don’t know what happened. Initially, the football fanatic was “super excited” about spending time with Clayton at the tailgate party the producers had set up for her. Was she mad that Mara interrupted? Was it the fact that Claire beat Clayton at cornhole? Did he not show enough appreciation for the chicken wings with ranch sauce she loves so much she put them in her “bachelorette biography”?

Claire said Clayton was “100 per cent too nice for me.”

“I dont need ‘Hi, I love America and I am a sweetheart,'” she complained.

And then it struck me: Claire is all of us.

After schoolteacher Serene tattled to Clayton that Claire was telling people she hated him, Clayton confronted Claire before walking her out. No, she didn’t hate him, she said, “I feel like we just haven’t, like, clicked.”

Exactly! Bachelor Nation doesn’t hate you, Clayton, but we clicked a lot more with Rodney, Olu, Brandon and even Rick.

When Clayton stepped back into the mansion to explain why he’d ousted Claire, he invited other women to leave too if they weren’t that into him.

“Oh hush, we’re not going anywhere,” said Cassidy, an executive assistant from L.A. who was one of several women Clayton kissed on Night 1.

Clayton bestows the first impression rose (or maybe the second?) on Teddi Wright.

His first makeout sesh (or at least the first one we saw) was with Teddi, who revealed in her intro package that she’s a virgin. So if she turns out to be one of the two or three women that Clayton confesses to having sex with, hoo boy!

Clayton said, not once but twice, that Teddi made him “feel some type of way” — the type of way that makes you hand over a rose, I guess. Bonus points for the fact that Teddi hadn’t just broken off an engagement.

Clayton also locked lips with doctor Kira, who showed up in lingerie and a lab coat and told Clayton she was going to give him a full body physical; Eliza, a marketing manager who spent her childhood in Berlin and asked Clayton in German if she could kiss him; Cassidy, who made her entrance in a miniature car, which was then run over by pickup truck-driving hell raiser Shanae; and Rachel, a flight instructor whose shtick was to have a 63-year-old retiree named Holly get out of the limo first and then introduce her. (Listen, as a fellow 60-something, let me just say Holly really pulled off that dress.)

And while we’re talking about wacky entrances, human resources specialist Hunter brought a snake; real estate agent Kate invited Clayton to hold one of her “nips,” as in a mini bottle of booze; architectural historian Jill brought an urn that she said contained the “ashes of my ex-boyfriends”; Jane, a self-proclaimed cougar at 33 (!), drove up in a vintage convertible; ICU nurse Gabby brought a pillow with Clayton’s face on it because, you know, she wanted to sit on Clayton’s face; real estate adviser Elizabeth brought a whip, which she used on Clayton’s butt; and Samantha showed up in a bikini and a bubble bath, prompting Rachel to say, “Mom, can you pick me up from the Bachelor mansion? I’m scared.”

With the one notable exception we’ve already discussed, the women seemed to eat up Clayton’s aw shucks, “I’m just a guy from a small town,” I can’t believe I’m the Bachelor demeanour. He even spilled his drink while making his toast to potentially falling in love, etc. etc.

Clayton also had a cheerleader in newbie host (and doppelgänger) Jesse Palmer, although it’s worth noting that while they’re both football players, Jesse is a Canadian, born in my hometown of Toronto. “I got your back buddy. You are not doing this alone,” Jesse told Clayton.

As daylight peeked through the mansion windows, Clayton finally handed out 21 roses and I’m not going to list all the names because we won’t remember most of them.

Tessa, another human resources specialist and one of the women of colour in the group, toasted to “the most supportive and beautiful group of women I’ve met in my whole life,” while Cassidy shouted out “everyone’s support and kindness” and looked forward to “getting to be friends.”

You could almost hear the chuckles of glee from the editing room since the next thing we saw was a montage of crying and/or arguing women, along with Shanae getting in someone’s face, grabbing and throwing away a trophy (it’s not quite a flight jacket in the pool, but beggars can’t be choosers).

Since drama increases in inverse proportion to the boringness of the Bachelor, I will paraphrase the great Bette Davis in “All About Eve”: fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

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

Matt James starts his Bachelor season on a buzz and a prayer

January 5, 2021 /
Matt James and some of the 32 women he met on Night 1 of “The Bachelor.”
PHOTO CREDIT, ALL PHOTOS: Craig Sjodin/ABC

How many TV shows can boast a prayer and a vibrator in the same episode? I’m going to go out on a limb and say, up until Monday night, none. But it was an evening of firsts as “The Bachelor” kicked off its 25th season.

First, and most importantly, Matt James is the first Black Bachelor in franchise history, a development that fans have been agitating for for years. Host Chris Harrison emphasized Matt’s newness to the franchise, since he’s never been a “Bachelorette” or “Bachelor in Paradise” contestant (although he delivers his speeches about potentially meeting his future wife like an old pro). Harrison noted that there were a record number of applications from women who wanted to date Matt. He’s a 28-year-old former pro football player and real estate broker living in New York City who runs a charity that provides experiences to inner city kids, many of them homeless. (Personally I’m impressed that he told his limo driver, “I appreciate you.”)

And then we have the show’s first ever deaf contestant in Abigail Heringer, who earned the first impression rose and the first kiss. It’s also the first time a Bachelor has kicked off the festivities with a prayer.

And, more ignominiously, it’s the first time to my memory a contestant has used a sex toy as a Night 1 prop and we’re talking a full on, light up vibrator. For TV purposes, most of the thing was covered with a black bar, although you can see it in all its glory in the photo below. Katie, who’s a bank marketing manager, was waving that sucker around like a lightsaber, as Matt pointed out.

Perhaps we had fair warning in her “Bachelor” bio, which says she’s looking for a man to create “the right vibe.”

Katie brought a, er, toy to help her through the dark times on “The Bachelor.”

That was definitely the kookiest entrance of the night, although Kaili’s debut was a close second. The hostess strolled over to Matt in a bra and panties with just a short, open robe for cover, and asked him to help her choose between two dresses hanging from the rack she was pulling. Give her points for cheek, in more ways than one. And Illeana, who’s a health food developer, asked Matt if she could put her balls in his mouth, as in meatballs, presumably healthy ones.

Kaili asked Matt for some help choosing what to wear.

There were several vehicular entrances. Fashion entrepreneur Kit drove up in a Bentley; hairstylist MJ arrived in a pizza delivery car and gifted Matt with a pie; health care advocate Khaylah commanded Matt’s attention by driving a pickup truck — with a stick shift — as a reminder of North Carolina, where they’re both from.

“Queen Victoria” told Matt she’s looking for a king with a good heart. Aren’t we all?

And then there was Victoria, whose occupation is listed as queen — Queen Victoria, get it? She showed up on a litter carried by four masked men, with a tiara on her head and a crown in her hands, which she bestowed on “King Matt.”

“I know I’m so confident and I’m so fun, and I know I made a good impression,” she said.

I would add so annoying to the list. The looks on some of the women’s faces said it all when Victoria waltzed in holding up her sceptre and declaring, “The queen has arrived, bitches.”

“You can be the queen of your little thing but, like, no. I’m the president, king, CEO,” groused Kit.

Later, Victoria asserted her royal privilege by double-dipping on time with Matt and, naturally, Kit was the woman she interrupted. Might as well get the animosity established early.

Victoria got a rose at the end of the night, of course. It’s Bachelor 101: keep the annoying ones around, especially when they’ve already started pissing other contestants off.

Luckily there were some roses, pun intended, to be found among the thorns.

Matt meets Abigail, the franchise’s first deaf contestant.

Abigail seems like a sweetheart. Matt was very taken by both her looks and their conversation. Abigail talked about how close she is to her family, particularly her sister, who’s also deaf. And Matt, who was besotted with Abigail’s eyes, leaned in for a smooch and then excused himself to go collect the first impression rose.

Bri and Matt had lots in common, including being biracial and raised by single moms.

Up until that point, I thought the rose might go to Bri, who’s a communications manager with things in common with Matt. They’re both biracial: she has a Persian mother who passes for white and a Black father, while Matt has a Black dad and a white mom. And they were both raised by their single moms after their fathers split.

Viewers met Matt’s mom at the start of the episode and it’s clear that they’re close, although it’s also clear that being from a broken home is part of the reason that Matt has failed to commit up to this point — or at least that’s the narrative for the season.

Matt also had a frank chat with Harrison about the pressures of growing up biracial and of being the first Black Bachelor.

“You’ve got people who are cheering for you to find love and then you’ve got people who are cheering for you to end up with a specific person of a specific race,” Matt told Harrison. “That’s something that kept me up at night. It’s like I don’t want to piss off Black people; I don’t want to piss off white people, but I’m both of those, you know what I mean? How do I please everybody?”

“That’s a lot to carry,” Harrison responded. “The most important thing is if you come out of this with joy, peace, love and you have this amazing woman who shares those things.”

Sarah was one of the women who stood out on Night 1.

With contestants like Abigail and Bri, Matt seemed to be off to a decent start. There were also sparks with Sarah, a broadcast journalist who sidelined her career to be a caregiver to her father, who has ALS; and Rachael, a graphic designer who impressed Matt by talking about her fear of being vulnerable. And he seemed taken with Khaylah and Chelsea, a drop-dead-gorgeous runway model, too.

They all got roses at the end of the all-night cocktail party as Matt whittled the group of 32 down to 24, which is still a lot.

To be honest, I really enjoyed the luxury of having a smaller group when Tayshia Adams took over partway into the “Bachelorette” season with just 20 guys, but I know such streamlining is not the normal Bachelor way.

So what’s ahead for Matt? The usual: lots of making out, lots of crying. Apparently some additional contestants show up, among them Heather Martin, the woman from Colton Underwood’s “Bachelor” season who claimed she’d never been kissed.

I’ll be recapping every smooch and sniffle right here.

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

© 2024 Realityeo.com

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑