Tag: Black bachelor

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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