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Tag: Grandpa John

Rachel and Gabby both taste rejection on ‘The Bachelorette’

Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia on the monster group date with Hayden, Johnny, Jordan and Mario. PHOTO CREDIT: All photos but screen grabs Craig Sjodin/ABC

The purpose of this two-“Bachelorette” season has been made abundantly clear, if it wasn’t already. It’s not about Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia finding love — although that could still happen — it’s about making them relive the kind of rejection they felt on Clayton Echard’s “Bachelor” season.

Thus, on a Frankenstein’s monster of an episode, we had Gabby being told point blank by several of the men that they preferred Rachel and Rachel having her roses rejected by several more at the rose ceremony.

And if that wasn’t humiliating enough, host Jesse Palmer then took those roses away so that Rachel couldn’t give them to anyone else. Funny how that suddenly became a rule on a season that supposedly had no rules.

When Monday’s episode ended, Gabby had nine suitors left and Rachel eight, along with two bruised egos — although it looks like James, a.k.a. Meatball, will get a second chance with Rachel and even out the numbers again.

The two stars aren’t the only ones enduring a so-called roller-coaster ride. I mean what the hell was that Monday?

The episode started with Rachel having a perfectly sweet one-on-one with tech exec Zach, then veered into train wreck territory with Gabby paying a surprise visit to the mansion and having the men ignore her to play football.

Gabby’s Grandpa John perked up the mood by accompanying her on her one-on-one with Erich — which was odd, but OK, fine — then Gabby had a meltdown during dinner but seemed to recover her equilibrium at the group date, only to crash again when three men told her she wasn’t their type.

Rachel and Gabby wanted to control their journey, as if producers would let that happen.

So Gabby and Rachel tried to take back control of their “journey” by dividing up the men at the rose ceremony and we know how well that turned out for Rachel.

Earlier in the episode, Rachel seemed like the belle of the ball.

She and Zach got to play dress-up with Karamo Brown from “Queer Eye” on an “old Hollywood” date that he allegedly planned.

Zach Shallcross and Rachel Recchia, ready for their close-ups.

Karamo sent them off to an “exclusive movie premiere” at the gorgeous El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard where they walked a teeny red carpet with faux paparazzi, only to discover that the movie, “Me & You,” was actually a collection of photos and videos from their childhoods and inspirational messages from their moms, all tastefully scored by piano player Matt White.

The walk down memory lane produced the requisite amount of tears on both Rachel’s and Zach’s parts, and they bonded over the fact they both spent time with their dads in airport parking lots watching planes take off and land.

So it only took two one-on-ones for Rachel to achieve liftoff — no hard feelings Jordan V. And Tino, watch your back: there’s a new frontrunner in town.

While Rachel was playing starlet, Gabby went to the mansion, in theory to see which men would make the effort to get to know her better. None, nada, zilch, that’s how many made the effort.

The dudes were more interested in tossing a football and complimenting each other’s shirts than chatting up Gabby. That went over about as well as you think it would for someone with abandonment issues because her mother withheld love when she was growing up.

“I don’t want to play anymore,” Gabby said as the ball was tossed back and forth, and she could have been talking about the show as well as the game.

But chin up, the next day she had a date with real estate analyst Erich and Grandpa John came along, supposedly so Gabby could see how Erich interacted with her family, but it’s way too early for that. This was just a sop to Bachelor Nation since Grandpa John is so beloved.

First stop was one of those woo woo activities the franchise likes to use from time to time: a sound ceremony to release negative energies. And it might have had meaning for Gabby, but I don’t blame Grandpa John for falling asleep.

Grandpa John, Julie, Gabby and Erich enjoy a beer ceremony.

Everybody stayed awake for the next activity — bowling — at which Gabby recruited a plant, er, lady named Julie to be a date for Grandpa.

So far so good: Erich was chill about having Grandpa along, Erich and Gabby got in a little smooching time and they got to be alone on the evening portion of the date.

But the wheels came off after Erich talked about his “soul-mate” parents, which prompted Gabby to talk about her estranged mother.

“I’ll maybe never know what it’s like to have a mother’s love,” Gabby said tearfully and Erich . . . just looked at her, not even a pat on the shoulder, for crying out loud. Maybe that’s just the way it was edited, but with that reaction it’s no wonder Gabby left him alone at the table to go cry on producers’ shoulders.

“Am I too broken for anyone to love?” she lamented.

No sweetie, you’re not, but this nasty franchise is going to make sure you keep feeling that way.

For a moment, it looked like Erich might go the way of Jordan V — just imagine how freaked out the other men would have been to see another dude not survive a one-on-one — but Gabby returned to the table, apologetic for not being a “polished” Bachelorette.

Erich made the right noises about Gabby’s experiences making her a “really unique person” and being “open and honest,” and really liking Gabby and wanting to “see where this goes.”

Where it went for the moment was a rose for Erich and lots of smooching.

“I’m the imperfect Bachelorette. I think in some people’s eyes it will mean perfect,” Gabby said.

A useful thought to take into the next day’s mob scene, the largest group date in Bachelorette history at 19 men. I didn’t count them, but one of the guys said there were 19 of them, so I’m going with it and don’t expect me to name names.

Gabby, Rachel and Franco Lacosta with a big-ass group of men.

And guess who was there? Alleged “Bachelor legend” Franco Lacosta to do a photo shoot.

Given that Gabby and Rachel made their entrances in wedding gowns, you might have thought it was going to be one of those faux wedding shoots with the men in tuxes and suits. But no, they were mostly given ridiculous costumes to wear: plaid shirts and Daisy Dukes for a car wash tableau; a diaper for Meatball, who was, ahem, birthed by Aven; a fig leaf/black box for Jacob for an Adam and Eve shoot with Gabby.

“I’ve seen Jacob’s situation multiple times today and excuse me, because I just can’t help looking,” Rachel said.

It was all ridiculous, the only interaction of note coming when Nate, in a suit thankfully, faux proposed to Gabby.

Nate poses with Gabby, Quincey and Kirk but got a more interesting solo shoot with Gabby.

“Your smile melts my heart, it really does. Whenever you enter a room the world melts away,” he said. “The second I laid eyes on you I felt like I was meeting my best friend and forever could never be long enough to realize how beautiful you are inside and out.”

Followed by a smooch chaser, it sounded like a rehearsal for the real thing, which would have been a good thought for Gabby to hold onto as the after-party commenced at SoFi Stadium.

Now, obviously, this was heavily edited. We saw Rachel kissing Aven, Jordan H and Tino, followed by Tyler, Hayden and Jacob telling Gabby they weren’t interested in her. Hayden damned Gabby with faint praise for her “bubbly” and “goofy aspect,” adding that she was rough around the edges.

And then Jacob cheerfully told Gabby she was “smokin’,” but “if you were the only person here I don’t think I could have the heart to continue.”

Ouch!

Show me a woman who wouldn’t have her insecurities stirred up after hearing something like that.

Rachel cheerfully gave her group date rose to Aven; Gabby didn’t give hers to anyone, saying, “Tonight has kind of been hard for me in a way.”

I find it really difficult to believe Gabby didn’t have positive interactions with somebody at that after-party with 19 men swirling around and, even if she didn’t, surely she could have given the rose to Nate for his lovely words from the photo shoot. But OK, let’s pretend this was all her idea.

After Gabby commiserated with Rachel about her lousy experience, the two of them decided that something had to change.

Cue the cancellation of the cocktail party! Jesse told the fellows they’d be moving directly to the rose ceremony and would have to choose which Bachelorette they wanted to date. No more sitting on the fence, Meatball!

“This will be the craziest night in Bachelor Nation history,” Quincey said.

Now, let’s be honest, if the franchise really had Gabby’s and Rachel’s best interests at heart they could have separated the rose ceremonies, with the women going one after the other. That might have eased the humiliation of rejection somewhat.

Gabby and Rachel face the men for the separate but together rose ceremony.

Instead, there were two tables with eight roses apiece, and Rachel and Gabby took turns handing them out.

The pre-ceremony narrative was that Gabby might face rejection because of what happened at the group date after-party. But Nate, Johnny, Spencer, Jason, Mario, Kirk, Quincey and Michael all took her roses.

Rachel gave hers to Tino and Logan and then Termayne balked, saying he had a deeper connection with Gabby and um, really? Can’t even remember seeing them together.

That’s when Jesse walked in to “clarify,” saying Termayne could get back in line but Rachel had forfeited that rose. Yep, the women are taking control of their journey all right.

Alec also said no thanks to Rachel. Thankfully, Tyler, Ethan and Jordan H said yes, but Meatball declined, saying, “I’m here for Gabby.”

Rachel and Gabby took a (producer-mandated) break to kvetch before giving out their final roses. “This was supposed to be us taking the power back. We literally handed it right back to all of them by doing this,” Rachel whispered.

Dealer, i.e. the franchise, always wins, ladies, dealer always wins.

Hayden said yes to Rachel’s final rose then the women repaired to separate rooms for champagne toasts with their groups of guys.

The footage over the credits showed Meatball, who had been booted along with Jacob and Rachel’s other no-men, Alec and Termayne, asking Rachel for another chance because, gee, he did want to get to know her after all. Rachel might not want him back, but the producers surely will to even up the numbers.

Next week the gang goes to Paris as “two separate groups on two separate journeys.” Logan is having second thoughts about throwing in his lot with Rachel — no surprise there — and Rachel gets information about “disturbing” things being said.

You can watch Monday at 8 p.m. on Citytv. And you can comment here, catch me on Twitter or chat on my Facebook page.

Clayton’s hometowns are a walk in the park on The Bachelor

From left, GabbyWindey, Serene Russell, Rachel Recchia and Susie Evans await the verdict
on the hometowns episode of “The Bachelor,” PHOTO CREDIT: Craig Sjodin/ABC

Clayton Echard was threatened with the prospect of several fearsome creatures on the hometowns episode of “The Bachelor,” including alligators and bears, but only one turned up — Rachel’s dad — and he wasn’t that scary.

Well, him and the giant, hairy spider that crashed Rachel’s date. I might have nightmares about that thing.

The scariest part of Monday’s episode was that Clayton now has a final three and is about to tell all of them that he loves them.

I suppose this is the stage of the season where we’re supposed to get warm fuzzies as we see Clayton drawing closer to the woman he’s going to end up with. But how are we supposed to figure that out given that he spent the season kissing everybody and his date dialogue sounded like it came out of a “Bachelor” manual?

I couldn’t even tell who was going home Monday.

My best guess going into the episode was Gabby. Susie and Serene had both had double one-on-one dates and Clayton was too hot for Rachel to give her up, but nope, it was Serene who got the brush-off.

If I was emotionally invested in the season, I might be upset about that. But it was like, meh, good for you for not getting chosen. If you don’t get picked for “Bachelorette,” see you on “Bachelor in Paradise.”

Not even Serene cried about Serene getting sent home.

But let’s focus on the positives.

In general, the four hometown women had pretty awesome families. And they kicked Clayton’s butt on their dates. No “let’s tour my high school” or “let’s walk around the twee downtown” dates. Things got physical. Serene’s date actually scared the hell out of him, which is fair play considering what was to come.

Susie gets ready to kick Clayton’s butt at jujitsu, but first he has to learn how to tie his “gi.”

Susie was up first in Poquoson, Virginia, and she took Clayton for jujitsu lessons. Heck, she even got to choke him with her legs.

One of the moves he learned was called “shrimping.” “We just can’t get away from shrimp,” said Clayton, harking back to Shanae and Shrimpgate. “Yeah, I’ve had shrimp follow me this entire journey.”

And whose fault is that?

But I digress, back to Susie’s date. It was especially important to her that Clayton meet her dad Tom. She told Clayton on their first one-on-one about her father being seriously ill the year before and now she told him how much it had scared her that her dad might not be around to walk her down the aisle.

But Tom assured Susie he was getting better every day and they had an emotional father-daughter talk. She told him he was the “golden standard of what I expect in a partner.”

To Clayton, Tom was gracious, telling him how special Susie was and “If Susie loves you we’ll love you.” It’s nice to know she’s in good hands if Clayton dumps her, especially since Clayton told her mom Jean he didn’t yet love Susie, although “I will get there.”

Next up was Gabby in Denver, Colorado.

She and Clayton went hiking and he had fun showing her how he’d scare off a bear if they encountered one, although I wouldn’t recommend picking the bear up and kissing it.

Conveniently, they hiked to a spot with a sign that said “Proposal Rock” and I don’t for one minute believe that’s a real thing. It was as much of a prop as the hot tub that Gabby and Clayton climbed into for bubbly and smooching.

When it came time for the main event, Gabby was fretting about her father not being there. Since his girlfriend had been diagnosed with cancer and we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, her dad couldn’t come. But Grandpa John was there and he belongs in the Hometown Hall of Fame.

Grandpa John, possibly the sweetest family member ever, with granddaughter Gabby.

Let me list the reasons why Bachelor Nation has fallen in love with him. He laughed his ass off when Clayton told the fam about Gabby’s Night 1 joke about wanting to sit on Clayton’s face, on a pillow. He called Gabby Gabriela and said she was a “lovable dingbat.” He told Clayton, “So far, I like what I see. Of course it’s early, so I may change my mind about you.” He told Gabby that marriage is for life and if hers and Clayton’s wasn’t, “I’ll be really pissed. I’ll come back and haunt you.” He still wears his wedding ring even though his wife died. “I’m proud of having been married to the same woman that long, so that’s why I’m wearing it,” he said.

Look, I really like Serene, but being able to see Grandpa John again might tip the balance for Gabby in the next Bachelorette sweepstakes.

The pandemic enables “The Bachelor” to have its “Love Actually” moment.

Just when you thought Gabby’s family couldn’t be more adorable, her dad drove up and, “Love Actually”-style, held up signs telling Gabby she was “the most beautiful, intelligent, loving and caring daughter,” and if you weren’t crying before you sure as hell were now.

Seeing her dad emboldened Gabby to tell Clayton she was falling in love with him. “I’m so happy now,” Clayton said.

Next stop was Serene in Oklahoma City and she wasn’t messing. She made Clayton climb 80 feet up the Riversport Adventures Sky Trail structure and cross rope bridges before plunging to the ground, all harnessed of course.

Clayton hangs on for dear life as he crosses one of the Riversport Adventures rope bridges.

Clayton was terrified, particularly of one of the rope bridges that had octagonal discs spaced about a foot apart. It was entertaining when, after he barely made it across, groaning with fear, Serene basically skipped across it, laughing most of the way.

Serene hadn’t taken anyone home to meet her family for about 10 years, mostly because her parents divorced when she was 2 and she didn’t know what a marriage looked like, she told Clayton.

Once they got to her mom’s place, her big brother Roland was looking out for her and, let me tell you, Roland has good instincts. He was also good-looking as hell, which kicked off a Twitter campaign to make him the next Bachelor.

Serene’s brother Roland had Bachelor Nation feeling wistful.

The most attractive thing about Roland was his common sense. He asked Clayton if he loved Serene and got the same answer about Clayton not being there yet. Then Roland, tears in his eyes, told Serene how scared he was seeing her so into Clayton. “I’m not saying I don’t trust your judgement, I do, but be careful. Make sure you’re thinking everything through.”

The problem with these hometown scenarios, just like every season, is there’s no way for these women to protect themselves.

The stupid formula dictates that the Bachelor meet four families and dangle the possibility of marrying their daughters. It’s like a lottery, albeit with better odds, since three of the four are guaranteed to get hurt. And it’s a shame to see all these nice, open-hearted families taken along for the ride.

Serene was so stoked after the family visit, her brother’s warning notwithstanding, that she told Clayton she was in love with him.

Oh well, I hope she broke that stupid jar full of “firefly” lights after he dumped her.

Last, but clearly not least, was Rachel’s hometown visit in Clermont, Florida. She took Clayton kayaking in a clear-bottom boat in a spot called King’s Landing, which made me think of “Game of Thrones.”

There were no dragons, though, nor were there any alligators despite the producers’ attempts to make us think Rachel and Clayton were in danger by splicing in footage of a ‘gator that was obviously nowhere near their kayak.

They passed a hideous-looking spider that Clayton said “could have taken out Godzilla,” but the biggest danger they were in was from chapped lips since, as usual, they couldn’t stop smooching.

Clayton and Rachel after seeing a particularly menacing spider.

Conveniently, they passed a “Kissing Tree” — more props to the producers for their sign-making skills — and took full advantage. I’m pretty sure if there were any alligators around they wouldn’t have been lying in the water snogging.

Rachel was stressed about taking Clayton to meet her dad Tony, whose facial expressions when they walked in the house alternated between a scowl and a scowl.

Tony, upholding his tough guy reputation, said he had offered to beat up Rachel’s last boyfriend. But when it came right down to it, he was just a dad trying to do right by his daughter.

Tony wanted to know what Clayton would do if Rachel’s dream of being a pilot took her to Europe. Clayton said he’d happily move there.

Clayton was candid about the fact somebody was going to get hurt — three somebodies in fact — but said he had no intention of hurting Rachel.

“I know I see a future with her. I’ve dreamt of getting down on one knee proposing to her,” Clayton said.

The tough guy veneer evaporated when Tony was with Rachel. “If he’s what you want I’m all for it,” he told Rachel, tearing up and telling her he loved her and was proud of her.

When Clayton and Rachel left, Tony shook his hand and tapped him on the arm, the prearranged signal that Clayton had his blessing.

Rachel told Clayton she was falling even harder for him, but the dastardly producers tried to make us think he was going to get rid of her by overlaying the footage of them saying goodbye with Clayton droning on about how he had to “break three hearts to make one happy.”

We already know whose heart took the hit and, yes, I am a little perplexed. I did think Clayton was into Serene.

Serene must have been perplexed too. When she sat down with Clayton for her exit interview, as it were, he couldn’t give her a reason.

He had told host Jesse Palmer he was falling in love with all four women “in a different capacity,” but there was none of that said to Serene. Clayton was so unemotional about the whole thing it was hard to believe he had felt much of anything for her.

He said simply that he “had to look back and reflect, and say where do I stand with my heart. And I just have stronger connections.”

Next week is a twofer: first up, the fantasy suites episode, in which Clayton tells Rachel, Susie and Gabby he’s in love with them, and then “Women Tell All,” which naturally will be dominated by Shanae, just like the first half of the season.

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

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