Bachelor Blog: Iowa!

It's that magical week when we get 2 nights of The Bachelor instead of just one! Last night, was the first night and it began with a "Chris Tells All" special, which wasn't that exciting so I'm just going to pretty much bypass it. Basically crazy Kelsey came back to tell her side of things and as she was talking they played clips of her completely contradicting herself which was great, this lasted about 5 minutes then they moved on to Chris and that was pretty much just his reactions to the weirdest girls of the season so far. One thing to note is how Chris' face hardened when Chris Harrison mentioned Britt. Just thought it was interesting.

Because there was yet another week without a rose ceremony last week we had to begin this week with a wrap up from last week in Deadwood (more on my distaste for that later). Chris decided not to have a rose ceremony after talking with Megan and letting her go privately which was a relief to all the other girls who were then really excited to be heading to IOWA!

Okay, here's my obligatory Iowa/Des Moines plug! I think the show did a really good job of not making Iowa seem like all farmlands and spent the majority of their time in Des Moines, which is good because Des Moines is great! FYI for all you non-Iowan's out there, we have electricity and indoor plumbing and actual cities. I work in Des Moines and live just outside so first, I was pretty psyched to see a bunch of places that I see and go to all time on TV and second I can tell you that Des Moines is a pretty great city to live and work in. Okay, enough of that let's get on to the dates!

The Smallest Town Ever - Arlington

First up, Jade gets a one-on-one in Chris' hometown of Arlington! This is sort of a big deal. It's like a little day in the life of being Chris' wife. Jade is from a smaller town in Nebraska so you would think that 1) she would be used to the small town scene, and 2) Iowa would be freaking picturesque in comparison to Nebraska! However, Arlington was a bit of a shock for Jade, so small in fact that Jade felt overwhelmed by it. Chris took her around to their "main" street which had basically no open businesses and talked about how sad it was that all these businesses have closed and there are virtually no job opportunities in Arlington. You would think this would be a good time for Jade to start asking some questions about what their life would be like. Such as "Where would we go on dates?" "What would I do for work?" etc. but instead she just froze up and tried to be polite. 

During the evening Chris took Jade to the local football game and also toured his old high school. Jade met Chris' parents, which is another big deal since she's the only one to meet them so far! She loosened up quite a bit and started to feel more comfortable. She realized that she's falling in love with him and this is where there life would be if they end up together. Chris is pretty insecure about his hometown and Jade was really nice to him about it telling him he shouldn't be ashamed to live in a place he loves and that it is enough (seriously she's a sweet girl). It's clear that Jade is one of the front runners at this point being not only the first to get a second one-on-one but also the first to be invited to his hometown and to meet his parents. We'll see how he takes the whole Playboy bombshell tonight...

Brit's reaction to Arlington

"Where are all the People?"

The second one-on-one of the night went to Whitney, but during that same day the other girls (Carly, Britt, Kaitlyn and Becca) decided to take a little road trip to Arlington so they can get an idea of where Chris comes from. At first they were really excited for their road trip, a couple hours in though they were pretty bored of the Iowa landscape I think. Finally, they made it to Arlington which is about 2 and half to 3 hours away from Des Moines. The drove all that way only to realize that, according to Britt,  you can do a slow lap of the entire town in about a minute and a half. It's small. But they got out and tried to go in a few businesses which turned out to be closed. They found some locals and chatted them up about what people do in Arlington, to which the locals said "go somewhere else". Which means if they want to go out to eat or go shopping or really anything they have to drive almost an hour to get somewhere. It's pretty clear this isn't the kind of place Britt would be happy living, she told both Carly and Kaitlyn that there was "No way" she could live there, while Becca said she would want to pop out babies right away (gives her something to do I guess). Britt changed her tune when they got back and talked to Jade and again when she relayed the experience to Chris on the group date.

Whitney Takes Des Moines

Back to Whitney. Whitney and Chris had a great date checking out the sites in downtown Des Moines. They started at the Des Moines Social Club where they were inspired by a photography exhibit to go out and about capturing pictures of themselves and their love story. Prior to this date it seemed like they had shown shockingly little of Chris and Whitney, but it is clear from the small glimpses that we did get that their relationship is progressing and each time they are together Whitney really makes it a point to focus on their relationship and nothing else. She knows what she got herself in to with the show and she makes the most of the time she has and handles herself really well. 

At dinner at RoCA, Whitney got to meet three of Chris' best friends, they asked her a lot of good questions and she totally passed, not only with them but with Chris. It's obvious that Chris is taken with Whitney. He surprised her at the end of the night with a mural that was painted on the side of an exterior wall of one of the pictures of them that was taken during the day. (Pictured) And in that moment, Whitney fell in love with him. Which was very sweet. 

All About Britt

Finally, there was a group date for Britt, Carly and Kaitlyn (Becca didn't get a date this week, but she did just have a pretty great one-on-one last week so she's good). On this date, Chris took the girls to Wells Fargo Arena for some ice skating and hockey. During the date Britt took Chris aside to tell him about their excursion to Arlington and completely lied to his face telling him that she loved it and could picture her life with him there, which Carly anticipated and promptly felt sick about. Poor Carly is having a lot of "I'm gonna puke" moments in the last few weeks. Carly took Chris aside as well and explained to him that she was worried for him because she knows he really likes Britt but that he's not seeing the full picture and to be careful with her, which Chris appreciated.

On the evening part of the date, at West End Salvage (PS I love this place it's so cool), Chris decides to dig a little deeper and bring up Arlington with Britt again to see if he can get to the bottom of things. She basically fawns over the town again, and when he asks her what she thinks she would do there she says she wants to be a mom. Okay, we know this isn't true either because she doesn't even really want kids even though she told Chris she wants "like a million". This B is getting on my nerves.  Kaitlyn also gets some quality one-on-one time with Chris and expresses some insecurities about the amount of time they have had together, prompting Chris to give her the date rose. The ONLY date rose of the week, he knows he wants to go to her hometown and takes this time to validate their relationship. Well, Britt doesn't take not getting the rose too well and "works out her feelings" out loud in front of Chris, Carly and Kaitlyn. Which basically makes Kaitlyn feel like crap and makes Chris pretty angry for being put in that awkward position. 

"It was so much better of an explosion that I could have possibly expected," - Carly on Britt's temper tantrum (quote of the week)

So ends the episode (after the Carly and Kaitlyn relay to the other girls that Britt screwed the pooch). 

And we're left yet again with no rose ceremony. I am so annoyed by this. We had that one week with a to be continued and it screwed up the format for the rest of the season! Here's the thing, it wouldn't be such a big deal to wait, especially if they're trying a new "watch next time to see who stays and who goes" approach but that doesn't really work when their are pre-recorded promos for the following week. 

Going in to tonight, even without having seen a rose ceremony we already know that Becca, Kaitlyn and Jade get hometown dates. So, that kind of takes the suspense out of the rose ceremony that will happen at the beginning of tonight's episode. And guess what, that fourth spot is going to Whitney, obviously. Taking out the last little shred of mystery. Now all there is to see is how Britt's going to go out, and sadly Carly as well. 

PS - pretty sure I called this top 4, just saying. In spite of the formatting issues, I am really glad to see these girls go on to hometown dates but I'm very sad that Carly is likely going home because I think she and I could be best friends. She's hilarious and I'll miss all her amazing quotes!

Another episode is on tonight so you get a bonus Bachelor Blog from me tomorrow! Until then, happy viewing!