Bachelor Blog: Corrine vs. Taylor (Week 5)

This episode started with Corrine vs. Taylor and ended there as well, and we're not even done with them yet! But we'll get to that, first let's start where we left off last week. When last we left Corrine and Taylor they were sitting by the fire before the rose ceremony having it out. Taylor was trying to explain to Corrine what emotional intelligence was (and being rather condescending in the task) and Corrine was asking Taylor not to call her stupid. Basically, Corrine flipped everything on Taylor and wrote her own narrative. To Corrine, Taylor is a mean girl and a bully and she's going to use that to make Nick take her side. Corrine gets the chance to take her concerns to Nick before the rose ceremony and Taylor was pissed. In the end, they both got roses (as we knew they would because the promo for this week was all about their two-on-one) but Taylor couldn't even look happy to get the rose from Nick.

The girls who left at the rose ceremony were: Sarah and Astrid

Afterward, Nick revealed that they would all be headed to New Orleans for a week of dates! Chris Harrison filled the girls in that there would be a single one-on-one, a group date and the dreaded two-on-one (which we already knew was going to go to Corrine and Taylor).

Where have you been all my life?
Rachel

The one-on-one this week went to Rachel! Finally, after receiving the first impression rose and a group date rose, Rachel and Nick got to move their relationship forward with a one-on-one. Their date was really fun and made New Orleans seem like a fun place to visit. I've been several times and I've got to say generally, it's not my favorite, but all these dates this week made me want to go back (if only for beignets).

They went to a market and did some shopping (and made out), ate some oysters (and made out), tried beignets at Cafe du Monde (and made out), participated in a Second Line parade (and made out), listed and danced to live music (and made out), and finally went to Mardi Gras World for dinner. They did a lot of making out on this date. These guys have a lot of chemistry and it's obvious that Nick likes Rachel a lot. That much has been clear from the beginning. But with this date, he wanted to get to know her better so they can continue to advance their relationship, beyond just the chemistry.

Nick asked Rachel about her family and they talked about how both of them have parents who have been together a long time. I think this is something that must be important to Nick because a few of the girls have mentioned this to him, how it's so rare that they both come from families with parents who aren't divorced. I think the divorce rate is still only around half right? So it's really not that rare, is it? But still nice. Rachel's dad is a judge and apparently kind of scary so she prepped Nick for meeting him. Nick is already thinking about meeting Rachel's family and he "breaks the rules" by telling her that he's super into her. He wants her to feel confident in their relationship because he knows it's hard and he wants her to stick with it for the long haul. All very good signs for Rachel!

Till Death Do Us Part
Raven, Kristina, Danielle M., Danielle L., Whitney, Jaimi, Jasmine, Josephine, Alexis, Vanessa

For the group date, Nick took the ladies to one of the most haunted houses in Louisiana, Houmas House, where apparently the creepy ghost of a little girl resides. Of course, it has to be a little girl. There is nothing creepier. The story of this ghost goes that she died of yellow fever when she was eight and is searching for her baby doll. Also, if you touch certain things in the house she gets angry. The girls were split about half and half on whether they believed in ghosts or not, but pretty much everyone acknowledged that there was some weird energy in that place.

In all, it was a fun date, and the house made Jasmine a believer. She was a skeptic but after disregarding the rules and touching everything came to believe because weird stuff started happening around her.

Each girl got some one-on-one time with Nick. In particular, he had good chats with both Danielle's, and then Raven accidentally told him that she was in love with him. After that, she was hoping he would validate her feelings with a date rose but he gave it to Danielle M.

Because the two divas weren't on this date, everything went very well. No drama outside of the ghosts!

Meet me in the Bayou
Corrine vs. Taylor

This date was full of tension. The show really knows how to pit two girls against each other. I'm fairly certain that the actual Bachelor has no say in who attends this date. I'm not really a huge fan of either of these girls as they pertain to Nick but I will say that between the two I like Corrine more. Corrine has a point about Taylor being stuck up. She has a very high opinion of herself (and her emotional intelligence).

For the date, they go to a Voodoo ceremony in the woods and then each of the girls got a Tarot reading. They were going to do this all together but the Reader felt too much tension in the group and asked to read them individually. During Taylor's reading, she was told that she needed to move on from a toxic situation and to not engage in a fight. Corrine didn't take in anything that the reader told her and just asked for instructions on how to make a Voodoo doll specific to a person.

Unsurprisingly, Corrine got the rose. She took her time with Nick to play a victim who had been bullied by Taylor but who was going to rise above and make the most of her time with Nick. Honestly, that girl is good at manipulating a situation. She almost never seems crazy around Nick. I'm excited to see what he thinks after watching the show and how they edit her comments. He asks Taylor about the situation and she says that she didn't feel that she bullied Corrine but really she just seemed kind of stand-offish. She's clearly trying to rise above and take the Reader's advice by not engaging in a fight but it did not go well for her.

So Nick and Corrine leave Taylor with the Voodoo people and they perform some kind of cleansing smoke ritual on her. In the meantime, they head to a fancy mansion in New Orleans for dinner. Little do they know that this is not the end. Taylor isn't going down without a fight and she is going to expose Corrine for who she is before leaving.

I'm not really sure what will happen. The promos want us to believe that both Taylor and Corrine go home from the group date, implying that Nick takes back his rose from Corrine. I don't see that happening. Also, we haven't gotten to the point where Corrine shows up to his hotel room to try to seduce him yet so I don't think she leaves right away. But that journey is likely coming to an end soon.

I know it's a little early but I think I'm ready to predict my top 3. I don't know who the fourth person would be but I'm fairly confident that these three ladies will get hometown and fantasy suite dates: Rachel, Danielle L., and Vanessa. Right now, I think it will come down to Rachel and Danielle L. in the end but we'll see.

Do you have any guesses yet?

Until next week!