Bachelor Blog: Hometown Dates (Week 8)

We started this episode with the most casual rose ceremony in the history of the show. And I’m not pulling a Chris Harrison here and trying to be dramatic, it really was super casual. After Nick let Kristina go, the other women in the house were feeling the heat, especially Corrine. As we all know, Nick is unpredictable and doesn’t always follow the “rules” or the typical “formula” for the show. But if you pay any attention to the promos the show puts out you already knew that all four of these women were getting hometown dates.

Nick came back to the house with four roses. Although Raven already had a rose that week, it had been a few days and he wanted to offer her the rose again because it’s a two-way street and he didn’t want to invite himself to any of their hometowns, he wanted them to invite him to come.

Raven

The first hometown date went to Raven in Hoxie, Arkansas. She took Nick four-wheeling and they played in the muddle puddles, you know, just your typical Arkansas leisure time. Then Raven took him to some grain silos and they were going to climb up to the top to share secrets but they were busted by the cops. Turns out the cop was Raven’s brother, but he did a decent job of scaring Nick into thinking they were in real trouble before he revealed his connection to Raven.

After getting cleaned up (they were very muddy after all), Nick and Raven went to her home and met her mom and dad, her cop brother was also there. Right off the bat, Raven’s mother announced that her dad had had a scan and was officially cancer free. This made the date very emotional. Raven was obviously very relieved and thankful for the news and also happy that she was able to share the moment with Nick. Raven has always been afraid that she would not find the same kind of love that she has seen emulated by her parents, but she feels like Nick could be that for her. She wanted to tell him that she is in love with him but she’s still a little guarded and just couldn’t spit it out at the end of the date.

Rachel

The next date went to Rachel in Texas, after all the talking about meeting her father, he wasn’t even able to come because of a work commitment. So unfortunately for Nick, he did not meet the scary dad. Don’t worry everyone, I’m sure we’ll all get to meet him next season when Rachel is The Bachelorette. The date went really well even though Rachel’s family grilled Nick about whether he could handle having an interracial relationship.

If I didn’t know that Rachel was the next Bachelorette and thus obviously doesn’t make it to the top two this season, I would really think she was a contender to win. Nick has said of both Rachel and Vanessa that he feels his most comfortable and most like himself when he’s with them.

Corrine

Heading into hometowns Nick told Corrine that he was super excited to meet Raquel (Corrine’s nanny), and she did not disappoint. But first, upon arriving in Miami for the hometown date, Corrine took Nick shopping and spent tens of thousands of dollars without blinking an eye. Including some ridiculously overpriced jeans and long sleeve shirt for Nick (although they did look really good on him, still not worth the money).

After the shopping trip, Corrine told Nick that she was in love with him before heading over to the parent's house where he met her mom, dad, sister and Raquel! Corrine told her family about how the other girls in the house had given her a hard time for having a nanny. I really think they are misusing that term. It seems like Raquel is more of a housekeeper/assistant for the family rather than an actual nanny but who cares what they call her. It wasn’t that weird, they are a wealthy family and it’s not uncommon for people to have housekeepers.

Guys, I might be crazy but I don’t really mind Corrine anymore. Sure, she’s immature and a spoiled little rich girl, but I don’t think you can question that she is legitimately into Nick and has done her best to stand out and advance their relationship. Do I think she’ll be the one in the end? No, but she’s not so bad.

The best/worst part of the time with Corrine’s parents was when Corrine’s dad told Nick that he had asked Corrine if she would mind being the breadwinner if she married Nick. Which is kind of insulting to say to Nick, like he can’t support a family? Sure, he probably can’t provide the kind of lifestyle that Corrine is used to, but it seems like her dad is going to continue employing her and providing the family credit card for her shopping habit. But that’s definitely something that Nick should consider. Does he really want to be part of a family that assumes so little of him? Also, her dad basically implied that Nick would just try to cash in on his involvement with The Bachelor franchise and that if that didn’t work out for him he wouldn’t have any money. I just thought that was kind of rude.

Vanessa

On to Montreal and the many, many introductions, Vanessa had in store for Nick. First up, they met her students. In case you don’t remember, Vanessa is a special education teacher. Her students were really sweet and very affectionate. They obviously love her a lot! The students helped Vanessa and Nick make a scrapbook of their time on the show and gave their stamp of approval. One of them told Nick that he was “the best”. It was really cute.

Because Vanessa’s parents are divorced and don’t really get along well, Nick met them separately. First was Vanessa’s mom’s side of the family. Which was freaking huge. It was Vanessa’s mom, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, I think an aunt or two, and her two best friends. Apparently, she really wanted everyone to meet Nick. Unfortunately, this part of the date didn’t go as smoothly as they hoped. Vanessa’s mom and siblings are really worried that she will get her heart broken and are scared for her that she and Nick haven’t figured out what comes next. Where would they live? If Vanessa moved, what would she do for work? Etc. Kind of big questions, and I agree it’s weird that they haven’t talked more about it, so they really need to get this all nailed down before the end.

Vanessa left her mom’s house a little shaken but they hoped to turn things around at her dad’s house. Her dad pulled Nick aside almost immediately and when Nick asked for his blessing he didn’t give it easily. He asked Nick if he had asked the other dads the same thing, which he had and owned up to. So Nick had to do some convincing but in the end got the dad’s blessing. Then her dad turned around and told Vanessa what they talked about and she was pretty upset that Nick had asked other parents for their blessing as well. It made it seem less special that he asked her dad.

Here is my thought on the “ask the parents for their blessing” situation. I honestly don’t think he can ask only one girl's family. If he’s going to ask at all, he needs to ask them all at this point, just for production purposes. If he only asked one girl’s family, then everyone would know she was the front runner. In my opinion, they shouldn’t ask any of the parents during hometown dates. They should do what Ben did and call on the day of the engagement. That way it’s still special and he only has to ask one set of parents.

In the end, they made it seem like Vanessa was going to head to Nick’s room to confront him and potentially leave but if you watched the promos you should know that the girl that shows up at Nick’s room at the end of the episode is Andi (his first Bachelorette). I don’t think this will go anywhere. Andi’s probably just there to make an appearance so that she can keep her name press and sell more books.

I really think it will be Raven and Vanessa in the end if Vanessa can hang in there for the next week and not question everything! Not sure if it will be Corrine or Rachel going home first so we’ll just have to see what happens next week!

Until then!