Bachelor Blog: Fantasy Suites & Women Telling All

Last week was a short episode so I decided to combine last week and this week into one mega blog post. As a result, we have a lot to cover! I’ll try to keep things short and sweet, so let’s just jump right in!

Cocktail Party/Elimination

At the start of last week’s episode, Nick finally let Corrine go. Poor Corrine did her best to cry and be sad, the other girls gave her obligatory pats on the back and sent her on her way. It’s wasn’t super eventful, Nick is good at letting girls down easy and most everyone he’s dumped on the show leaves heartbroken but not mad. He then went back to his remaining three women and announced they would be jet setting to Finland! Hope they’ve had enough fun in the sun on their island adventures because it’s time for silly knit caps with giant poms and parkas!

Oh, I almost forgot that stupid Andi came to visit Nick before the rose ceremony. There was really nothing substantial there, just a bunch of hype for nothing. But they did seem to clear the air and seem to be on good terms now. She awkwardly asked him if he was going to have sex with any of the women in the Fantasy Suites, and he said he wasn’t sure. She told him to go for it if it felt right, read on to see if he took her advice!

Raven’s Fantasy

First up for the overnight dates was Raven. Coming off the hometown date, Raven had regretted not telling Nick that she was in love with him. She was scared because apparently she’s never really been in love before. Her only previous serious relationship was with her ex (the one she beat the crap out of when she caught him cheating), and that relationship seems pretty dysfunctional.

After a fun date (Nick and Raven always have fun together), Raven talked to Nick about how hard it is for her to say “I love you” and why, and then she told him and it was literally one of the best professions of love ever (even Nick thought so). Raven is good with her words and Nick got a little emotional. But Raven had more insights to share. Apparently, she has only been with one previous sexual partner and she had never had an orgasm. No pressure, Nick. After that joyful tidbit, they marched off to the Fantasy Suite and that’s pretty much where last week left off.

Last night’s episode started with “the morning after” with strong implications that Raven and Nick did the deed in the Fantasy Suite. You could tell by the montage of Raven skipping through Finland having a lovely morning.

Rachel’s Fantasy

Rachel's amazing penguin onsie!

Next up was Rachel, who also had not yet revealed to Nick that she was in love with him (or falling in love with him). She struggled even more than Raven did because she was all up in her head trying to convince herself that she shouldn’t be in love, even though she thinks she is. Nick explained to her that the only way this process would work is if she trusts her heart. He asked her if she didn’t think about it what was her heart telling her, and she told him that she is falling in love with him. He was very happy to hear that and told her that he was also falling for her 100%. But here’s the rub. We already know that Rachel is the next Bachelorette, it seemed kind of strange for her to be the only one he actually verbally validated and yet we know they don’t end up together. Oh well.

After hearing Nick say that he was falling for her, Rachel got completely out of her head and trusted her heart to lead her through the rest of the process. She felt very confident in their relationship and was looking forward to meeting Nick’s family next week.

Vanessa’s Fantasy

Nick and Vanessa have had the most real conversations of any of the women. Vanessa said that she feels like they always have heavy conversations, but really that’s a good thing. They need to figure these things out now before they get engaged. For this reason, along with a few others, I think Nick will pick Vanessa in the end. He’s concerned about the challenges they’ll face regarding where to live, how involved she is with her family, etc. but he’s been testing her this whole time to see how they work things out and it seems like he really wants it to work with her.

The first part of their date was another adventure to get them out of their comfort zones (see what I mean about testing her?). They embraced Finish culture with an ice bath followed by sauna, and repeated several times. Basically, you dip yourself in freezing cold water, run to the sauna to warm up, then go back out to the freezing water again and again until you’re sick of it. Vanessa was reluctant at first but then she loved it, a lot more than Nick did. I think he was done after the second go round but they went until they could withstand the freezing water for “Ten Mississippi’s”. Then they jumped in a hot tub to relax.

They talked more about how Vanessa’s family is very traditional and how Nick is not. They also talked about their core values and things they wouldn’t be willing to compromise on. I think this whole “where will we live” thing is going to be hard for them. Both are very stubborn and want to be right. Nick doesn’t want to move to Canada but he said he would consider it, Vanessa wants to stay in Canada and hasn’t yet said she would consider leaving, even when Nick said that he hoped that wasn’t a deal breaker for her.

Vanessa ended the night by telling Nick that she was in love with him, previously she had only said she was “falling in love”, and they spent a lovely night in the Fantasy Suite. It’s easy for Vanessa to feel confident in their relationship when they are together, but as soon as he leaves she remembers that there are other women still in this and she’s starting to feel insecure because in her heart she knows that Nick is the one for her. Hopefully, that will be enough to make them want to compromise with each other.

Unsurprising Rose Ceremony

This rose ceremony had a serious lack of tension, mostly because viewers already knew who would be leaving. But none-the-less, Nick handed out his roses to Raven and Vanessa and walked Rachel out. It was yet another sad but respectful good bye and Nick told Rachel that selfishly he hopes that one day they can be friends because he really doesn’t want to lose her in his life. Don’t worry Rachel, you’re going to have dozens of men vying for your affection in a few short months!

The Women Tell All

This was one of the most annoying Women Tell All episodes ever. All the women talked at the same time, no one listened to each other, Chris Harrison even had to whistle to get their attention so they could go to a break, and it was a hot freaking mess.

The moral of the story is that everyone (viewers) loves Corrine. She got the biggest applause by far. I can’t blame them. She was kind of the best and the worst this season and I grew to like her a lot too, even though I’m super relieved Nick didn’t end up with her. I did feel bad for Taylor, it seemed like most of the women there were against her and didn’t really give her a fair chance. But I don’t really blame Corrine for not offering up an apology. What would be the point? Why make nice if it’s just for show? Those two will never be friends in real life, they should just move on.

One thing that was kind of fun was realizing that this was Nick’s very first “Tell All” episode. Even though it’s his fourth time around, he’s always been in the top two so he’s never had to go to one of these. He was clearly nervous but managed to be his charming self and smooth things over with the few women who still had lingering hurt feelings (Kristina and Danielle L.).

Nick also got the opportunity to congratulate Rachel on becoming the next Bachelorette, and it seems he’s getting his wish of staying friends.

They concluded with some great bloopers (always my favorite) and with a sneak peek of next week’s “Most dramatic finale ever”.

What’s next? 
Next week on the dramatic conclusion of the season, Raven and Vanessa will meet Nick’s family. Remember, Raven has already met some of his family back on the Wisconsin date so hopefully they will be happy to see her again. Nick and Vanessa will have some more very serious discussions about their future, and probably get engaged in the end. We’ll see though, this show has surprised me before and I really like Raven so if she ends up with Nick that’s cool too. It would be super entertaining to see Raven lose her shit on Nick after getting dumped but I just don’t think that will happen, she’s classier than that.

Until next week everyone!