Happy Janu-Arie! Bachelor First Impressions

New Year, New Bachelor! Former runner-up, Arie Luyendyk Jr. from Emily Maynard’s season (5 years ago) kicked off the season with some advice from friend and former Bachelor Sean Lowe. I kind of forgot they were on the same season but looks like they’re old friends and they had some fun in the advice department. When first announced, I wasn’t at all excited about the prospect of Bachelor Arie. It seemed an odd choice. But it seems Arie is finally ready to settle down (not that he wasn’t 5 years ago with Emily, I guess) and with his new more stable career, he’s ready for a family.  In case you didn’t know, Arie is a race car driver. After Emily broke his heart he poured himself into his work and traveled a lot to be racing. Now, he’s a realtor (but still drives on occasion) so his lifestyle lends itself a little better to settling down with a family.

Apparently, the show decided that this new factoid about Arie was interesting enough to pack the cast with other real estate professionals. I’m not kidding, I can’t even count how many tried to use that as a way to “connect” on the first night. But with the groundwork laid, let’s talk about the standouts, who’s probably crazy, and what’s in store for this upcoming season.

Stand-Outs:

Caroline – up first was Caroline, one of the many realtors/real estate pros in the lineup. She seems like a good contender and if it works out, maybe she and Arie can launch their own HGTV show about real estate in whatever city they decide to settle in.

Krystal – The health/fitness coach with a heart of gold who makes and delivers meals to homeless people in her community. Super sweet and she has a story so I think she’ll be around for a while.

Becca K. – She kind of slid under the radar at first. She did have a cute first impression when she got him to get down on one knee and “propose”,  but their interaction during the cocktail party stood out to me in particular. It also looks like she’ll get one of the first dates next week.

Bekah M. – Arie seems to really like her but she seems awfully confident and a little caddy. See more in the “Who’s crazy” section.

Chelsea – A surprising villain. From her video, she seemed like a nice single mom. I do actually think she’s probably a really nice person, she just has a lot at stake and is being really aggressive. She rubbed a lot of women the wrong way and made a few statements that made her come off as a bitch, including “I deserve more time than everyone else”. But whatever impression she made on the other girls doesn’t really matter because Arie liked her enough to give her the first impression rose.

Others of note: Tia (Raven’s friend) seems like a nice girl, there are 4 Laurens and they were all in the same limo! Lauren S. seems to stand out from the Lauren group to me, Maquel, all the girls were really jealous of her – I think she’s pretty fun but young so we’ll see, I thought Amber was cute (even though her icebreaker was dumb) but alas she didn’t make the cut this week.

Who’s Crazy:

Chelsea – like I mentioned above she’s probably a lovely person but I think she’s going to be the one who becomes possessive of Arie and does everything she can to be the first to get his attention.

Jenna – her one on one time with Arie was super weird. She was all over the place! She just has a lot of energy and seems a little offbeat, could be a fun weirdy this season!

Bekah M. – Just seems really gossipy and a bit caddy. Also, I guess she’s really young and doesn’t want to tell Arie just how young she is so that should provide a little bit of drama.

What’s Coming:

Apparently, Arie is “in the driver’s seat” this season and we can expect some unexpected things this season. I think they’ll probably start traveling relatively early based on the previews we saw.

So despite my initial lackluster response to Arie, it appears this will be a season just like any other with plenty of drama. I’m looking forward to a good season!