And then there were two. Jake Pavelka sent home Gia on last night’s episode of “The Bachelor,” and now we are left with a finale between Tenly and Vienna — a finale that no matter what the ending won’t be the right one.
Last night’s episode fell flat — way flat. So flat, in fact, it was a battle to peel myself from the pavement and continue to watch the monotony that this show has become. Each date moved in slow motion, the conversation lacked any substance, and the whole time I was waiting for something, anything, to happen. I don’t know why, or if it is just me, but I feel this season is completely devoid of any personal attachment. I honestly don’t care what happens to any of these people at this point. I saw something with Jake and Ali, but after her departure last week all I can see are bland faces and romances that are a far cry from a love story. It’s like the producers of this show don’t even know that the love story is why people watch the show. Only concerned with drama and deceit, this season has left no anticipation for a happy ending. None. Not anymore. More bachelor re-cap here.
We begin this week with some of your comments. In my vast experience as a blogger (about a year now), I have found it’s always around this time in the season where the natives get restless. For example, Tyler (Tue 2/9/10 1:14 AM) writes “Great Blog Chris!” Pretty simple and a very nice note — not extremely controversial, right? Then this follows from “Nobody” (Tue 2/9/10 9:18 AM): “There’s no need to swell the guy’s ego any larger than it already is. The man is nothing more than an ABC pawn. It must be painful to have to write this crap every week. But then most people will do almost anything for a buck. Whether CH actually believes the crap he writes is debatable, but he certainly likes how ABC and EW line his pockets for doing it.” I did some research and found out who “Nobody” really is. It’s actually John Mayer. Right after he gave that extremely ignorant interview to Playboy he posted that comment on the site. (Kidding, of course.) But at least “Nobody” gave me credit for writing this blog. “Viewer less and less” (Tue 2/9/10 12:59 PM) writes, “I am 100% sure Chris doesn’t write this, it’s written by staff and he edits and puts his final touches on it.” If I have a staff then why the heck am I sitting here on a Friday night watching this episode again and blogging? I need to hire a staff so I can fire them for making me do this by myself. The truth is, I do get some help each week. I want to thank my friend and producer Elan. I talk to him each week so I can get more details and the little anecdotes you guys love so much. My goal is to give you not only my take on this show but also some behind-the-scenes stories to make you feel more a part of the journey. But I assure you I write every word of every blog every week. Who else would write this poorly? As for you fans that come here for the fun and watch the show for the love story and the entertainment, please don’t worry about the negative posts — I don’t. In fact, I get a big kick out of them. Before I move on I want to give major props to “Craig” (Tue 2/9/10 1:38 AM). His comment was way, way too long to put in here but I love that so many guys are out there watching. Way to stand proud!
The starchy 32-year-old commercial flight instructor, who has flown through the 25 women vying for his affection faster than any leading man on the seemingly never-ending ABC dating franchise, says he doesn't need to justify his romantic choices to the show's fans, who have been especially vocal that he kept fire-starter Vienna Girardi around.
"I don't have anything to apologize for," Pavelka declared during a recent interview.
"I know that America doesn't really understand," Pavelka said. "It sounds so jaded and so bad, but who is the authority that says the human heart can't be in love with more than one girl at the same time? That's what I was taught, that it can only happen with one girl at a time, but that's not the truth. I was crazy about Ali, Vienna, Tenley and Gia."
On Monday's episode, viewers will see Pavelka travel to St. Lucia with the three remaining women. It's on that Caribbean island where he said a romantic exchange will begin to "fire off a good, fruitful relationship." Pavelka would not say if he's still in love with multiple ladies.
He just promised that the March 1 finale would be amazing and crazy.
"I think I fall apart," he said, "because the emotion and the connection with the women is so strong."
Read the rest of the story about The Bachelor, Jake here.
On Jake's New York hometown date with Gia, he learned from her family that she had been hurt badly by a previous boyfriend who cheated on her, which is why she is slow to give her heart. But it doesn't help matters any that she has to hear about the dates that the other bachelorettes have with the man who could potentially be her future husband.
"It's a big struggle that I'm dealing with on the show while trying to fall in love with Jake," she admits. Read the full story here.
Bachelor Blogger (and season spoiler), Reality Steve answers the bachelor questions.
Full blog posting here.
RS: Was that actually real last night? Was Ali actually given an ultimatum by her job to come back to work or lose her job?
Listen carefully. The answer to both of those questions is “yes”. I was told that Ali told ABC before ever appearing on the show that Facebook would only allow her a certain amount of time off. ABC was well aware, as was Ali, that if it came to a point where Ali lasted long in the show, it could come to this. I was told that Ali figured ABC would kinda go to bat for her a little more and get work to not offer such a strict ultimatum, if she ended up making the final four. Didn’t happen. Maybe that was naïve of her to think that, or maybe not, but the bottom line was, she went into the show knowing this could happen, but figured, “Hey, I’m sure they’ll be able to work something out where I can stay longer and not lose my job.”
RS: So where does that leave Ali? Is she going to be the next “Bachelorette”?
In a word: Yes. I’ve been right about everything else I was told this season, and I think you will see I’ll be right about this. It hasn’t been announced yet, nothing has been signed, and nothing is officially official just yet, but I’m here to tell you Ali is going to be the next “Bachelorette” unless she decides at the last minute to say no.
