ABC
On the latest episode of The Bachelor, Peter Weber and his 15 remaining bachelorettes say goodbye to the beaches of Southern California and head for the heart of Rock and Roll in Cleveland, Ohio. Victoria F. and Kelsey each get a solo date, while the group date sees the ladies put through their paces by two Cleveland Browns football legends, wide receiver Josh Cribbs and cornerback Hanford Dixon, as they prepare to compete in “The Bachelor Bowl.”
Plus, one of the most controversial contestants of the season comes back during this episode, much to the dismay of the other ladies.
Follow along here with our live recap, but be warned of elimination spoilers. All times Eastern.
8:05 — Previously on The Bachelor, Sydney and Kelsey warned Peter that Alayah is a total phony, so he sent her home. But is she gone for good?! Spoiler alert: She’s not! But before she can crash the party, Chris Harrison stops by the mansion to inform the ladies that it’s time to pack their bags to head to beautiful Cleveland! The blank reaction is pretty spectacular, though thumbs down to the producers for not inserting some cricket sound effects.
8:07 — In all seriousness, I’ve heard nice things about Cleveland, so this will probably be a great place to have some Bachelor dates. And I’m not just saying that because The Bachelor sent me a super cute Cleveland swag bag.
8:14 — The first date is for Victoria F., which Mykenna cries about. She has really gotten whiny about not getting enough Peter time. It feels like all she does is cry lately. Anyway, Victoria’s date is a day at Cedar Point Amusement Park where they have the park all to themselves, which is amazing. I’ve been to Cedar Point and it has fantastic roller coasters. Unfortunately, Victoria is scared of heights, so this is the perfect date for her!
8:18 — They head for the usual country music concert that this show is so fond of putting on and wouldn’t you know it but the artist is Chase Rice, who is none other than Victoria’s ex-boyfriend. Dun dun dun!
8:23 — OK, you guys, I’m not against manufactured drama to a certain extent, but this is really stretching it because Chase Rice can only charitably be called a “singer.” He is terrible and I feel bad that Peter is being forced to talk about what a dream come true this is, and I feel bad for Victoria if she wasn’t in on it. She may have known this was coming — that would not be a shock at all — but if she didn’t know he was going to be performing on her date? That’s pretty gross, show.
8:26 — To Chase’s credit, he talks to Victoria privately and encourages her just to be honest with Peter. “Just be real, just be you,” which is great advice. Also, why would this ruin anything? He’s her ex and we all know how these shows work, so someone obviously made this happen. It’s not like Victoria is the one who arranged for Chase to be there. Why would Peter care? Especially since Peter’s ex — coughHannahcough — came back twice already this season.
8:34 — At the dinner portion of the date, Victoria ‘fesses up about Chase being her ex and it’s the greatest exchange we’ve heard yet this season.
Victoria: “So, Chase and I used to date…”
Peter: “Like the singer Chase? The guy that was doing the concert? ….wait, what? No. … The guy that was singing? I talked to him!”
Oh, Peter. You sweet, simple, big brown-eyed teddy bear.
8:38 — Thankfully, Peter is much more gobsmacked about how weird and awkward that was than he is upset with Victoria, which is good. I would have been very disappointed in Peter if he had made this out to be a big deal and blamed Victoria in some way. Victoria is practically bawling about it, which is a bit much, but he assures her that this is not a big deal and he actually just laughs about it. Victoria acts like this is some magnanimous move on his part, which — can we stop acting so impressed when someone shows basic human decency and understanding? Peter’s reaction is exactly the way someone should react to something so ridiculous as this.
8:47 — The group date takes Victoria P, Kiarra, Kelley, Deandra, Madison, Lexi, Shiann, Tammy, Sydney, Hannah Ann, Savannah, and Mykenna, which is everybody except Kelsey and Victoria F., to FirstEnergy Stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns, where wide receiver Josh Cribbs and cornerback Hanford Dixon put the girls through their paces before making them play a game of tackle football. Victoria P, however, is quite sneaky. She says she can’t play because of her back, so while the other ladies have to do all the football stuff, Victoria gets Peter’s undivided attention and even a back massage.
Who’s ready for Monday night football, #TheBachelor style? 🏈 @JoshCribbs16
8:50 — “The Bachelor Bowl” kicks off, with the losing team having to go back to the hotel and the winning team getting to continue the date with Peter. There are even some color commentators, which is great. What is also great is that these girls are NOT messing around. They all want to win and there are some brutal hits being thrown out there. Also, Shiann is a total beast, she runs in four touchdowns for the Eliminators. I’m pretty sure I heard Peter call her “the Shianimal,” which is amazing.
RT if you’re loving this 🏈 group date! #TheBachelor
8:52 — But wait! The Killer Bs come back to tie it up as time expires and Peter’s exuberance as he cheers for them is super cute. He really is a good one. What is also super cute is that in the locker room, Natasha tells Shiann that since she “scored all four of our goals” (tee hee), she should get time with Peter first and Natasha will block for her until she is finished. Now that is a good friend.
9:01 — Unfortunately, guess who gets Peter first when they get to the cocktail party? Victoria P. Ugh, this girl is kind of getting on my nerves. She tells Peter she couldn’t “fight” for him during the football game, so she wants to show him who is boss right now. Um, you got to pull Peter away for solo time while the other girls had to do football drills, so stop being so dramatic, huh?
9:04 — As the ladies sit around and lament how some of them haven’t gotten to spend much time with Peter because of the recent drama, one blonde girl pipes up and says she wants her time with him and I literally go, “….wait, who is that?!” And then I had to look up the list of ladies and use process of elimination to figure out it was Savannah, if that tells you anything about how much camera time Savannah has gotten so far. But that falls by the wayside when Alayah saunters in and asks Shiann and Peter if she can interrupt.
9:09 — Alayah is there to basically ask Peter to reconsider and not to let the other girls’ opinions of her cloud his judgment. But her big bombshell is that she can’t believe Victoria P said they weren’t friends because they were actually quite close. She tells him she and Victoria were planning a trip to Las Vegas together. Now Peter is mad because someone is flat-out lying to his face. So he goes to confront Victoria. She starts crying about how she gave him her whole heart, but in the same breath, she confirms they went to Vegas together in a group. So, Victoria tried to distance herself from Alayah and Victoria kind of lied about how well they knew each other, is what this sounds like.
9:13 — Ooh, now Savannah finally gets some major camera time by telling the other girls that VIctoria is a two-faced liar because she’s one way with Alayah in public, but she’s trashing her all the time in private. That’s kind of juicy. Meanwhile, Victoria and Alayah have it out face to face and Alayah says the one person she trusted betrayed her. Victoria tries to escape all of this by continually saying “my truth,” like that somehow absolves her of throwing Alayah under the bus.
9:15 — Peter is upset about how he suddenly feels like he can’t trust Victoria P. Um, yeah. She and Alayah actually both seem kind of duplicitous here. Maybe kick them both to the curb?
9:22 — Instead, Peter tells Alayah that he’s sorry he didn’t follow his heart and that he let the other women influence him, so he asks her to come back. Alayah says she will… if they move past this whole drama. He says OK and he takes her back to the group where he gives her the group date rose. Wow, Peter. Bold.
9:23 — Oh! I just figured out who Victoria Paul looks like! It’s Rosanna Arquette.
9:25 — Alayah wastes no time buddying back up to Mykenna and Hannah Ann, telling them she’s been doing her homework on the internet and she knows that Victoria F used to date Chase Rice, which is news to the other ladies. Heh.
9:30 — On Kelsey’s solo date, Peter has to tell her about Alayah’s return, which Kelsey is pretty cool about. She wants Peter to do what he needs to do. Peter and his grandpa cardigan nod appreciatively.
9:40 — After filming what is basically a tourism commercial for Cleveland (and I don’t mean that in a negative way), Kelsey and Peter eat dinner on the riverfront and talk about Kelsey’s parents’ divorce, which happened when she was in 7th grade. It kind of tore her family apart. Kelsey came home from basketball practice and found her dad’s wedding ring with a letter and she didn’t see him for 12 years after that. Holy sh*t, you guys. What?! That is one of the most horrible things I’ve heard on this show and there have been a lot of sad stories over the years. Who even does that?!
9:42 — Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Victoria is super pissed that Alayah told everybody about Chase Rice. They’re all pretty mad that she got to leave and be on the internet, see what people are posting about The Bachelor, and then come back and spill the beans. It’s definitely unfair that she got to go online and have contact with the outside world.
9:52 — The women confront Peter about what a ridiculous move it is that he let Alayah come back and gave her a rose when they were all busting their asses during that football date. He apologizes to them, then asks to speak with Victoria alone. She’s super mad, which… OK, wait. Why is she so mad at him? However you feel about Alayah, Victoria was not completely honest with Peter. And he’s not attacking her about that, he’s just saying there are other sides to it.
9:56 — Meanwhile, back inside the house, the girls are yelling at Alayah for coming back and claiming it’s not about the game. And then Victoria F. tells Peter what Alayah did, outing the Chase Rice stuff to the other girls, and Peter doesn’t know what to do. The boy seems a little overwhelmed at the level of drama that is happening. He also looks really tired, you guys. Peter needs a break! And a nap! It’s also hard to feel much sympathy for Victoria F. because she’s so whiny all the time. Sorry not sorry.
10:00 — Peter stares contemplatively at a marble bust and that’s it, no rose ceremony this week because Peter doesn’t know what to do. And next week looks even more dramatic — Tammy yells “someone’s not here for the right reasons” and there’s an ambulance! We can hardly wait.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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