WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Season 28, Episode 2 of “The Bachelor.”
Here comes the Bride(s): The first official date of the season was the classic wedding day “The Bachelor” group date. In previous seasons, this date has caused a lot of drama, so when this date was announced, I was excited for its chaos. The women first scrambled to find a perfect wedding dress and then traveled by limo to meet Joey at their wedding reception. The date first started with a game of musical chairs where the winners were the two contestants that got the seats next to Joey. In the game, contestant Evalin jumped over and onto the wedding table just to get a spot next to Joey. I thought this was a poor choice considering she probably ruined her dress and didn’t even get the special prize at the end, or even get the chair. After the game of musical chairs, all of the women tried to impress Joey with their cake-eating, toast-giving, and small-talking skills to win special alone time with Joey. Rachel ended up taking the cake while the rest of the women left the date upset.
One on One: After the wedding group date, Joey chose fan-favorite Daisy to go on a one-on-one date. By choosing Daisy for the first one-on-one of the season, she was established as a frontrunner and someone who Joey is very interested in. They went on a helicopter ride to Beach Life Ranch in Redondo Beach for a music festival. I’m not really sure why they chose this to be the date, considering Daisy mentioned in the first episode that she doesn’t do well with loud spaces, and Joey and Daisy went on stage right next to a loudspeaker. Daisy and Joey then went out to dinner where Daisy told Joey that she has a cochlear implant in one ear. Joey takes the news very well and Daisy ends up getting a rose, making her safe for the rest of the week.
Paintball Capture the Heart: It’s time for one more group date, and it’s a game of “Capture the Heart.” The concept of the date was very confusing: it was a game of capture the flag, but the “flag” was a plush heart, and the women could throw paint balloons at each other. I was very confused while watching the entire time. The big “twist” for this date was that the prize for the winning team was private time with Joey, so all of the women were playing to win. After a very confusing game, the Blue Team ended up winning, and it was revealed that instead of everyone on the winning team getting to spend time with Joey, only one woman would get private time. Edwina won the private time — and a rose — making her safe for the week.
Pointless Drama: After Edwina won the special time, the anticipated pointless drama began. Madina expressed how upset she is that she didn’t get the private time because she’s thirty-one, which, by her standards, means that her days to find love are numbered. Before this episode, I never thought thirty-one was considered old to find a husband, but Madina is very insecure about her age. Maria then talked to other women about how Madina shouldn’t feel insecure about her age and that instead, she should embrace it. I didn’t think Maria said anything mean about Madina, but then Sydney told Madina that Maria made condescending comments about her, and the game of broken telephone began. By the end of the night, all of the women thought that Maria talked badly about Madina. Then, in front of everyone, Sydney called out Maria at the cocktail party about her “condescending” comments, and the confrontation turned into an argument about how old is considered “old.” This whole argument was extremely confusing and I was questioning why they were even fighting. I don’t know why any of the women decided to engage in this pointless argument because the best way to get sent home is by being involved in meaningless drama. Hopefully, this argument doesn’t continue into the next episode, but knowing how The Bachelor works, it probably will. I just hope none of my favorites like Rachel and Daisy get involved.
Eliminations: After Week Two, only 18 women remain. Those who left without a rose home included Erika, Marlena, Taylor, and Lauren.
“The Bachelor” airs on Monday nights at 8:00 pm EST on ABC
