As fewer woman remain in the fight for Ben’s heart, things are really heating up and I don’t just mean my face every time Olivia opens her big fat mouth. People are actually catching feelings (shocker) and as hormones are raging, some of the girls are becoming raging bitches. Here is a somewhat brief (but still lengthy), rather subjective recap of what the hell happened this week:
The ladies and Ben head to Mexico City for the week and everyone is obviously super excited because what is better than tequila, tacos, and Ben? Amanda, the single mother of two girls, receives the first one-on-one date which I totally thinks she deserves. She is absolutely stunning and although the “baby voice” irks me a little, it seems to get far in this show (cue Whitney and Chris). Ben takes her on amazing air balloon ride (side note: every single one on one date thus far has involved flying in the air) and I was impressed by the fact that she was the only girl not to act like a baby because she was “afraid of heights”. For the dinner portion of the date, Amanda opens up to Ben about her past relationships and Ben is a perfect gentleman and expresses his admiration for her and everything she has been through and promises not to run. It was heart-warming to say the least. OLIVIA, meanwhile is sitting at the house pouting because she didn’t receive the one on one date. She starts bashing Amanda about having kids and claims that if she were Ben she would run away as fast as she could. Very classy.
For the group date this week Jubliee, Becca, JoJo, Caila, Emily, Lauren B, Jennifer, and Leah go with Ben to a Spanish lesson. Each girl had to stand up in front of all the other girls while she and Ben exchanged romantic phrases in Spanish. Although it was a little awkward, all the girls had fun with it and melted every time Ben’s perfect lips uttered “Te Amo”. Then it was Jubilee’s turn. Let me say that I liked her from the start and respected her as War Veteran. She opened to Ben about her devastating past and was there to console him for his recent loss while the girls bullied her out of pure jealousy. Now she was becoming jealous herself (like she’s the only one that hates seeing Ben with other girls) and begins to make blatantly rude comments when Ben tries to speak sweet words to her in Spanish. He looks deep into her eyes and says “Te Amo” and she replies “You’ve said that to the past four girls”. Everyone’s jaw dropped because what in the world is her problem?!
Continuing on the next part of the date, the girls have to cook. The women and Ben head to an awesome restaurant, pair up, gather ingredients, and cook food with the recipes completely in Spanish. Shockingly enough Olivia literally snatches Ben as partner while Jubilee tries to hang on to Ben as well. Olivia is not budging. The chef claims there should only be groups of two and Olivia remarks “I claimed you, didn’t I?” as every woman watching on her couch was trying not rip her own hair out. Olivia, being her, turns their little grocery trip into their own one on one date as her and Ben take shots, feed each other crickets (yum) and Ben suggests they eat mint together. The girls obviously begin to suggest Olivia’s bad breathe had something to do with it. The rest of the date is not as eventful as the rest of the episode so in short everyone makes their dish. Olivia thinks her dish is the best thing since sliced bread and the two chefs tell each other in Spanish that it looks like dog poop. Jubilee and Lauren B. have the best dish, everyone politely claps, and gets ready for the date group to continue that night.
The night portion of the group date is where things get really interesting. Olivia is the first one to steal Ben away to talk. She does this EVERY SINGLE TIME and I am losing my mind how Ben doesn’t see that as a red flag right off the bat. Every girl gets her equal time with Ben until he takes Lauren, who I absolutely LOVE, for a romantic walk in Mexico City. They hardcore makeout on the sidewalk while people just casually walk by. Jubilee is sitting there about to crawl out of her skin because Ben isn’t with her every second of everyday. Sweetheart, what do you think you signed up for? A show where you and Ben just spend every day together and fall in love? Now that just wouldn’t be good TV. Ben comes back from his walk with Lauren and asks to speak with Jubilee. He tries to grab her hand and she pulls it away. I’m sorry JuJu but if you don’t want to hold his hand then I definitely will. Now this is where s#!@ gets real. Ben asks what is going on and Jubilee talks about how hard things are for her and seeing him with other girls. Ben calls her out on her pulling her hand away and the tone of his voice suggest that he’s pretty offended. Jubilee sees this and starts to eat her words. Ben admits that at first there was connection, but that as Jubilee is pulling away, Ben is losing hope. As Jubilee asks Ben to keep her and denies that she is pulling away, Ben stands his ground tells Jubilee there is no longer a connection and sends her home. At this moment, I am so proud of Ben. Of course all the girls respect him for taking this process so seriously. But they seem to lose their respect for Ben when he gives the group date rose to Olivia! This poorly judged move on Ben’s part is about to open a huge can of Olivia’s bad breathe during the rose ceremony.
Lauren H. received the second one on one date this week. This date was rather uneventful compared to the rest of the week, but I think it gave Ben a chance to see Lauren as more than just a cute kindergarten teacher (who acts like a kindergartener herself sometimes) and began to see more potential in their relationship. Progress was certainly made. But will she make it to the final two? Probably not so I am not going to spend too much time discussing her. Sorry Lauren.
The rose ceremony is the climax of the entire episode. All the previews showed some s*** going down and everyone watching was anxious to see how it all played out. At first everything seems to be going as planned. The girls are taking turns getting their last little “please pick me” word in with Ben. The rest of the women are sitting on the couch talking amongst themselves. Amanda is discussing how while she’s been on the show her family has been helping take care of her daughters. Olivia blurts out, “That sounds like an episode of Teen Mom”…..wait……stop……she really didn’t just say that, did she? She actually just said that. Shockingly enough Amanda is completely offended and taken back. Amanda explains in the diary room that she was 22 when she had her first daughter and 24 when she had her second. Her life was completely together. While Olivia tries to explain herself away with fake tears, Emily is bursting at the seams from anger (same Emily, same) and decides that she cannot hold in her feelings towards Olivia any longer. So what does she do? She tells Ben. She tells Ben everything. Was it her place to say something? Probably not, but someone had to. Olivia, because she is a manipulative you know what, sees what is happening and interrupts the conversation! She wasn’t completely successful but wow! That made my blood boil. After Emily confesses the issues everyone has been experiencing with Olivia, a domino effect begins. Girl after girl tell Ben their feelings towards Olivia and Ben’s world is rocked. He completely starts to doubt all his feelings for Olivia. Chris Harrison (God bless him) comes in to announce that the rose ceremony will begin and Ben interrupts him, stands up, and asks if he could speak to Olivia for a second. As I am sitting on my couch, biting my nails, ready for Olivia to get ripped a new one and sent home, “TO BE CONTINUED….” pops up on my television screen. I think you can guess my response to this.