‘The Bachelor’ review: Renee Oteri, Nikki Ferrell, and Juan Pablo Galavis’ strange hometowns

You knew more than likely that tonight’s new episode of “The Bachelor” was going to be stuffed full of emotion as we saw so many different people on TV for the first time … and it ranged from being very funny to very fake. Everything about these dates is so orchestrated, from the parents making up excuses to talk with Juan Pablo Galavis, to all of the random “dates.”

To us, the top of the awkward scale was watching Renee Oteri’s son completely clam up at times around all the cameras and the craziness. To see Renee go home at the end of the episode was even more sad thanks to her story, and the fact that she was probably one of the nicest people on the entire show. So she leaves, and Nikki Ferrell still stays! That’s how this world works. Then again, Nikki had done a better job being open about her feelings.

To be fair, though, Nikki actually did have a pretty great hometown date, and her family was much more open and loving compared to some of the others. Andi Dorfman’s father was absolutely terrifying to watch, and Clare Crawley, being the youngest daughter in her family, was extremely protected by some of her sisters.

Unfortunately, we cannot really say that there was a whole lot else that happened here that we really consider to be that interesting. There was a ton of gushing, a lot of Juan Pablo saying “um” rather than coming up with concise thoughts, and teases of fights that really weren’t that bad. Maybe the worst is being saved for next week.

It’s just that we typically find hometown dates to be one of the best episodes of the season, but in this case, we were mostly just bored … and then really sad for Renee when she left. Given that we can probably rule out Andi thanks to that fight next week, the final two seems to be pretty well set in stone. Grade: D+.

What did you think about tonight’s episode of “The Bachelor,” and are you really surprised to see Renee go home? Share your thoughts below, and head over to the link here if you want to read some more news from the show (including teasers of what lies ahead).

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Photo: ABC