‘The Bachelor’ review: Ben Higgins chooses between Haley – Emily Ferguson; Olivia Caridi drama
You knew that it was bound to happen on “The Bachelor” at some point this season: Ben Higgins making a choice between the two twins in the most ridiculous and overly-dramatic way possible! We’ll have more on that later.
For now, let’s start with the other dates. Of course, Ben and JoJo Fletcher get along really well and have a romantic spark. They’re both pretty normal people, and there’s a mutual respect and admiration there. We don’t quite think that there is any reason at all to doubt that she could be around for a long time … but that does not necessarily make her and Ben the best TV. We could say the same thing about Ben’s date with Becca Tilley later, though the biggest question we had about that was why we had to spend so much time again hearing about her being a virgin. Also, is a location like the Las Vegas sign graveyard really that amazing when we’ve seen it on other reality shows before? (It was on some “Amazing Race,” we don’t remember the version.)
The group date – This was a little bit weird … and funny … but mostly weird. What is Olivia Caridi doing? We really thought that she was at least serious before the whole “jumping out of a cake” bit, but we really have no clue at all now. To think she did all of that, and didn’t get the rose. Instead, the momentum continued for Lauren Bushnell, who had a nice showing throughout and is a definite contender. Not everyone loves the whole talent-show date, but we’ll take this over the more physically-embarrassing any step of the way.
The twins – We had a hometown date complete with awkward laughter, visiting their mother, and also Haley realizing that she still had photos up of herself with an old ex. Awkward? Definitely. We don’t think that is why she ended up staying at her parents’ house while Emily moved forward; instead, it was more about Emily putting herself out there more and trying to forge as big of a connection with him as possible.
Cocktail party – Olivia continued on with her obsession about cake, and everyone hated her for it. That was the only thing that really happened. Also, we lost Amber James, who is now unlucky in love through three appearances on this franchise … and Rachel. We don’t know who Rachel is. Episode Grade: B-.
If you do find yourself curious in getting some other news on “The Bachelor,” head over to the link here! Also, you can sign up over here to score some additional TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)