‘The Bachelor Canada’ episode 4: Are we really already at hometown dates?

Last week on “The Bachelor Canada,” we confessed that we were actually starting to enjoy this version of the show more than its American counterpart. This time around, we have to say a little bit otherwise. Why in the world are we already at the hometown dates? From one standpoint, we understand that with a new series, you have a smaller budget and you don’t want to take many risks by running a long season. However, is four episodes (or a few days, in the world of production) really enough time to pick the women that you want to see more of with their families?

With that being said, there were also plenty of surprises in the women who made it that far, with the primary one being Gabrielle. All season long, it’s felt almost like she is the classic character who is just there to stir the pot for a little while; however, she’s now in the final four! To an extent we almost want to root for, if for no other reason than that she’s be a different sort of reality-show winner than what we are used to. Of course, the other issue here is that the other three ladies Brad Smith has left (Whitney, Kara, and Bianka) all look pretty similar, and there’s nothing about any of them that pops off the screen.

Of course, our lack of interest in some of the remaining ladies may be in part due to the sad and sudden exit of Chantelle over a tragic death in her family. We usually don’t like contestants who come across as too conservative to be interesting or play up their religion to much; but what was nice about her was that even though she was a pastor, she still handled her faith like a normal person and didn’t shove it down anyone’s throat like we see on some other reality shows. She came across as very real, and just the idea of a young female pastor from a small town in Alberta was interesting from a storytelling standpoint … at least much more so than watching Whitney snag some more one-on-one time with Brad at his hotel. (We wonder if Brad ever watched Ben Flajnik’s “Bachelor” season before this, since we are literally seeing pretty much the same thing here.)

Do you think that Whitney at this point has victory in the bag, and is a part of you also rooting for Gabrielle now since she does bring something different to the table?