This season’s premiere included a red carpet opening, ladies in tiny dresses getting out of limos, and plenty of side-eye. There’s no need to worry if you missed this episode. I’ve got the recap of all the juicy stuff that happened in episode one.
The red carpet special was an interesting addition to this season’s premiere of The Bachelor. Here, past bachelors and bachelorettes paraded around and talked about their “success” stories. Sean and Katherine Lowe, the adorable married couple from Season 17, were there and looking adorable as ever. The two were married in a wedding special on ABC and still seem to be doing well. Andi Dorfman (the crazy bachelorette who passed up this season’s bachelor, Chris) and her bachelorette season pick Josh Murray, were in attendance and all smiles. However, they announced their split just days after the premiere aired. Nikki, Season 18 bachelor Juan Pablo’s choice, was prompted to trash-talk Juan Pablo, but she kept a pretty tight lip. Good for her. There’s no need to say anything, girl. We watched the season and we all know he’s a jerk.
We were given a chance to get acquainted with our bachelor, 33 year-old farmer, Chris Soules, in case we forgot those eyes and that body (we didn’t, but it’s always nice to catch up). He’s become good at dramatically looking over the cornfields in his introduction. He also mentioned several times that he’s disappointed to be missing the harvest. Then we were introduced to the 30 women vying for Chris’ heart.
The contestant’s limo exits have become an odd contest to see who can weird out the bachelor the most. One of the first girls profiled, Amanda, admitted she has distaste for cooking and cleaning, and described herself as crazy, so right away I feel like we can check her off the country boy’s list. Britt and Jillian also received some attention, and look like they would be more Chris’ type. Britt presented Chris with a free hug coupon and told him to come find her for an explanation. Reegan arrived with a cooler containing an authentic looking, but fake, human heart and Chris seemed pretty grossed out. Shocker.
Contestant Tara pulled an interesting stunt by climbing out of the limo in flannel, boots, and daisy dukes. Then she changed into a black dress, exited the limo again, and said “You can take the girl out of the county, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.” We’ll be interested to see if this moved Chris in any way.
Amanda pulled the secret admirer move and made it inside the mansion without Chris seeing her. The girls were temporarily tricked into thinking the cast was complete with 15 girls, and Chris went inside to visit with them. Then the next 15 ladies started arriving and tensions ran high. The second group included a motorcycle and karaoke machine.
The cocktail party began when all the ladies were present, and the women immediately started to fight for Chris’ attention. The drinks were plentiful and some were excessive in their indulgence. There were some odd and drunken conversations.
Ashley S. went on about onions and their layers, and ended up traipsing through the landscaping. We don’t imagine this made a good impression. Tara drunkenly explained that her best friends are “Jameson, Johnny Walker, and Jack Daniels.” Chris seemed to be into Britt and graced her with the first impression rose.
When the rose ceremony began (and of course, it was the most dramatic rose ceremony ever), he went back and forth several times over whether or not to keep Tara. She was beyond wasted and it was obvious, but Chris decided to give her a rose. In the end, he sent Nicole, Amanda, Kara, Kimberly, Bo, Brittany, Michelle, and Reegan home. Kimberly took it VERY hard and was shown stomping back into the house as Chris celebrated with the remaining ladies. We were given a teaser of the conversation, but we’ll have to wait until next week to see what was said.
