Four episodes into the season, ABC aired a special recap episode of The Bachelorette last night called “The Journey So Far.”
The hour-long special showed highlights from Andi’s search for love thus far in addition to previously unseen footage from the end of last week’s dramatic episode.
The episode begins all the way back at week one, when Andi first arrives at the mansion to meet her 25 suitors. Some of the most memorable introductions were shown.
First we meet Marcus, who now appears to be a front-runner in the competition. He nervously approaches Andi and manages to tell her how stunning she looks.
Next, we relive personal trainer Cody’s first appearance on the show. As one of the limos pulls up in front of the house, we see Cody at the back of the limo pushing it. Andi laughs at his joke and Cody tells her how nervous he was to meet her.
Some other memorable first impressions was the guy who brought Andi a stolen lamp from the hotel as a gift (what?!?) and the unforgettable Emil, who described his name as “anal with an M” (umm…).
One of the more heart wrenching introductions to watch in hindsight was Eric, the explorer who died in a parasailing accident not long after leaving the show. Especially after last week’s huge blowout between Andi and Eric, this scene was even harder to watch the second time around. Eric brings Andi two miniature stuffed dolls when he first meets her. He tells her that the first foreign country he went to was Peru, and a young girl in the Andes Mountains gave him these dolls to give to his girlfriend.
During the first cocktail party, all of the guys had on their A-game because they were all vying for the first impression rose. Ultimately, Nick V. was the lucky guy who got the first rose of the season.
One of the most unforgettable moments shown was when Chris Bukowski, who was a contestant on Emily’s season of The Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad, traveled all the way to the mansion in hopes of meeting Andi and competing for her heart.
Chris is waiting at craft services and explains to host Chris Harrison how badly he needs to meet Andi—he even brings her a bouquet of roses. Harrison finds Andi, pulls her aside, and explains the situation. She decides without hesitation that she can’t invite Chris into the party because it wouldn’t be fair to all of the other guys inside waiting for her. When Harrison tells Chris he must leave, he doesn’t walk away without a fight.
“I can’t give up on her. I came out here and been out here for seven days,” he begs before eventually giving up and going home.
Next, we get to relive the past three group dates that have happened so far this season.
On the first group date, the guys had to get their Magic Mike on and perform a raunchy striptease for Andi (and charity too, of course). Marcus impressed Andi by overcoming his nerves and doing a hot solo performance.
The guys had to woo Andi with their singing talent—or lack thereof—on the second group date when they had a sing off of the Boys II Men hit, “I’ll Make Love to You.”
The third group date forced the guys to step it up and get competitive if they wanted more alone time with Andi. They were separated into two teams and played a basketball game against each other. The red team clearly dominated and crushed the hopes of the white team, who had to go back to the hotel and lost the opportunity to spend the rest of the evening with Andi.
After remembering the group dates, we were reminded of how Andi’s one-on-one dates have gone so far.
Eric was the lucky guy who got the first one-on-one date of the season. The two seemed to hit it off immediately when they went to the beach, built sandcastles, flew kites, and made snow angels in the sand.
The second one-on-one was with Chris. He and Andi dressed up in classic, retro apparel and went to watch a horse race at Santa Anita Park. The date ended with a moonlit dance, which resulted in the season’s first kiss between the two.
Nick V. and Andi’s one-on-one was a “step away from the extravagant dates,” according to Andi. They rode bikes together in Santa Barbara, went for a romantic walk on the beach, and watched the sunset from the mountains they hiked.
The next one-on-one was with JJ, and was certainly unique to say the least. Andi and JJ had their makeup done to make them look like they were an old couple. They went to the park all dressed up and tried to see if they could trick people into thinking they had been married for 50 years. The two hit it off and shared a kiss as they swung on a tire swing.
On Andi’s date with Dylan, he opened up about his tragic past, which made the date have a more serious and less romantic tone. He revealed to Andi at dinner how his sister struggled with drugs and died of an overdose. His brother, who also had a drug problem, took her death very hard. He died not long after. Andi and Dylan both got very emotional during the date, but it was unclear whether Andi felt that romantic connection with him.
The final one-on-one date in the recap was with the quiet and sweet Marcus. Andi decided to face her fear of heights and rappelled with him down the side of the Mohegan Sun. Andi tells Marcus that without him, she would have never made it off the ledge. The two share a romantic kiss while standing on the side of the building high up in the air.
Towards the end of the episode, we saw never before seen footage from last week’s cocktail party and rose ceremony after Eric’s dramatic exit.
All of the guys are visibly upset after seeing how upset Eric made Andi. Nick V. decides to go over to Andi to console and comfort her. Immediately afterwards, Chris Harrison comes inside and ends the cocktail party because the night has been so intense.
Every guy is extremely angry at Nick V. because he was the only one that got to have one-on-one time with Andi during the party that evening. They start ganging up on him, calling him arrogant, and saying he has a big head for thinking he had the right to be the one to comfort Andi.
Nick V. rolls his eyes and defends his actions, but it is clear that the tension between him and the rest of the men will not be going away any time soon.
At the rose ceremony, only one man was sent home since Andi already told Eric to leave earlier in the night. The roses were given out in the following order: Nick V., JJ, Cody, Chris, Andrew, and Patrick.
The final two men left were Marquel and Tasos. Neither has gotten too much airtime on the show or had a one-on-one date with Andi yet. Marquel ended up getting the final rose.
Andi walks Tasos out to say goodbye and explain to him why she made the decision to send him home. “Saying goodbye to Tasos is so hard and there was a part of me that couldn’t let him out of my grip,” Andi said.
After their goodbye, Andi comes back inside and announces to the remaining men that they will be traveling to Marseille, France. Below is a sneak peek from next week’s episode!