The drama and love continued to unfold on last night’s episode of The Bachelorette.
Andi and the guys left the United States and traveled to the beautiful south of France, Marseille, for this week’s round of dates. Andi called the port town right on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea “the perfect place to fall in love.”
Josh gets the first one-on-one date and looks like he is ready to jump out of his pants with excitement when the date card arrives. The physical chemistry between Andi and Josh has been undeniable so it is interesting to see how their relationship will continue to unfold in a non-group date setting.
Their date definitely didn’t disappoint.
Andi and Josh walk around downtown Marseille with their arms wrapped around each other affectionately. They almost look like they have already been together for years.
She leads him to a huge sailboat that takes them to the Calanques for a picnic on the rocks overlooking the Mediterranean. On the boat, Josh has his arms wrapped around Andi’s waist, takes charge, and kisses her passionately. However, Andi has said many times in previous episodes that Josh is the stereotypical guy she always dates, so she needs to dig deeper and really get to know him on this date to see if they could have something long-lasting.
After their picnic, Andi takes Josh to the stunning Palais Longchamp for dinner. The beautiful castle is the perfect place to continue their romantic evening.
During dinner, both Andi and Josh open up about their past relationships. Andi tells Josh that her ex-boyfriend cheated on her—he also happened to be an athlete. She thinks that she subconsciously always thought of athletes as cheaters after that experience, which is why she was initially so closed off and skeptical of Josh.
Josh tells Andi that was raised with values and he would never cheat on her, despite the stigma that comes along with dating a professional athlete. He told her one of his ex-girlfriends struggled with dating him while he was playing baseball because of the constant rumors. Eventually, the ex ended up cheating on him and breaking his heart.
“It hurt me. That’s why it’s tough for me to open up and trust people,” he tells Andi.
After their heart-to-heart, Andi is clearly smitten about Josh. Not only is the physical connection incredible, but also, their emotional connection continues to grow. “For the first time today I feel like everything is working and happening,” Andi said.
The picture-perfect evening ended with the two having a private concert from Ben Fields, dancing and kissing romantically in the moonlight.
Back at the suite, drama is stirred up among the guys. JJ tells Marquel that during the first rose ceremony, after Andi gave roses to Ron and Marquel (both black men), Andrew whispered in JJ’s ear, “Woah, she gave it to two ‘blackies.’”
“It hurts cause sometimes no matter how you treat a person they have an idea of you. It’s crazy to think that the first thing people will recognize about me is that ‘Okay, he is a black guy,’” Marquel emotionally said.
During the nighttime portion of the group date, a lot of fighting, accusing, and confronting took place.
First, Marquel feels like its time to confront Andrew about his derogatory “blackie” remark. As soon as Marquel sits him down, Andrew gets extremely defensive and claims he never has said anything like that before in his life. Andrew can’t believe that someone would even make something like that up about him. Marquel, being the sweetheart he is, forgives Andrew and is glad they cleared the air.
However, Andrew doesn’t feel as relieved. He decides to tell Andi a vague version of the confrontation (while obviously leaving the part about calling the black contestants “blackies” out). He even says drama and “bulls—t” like this makes him question why he is even in this competition. Hmm…are you just asking to be sent home, Andrew?
The fighting that began last episode between the men and Nick continued to ensue this week during the group date. The guys tell Nick that he gives off the vibe that he is the front-runner in the competition and acts overly arrogant. Cody also flips out over a comment Nick made, calling him “Mr. Thankful.” It is almost laughable how silly and insignificant this drama even is, but ABC sure knows how to drag it out.
Then, on cue, guy after guy complains to Andi about Nick during their one-on-one time. She actually takes what they say to heart, because she did notice a bad attitude coming from Nick all day in the group date setting.
When Nick comes over to have his alone time with Andi, she immediately calls him out for being “salty” on the group date. Nick admits that he hates the group date setting (but really, who doesn’t?!). Andi worries that Nick may be manipulating her after two of the nicest guys in the house have told her things about him. But, in typical Nick fashion, he manages to woo her back with his passionate kisses and a thoughtful poem.
By the end of the evening, Andi seems drained from all of the drama. She ends up giving the rose to JJ. Nick continues to pout (surprise, surprise).
Andi’s second one-on-one date in Marseilles is with Brian, who didn’t hit it out of the ballpark nearly as well as Josh.
The date starts off well with the two snuggling up in a French movie theatre and sipping on champagne. However, things take a turn for the worse when Andi suggests the two make dinner together.
Who would have known that Brian would have looked like a deer standing in headlights just at the thought of chopping some carrots? Andi immediately can tell something is wrong and feels completely disconnected from Brian as they make dinner. “Cooking together in the movies looks so romantic, but it wasn’t romantic at all. Things aren’t really heating up with Brian right now,” Andi said with disappointment.
Brian wasn’t lying on last week’s episode when he said his friends always tell him he has no game. The date was painfully awkward up until dinner when Brian finally takes initiative and kisses Andi. She still gives him a rose, calling it a “symbol of progression,” despite the lackluster date.
The evening of the cocktail party, the tension is at an all-time high among the men. But, unfortunately for some, Andi already had her mind made up. Chris Harrison comes in to tell the guys that there will not be a cocktail party that evening and Andi is planning on sending (gasp!) three guys home.
At the rose ceremony, Andi explains, “I came into this wanting to trust my heart and trust my instinct. It is tough, but that is what drives me to cut to the chase.”
And that is exactly what she did. It wasn’t too much of a surprise which three guys Andi sent home—Andrew, Patrick, and Marquel. Although they all seemed like great guys (minus Andrew) none of them have had one-on-one dates or any real opportunity to build the same kind of relationship with Andi that others already have.
By the end of week five, Andi is clear she only wants guys there she is actually seriously considering. We will have to wait until next week when they travel to Venice, Italy to see which relationships will continue to blossom—and which will fizzle out.