This week’s episode of The Bachelorette took place in the city built around water—Venice—and the amount of romance we saw this week definitely didn’t disappoint.
With only eight guys left so far, they all knew it was time to step up their game. As soon as they arrived to Venice, Andi had a surprise in store for the men. The first one-on-one date was about to start…right then and there!
At this point, all of the men already had a one-on-one date. That is, except for Cody. He expected to be guaranteed this one-on-one time; however, Andi clearly had some other plans in mind. She revealed that Nick, the one contestant that has caused tons of controversy among the rest of the men, was invited on the spontaneous one-on-one date.
Nick was surprised to be the first guy that got asked on a second one-on-one date. He was glad he had the opportunity to redeem himself after being so “salty” during last week’s group date and giving Andi some doubts.
Andi and Nick held hands and walked through the streets of Venice sightseeing and rode a gondola through the city. In voiceovers, Andi revealed her motivations behind choosing Nick for the date.
“Part of this is knowing when I need more from someone. I need to figure things out with Nick because there is something that didn’t sit right with me last week. Is he someone who is cocky and arrogant or just misunderstood?” she questioned.
As soon as they hop in the gondola, Nick brings up their conversation from last week. Andi is glad that he brought it up right from the start, but she knew she still had some more questions to be answered later in the date.
Nick and Andi had dinner in a stunning masquerade hall covered from floor to ceiling in intricate Italian paintings. “Its very hard not to get swept up in the moment with Nick,” Andi said.
But, Andi maintained focus and continued to dig deeper about the drama surrounding Nick from last week.
“Do you think you’re a frontrunner?” Andi asked.
“I don’t like the word, ‘frontrunner.’ I feel incredibly fortunate to have what we have and its difficult for me to imagine any other guy having the same connection,” Nick replied.
Andi lights up with happiness when Nick even shyly tells her that he thinks he is falling in love with her. Without a doubt, all of Andi’s worries about Nick seem to have faded away after this date. She loved how he took responsibility for what he said and respects him for doing so. Andi gives Nick the rose and they end their “amazing” and “unbelievable” date with a dance.
The next day, Andi is on a high from her date with Nick, but is ready for her group date with Josh, Brian, Dylan, Marcus, JJ and Chris.
Andi thinks that the group of guys is extremely trustworthy and wants to have some fun with them. So, they all have to take a lie detector test! (Seriously, ABC? Can this actually even be considered a date?)
The men and Andi are all individually asked a slew of questions: “Are you here for the right reasons? Are you falling in love? Have you slept with more than 20 women? Do you want to have kids?”
Finally, the results are in. Three men told no lies, one man told two lies and two men told three lies. Andi is about to open up the envelope and read which questions which men lied on…but instead chooses to rip up the results because she wants to show the guys she really trusts them all. Guess she will never find out that Dylan has slept with more than 20 women and doesn’t wash his hands after using the bathroom.
During the nighttime portion of the group date, Chris reveals to Andi that he is her secret admirer! Throughout the season, Andi has received romantic love notes but hadn’t figured out whom they were from. She lit up when Chris nervously told her his secret and told him she had a feeling it could have been him all along.
Things took a sour turn when Andi and Josh talk during the group date. Josh tells Andi that he wasn’t happy about taking the lie detector test and was glad she ripped up the results. Andi gets angry and confused about why Josh took it so seriously and go so upset about it when all of the other guys just had fun.
“It makes me wonder if Josh is hiding something and I feel like he has a guard up around me,” Andi said.
Because of his romantic gestures, Andi gave Chris the rose on the group date. However, she ended the evening feeling very emotional and upset because her conversation with Josh made her question things with him.
The next day, Cody finally had his chance to prove to Andi that he is the right guy for her when he got the last one-on-one date card in Venice. Unfortunately, things didn’t end so well for Cody.
Despite a lovely day in Verona, the birthplace of Romeo and Juliet, the feelings Cody had for Andi were clearly not reciprocated once they got to dinner.
As soon as they sit down, Cody starts rambling on and on about how happy he is to be with Andi, how he wants to bring her home to his family and how he even is ready to meet her family. As he is babbling on about his infatuation with her, Andi has the most sickening look on her face. Almost like she is about to vomit. Andi can’t even look Cody straight in the eyes and she breaks down and starts crying in front of him. Finally Cody gets it and stops talking.
“At this point there is just a friendship and I don’t know if I see the potential for romance,” Andi said.
She added that a huge reason for her asking him on this one-on-one date was to see if the romance was there, and she just felt like it wasn’t. She told him she couldn’t drag the relationship out any longer and take him to next week because she respects him too much.
Surprisingly, Cody took the news fairly well. He respected Andi’s decision and walked away with dignity, despite breaking down in the limo ride. (But really, what Bachelorette reject hasn’t?)
At the cocktail party, the mood in the room was far from relaxed. And surprise, surprise…Nick jumps in and steals Andi away before she even has a chance to walk into the room. He pulls her to a private room and starts making out with her.
The rest of the men shake their heads in disgust because they believed Nick was arrogant to take time with Andi first when he already had a rose.
During the rose ceremony, Andi gave roses to Dylan, Marcus and Brian. That only left Josh and JJ.
Although they didn’t have the best week, Andi gave the final rose to Josh. Her relationship with JJ just wasn’t nearly as developed or passionate as her relationship with Josh. Plus, Josh has gotten much more air time, so her decision didn’t come as too much of a shocker.
Now, Andi has narrowed her group down to only six men. Next week is the week before hometown dates and she is taking them to Brussels…the guys better step it up and have their A-game on! Here is a preview from next week's episode.