On last night’s episode dramatic episode of The Bachelorette, Andi traveled to the final four guys’ hometowns and afterwards, they all learned of contestant Eric Hill’s tragic death.
Andi started off hometown dates by jetting off to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to meet Nick’s family. Her and Nick meet up at the Milwaukee Public Market and walk around downtown Milwaukee. They go to a brewery, watch beer being made, and drink a specially crafted “Nick and Andi” beer. They then make a sad attempt at dancing the polka in the bar. Nice try though, guys.
Nick warns Andi about his very large family that she is about to meet—he has 10 siblings! As soon as they get to Nick’s family home, Andi is greeted with a mob of people, in addition to a slightly creepy wall of photos lining the living room with a baby picture of each child, and a present day photo directly below it.
Andi seems to maintain her composure, but definitely looks overwhelmed by all the questions being shot at her by all of Nick’s brothers and sisters. When Nick’s sister sits down with Andi, she gets emotional because she doesn’t want to see her brother get hurt again (Nick was engaged once before).
“When I say I want the love of my life, I mean that. I think of a future with Nick,” Andi told his sister.
Nick’s youngest sister Bella, who looks no older than eight or nine years old, sits down with Andi to ask her a long list of handwritten questions. The girl definitely doesn’t give Andi an easy time, going as far to ask her, “Do you love my brother?”
By the end of the day, it is clear that Nick’s entire family approves of Andi. Andi definitely feels more at ease after meeting his family and seems a little bit more comfortable with such a huge family.
“I don’t think of her as The Bachelorette anymore. I just think of her as my girl,” Nick said.
Next, Andi met up with Chris in the middle of nowhere—otherwise known as Arlington, Iowa. “It’s a very simple place, but it’s a beautiful place,” Chris said. Well Chris, simple might be a little bit of an understatement.
The date starts with Chris showing Andi around his house and his farm. Although he does live in the boonies, the acres and acres of land he owns is quite impressive and Chris does look pretty sexy in his natural habitat. “Chris is the epitome of a man when he is driving that tractor and plowing those fields. He is the hottest farmer ever,” Andi said.
Despite his sexiness on the farm, Andi definitely didn’t hold back her concerns about living in the middle of nowhere. When she asked Chris what she would do for work, he responded with the sexist, “There’s the opportunity to be a homemaker.” He did add “sarcastically” at the end, but we all know he kind of meant it deep down inside.
When Andi meets Chris’s family, they all appear to be extremely welcoming and genuine. Andi talks with Chris’s mom about her concerns with living in Iowa. Apparently, his mom used to live in a city before Iowa, and said the transition wasn’t too bad. “If you love someone you’re gonna make it no matter where you live,” she added.
Andi said she feels “very at ease” about living on the farm after talking with Chris’s mom and the rest of his family. The evening ends on a very positive note with Andi saying she is “on cloud nine.” Hmm, maybe Andi could be making a move to the farm after all!
Next stop: Tampa, Florida to spend the day with Josh and his family. As soon as they see each other, Josh and Andi run into each others arms and look elated.
They walk around Tampa, and Josh brings Andi to a baseball field. “That was my past and it’s tough thinking of that all the time,” Josh said. Funny, since Josh always has seemed to mention baseball in almost every conversation.
Andi is nervous to meet Josh’s family because his brother Aaron is about to go into the NFL draft. “I fear that tonight is going to be all about Aaron because this is a once in a lifetime thing. I also want the family to be excited for Josh because this is a huge time in his life to,” Andi said.
Just as Andi feared, as soon as they sat down for dinner, everyone immediately began asking Aaron questions about football. They barely even tried to incorporate Andi into the conversation! She clearly looked uncomfortable.
Finally, the attention begins to turn to Andi and Josh. Andi spends time talking to Josh’s mom, sister and brother Aaron. Andi expresses her concerns to Josh’s sister about having to travel every Sunday to watch Aaron’s football games. His sister doesn’t deny the fact that fights will probably arise as a result of that.
However, after talking with the entire family, Andi feels more relaxed about the situation and is confident that if she were to marry Josh, they would start their own family together.
Lastly, Andi goes off to Dallas, Texas to meet up with Marcus. “Today is one of the most important days of my life. I don’t bring anyone into my family. Bringing someone into that dynamic is a very meaningful and serious thing for me,” Marcus said.
On this date, Andi needs to decide if her feelings can catch up with Marcus’s, since he has been extremely open about his from day one. She also reveals that she is the most nervous about meeting his family out of all of the guys.
As soon as they walk into the room, Marcus’s family immediately notices the glowing pride on his face with Andi by his side. When Andi talks to his sister, she admits that Marcus falls hard fast and has always been open about his emotions. However, when she talked to his mom, she tells Andi that Marcus does not open up to people very often. Hmm…interesting.
Everyone in Marcus’s family approves of Andi completely, but who wouldn’t?! She is a beautiful and successful DA after all.
After all of the hometown dates, things take a more serious turn. All of the men and Andi arrive at Chris Harrison’s house in Los Angeles. Chris sits them down and tells them about former contestant Eric’s paragliding accident. They just learned that morning that he had passed away.
Andi immediately breaks into tears, and there is an awkward silence in the room. No one says anything. This scene is probably the most real The Bachelorette has ever been, but that doesn’t make it any more easy to watch.
24 hours later everyone meets again for the final rose ceremony. The mood is tense not only because one man is about to be sent home, but also because of the tragic news they received the night before.
Andi stands in front of the men with a rose in her hand. She takes a deep breath and waits. And waits…until she runs out of the room and starts sobbing in Chris Harrison’s arms.
Once Andi composes herself, she returns. The first rose goes to Josh. Kind of a surprise considering his hometown date wasn’t that spectacular. Next, the rose goes to Chris. Wow! Andi really must have loved the farm!
Finally, its between Nick and Marcus. Nick looks the most nervous and shaky we have ever seen him this entire season. The final rose goes to Nick.
Marcus looks completely devastated and heartbroken. Andi walks him out and cries telling him he “did nothing wrong” and she was “sorry I didn’t give you what you gave me.”
The episode ends on a bittersweet note. However, next week is one of the most important weeks of Andi, Josh, Chris and Nick’s lives. They will be traveling to the Dominican Republic for everyone’s favorite: fantasy suite time!
Image via Roger Wong/INFphoto.com