The Bachelor travels across the border for what might be the most dramatic episode of the season yet. Which, I mean, doesn’t really say a lot. But when the girls realize “there are, like, no rules” this season, things start to get interesting. This is especially apparent when Emily (who wins my vote as MVP of the episode, more on that later) declares that now that Haley is out of the competition, “there’s nothing holding me back,” and Olivia announces that, “there’s no doubt in my mind that I love Ben,” because of their “secret love language” and...all that...
After the girls arrive in Mexico and start popping the champagne, Becca finds the first envelope of the episode and Amanda wins the first date!
Amanda & Ben Reach New Heights
Or, well...depends on your definition of winning when Ben comes into the girls’ room with a flashlight at 4:20am to start the date. Ben takes a little bit of pleasure into this as he surprises all the girls and they’re properly freaked out. Though Lauren H. is properly startled by Ben seeing her with unbrushed hair and her retainer, Ben puts her at ease by admitting he wears one to sleep too.
Of course, real-life Disney Princess Amanda wakes up with flawless hair and gets ready in the fifteen minutes Ben allots her. Forget an episode about their dates, I want to know how Amanda manages to look amazing and stay perky without time for coffee or even a quick shower to wake up.
Just as we were wondering what Ben was going to do without a helicopter for their date, he manages to still keep them up in the air by surprising Amanda with a hot air balloon ride. The two take a quick tour of some of Mexico’s most historic spots and surprise history nerd Ben starts spouting off facts about the cities they’re flying over we can barely pronounce.
Also taking us by surprise, Ben takes Amanda on a picnic in the middle of a field instead of to a hot tub because they’re cute and romantic and I guess we all know not to trust the water in Mexico? They have a pretty serious conversation where Amanda admits she wants him to get to know her a lot better and as someone other than just The Mom, which she gets to do when they have their dinner date later on.
She goes on to admit that her ex-husband was cheating on her and potentially had some substance abuse problems and despite all her efforts, she just had to end it for the sake of her kids. Ben takes it super well and you can clearly see the respect he has for her. Naturally, Ben says the right thing and y’all, I love how he’s so smitten with her because so am I. “She’s so deserving to be loved. I would love to be the one to give her all that love. I could definitely see a future with Amanda,” Ben announces at the end of the date. Unsurprisingly, she gets a rose.
MasterChef: The Bachelor Edition
When the next group date gets announced, there’s certainly some tension. Olivia clearly wants that one on one date and is properly disappointed when her name is called for the group date. That doesn’t stop her from trying to get Ben alone, though.
As Ben tries to get the girls immersed in Mexican culture, he takes them to a Spanish class, where they learn totally useful phrases like, “I love you,” “I’m falling in love with you,” and “Will you marry me?” All the girls totally eat it up...except Jubilee, who’s anxiety is causing her to be aloof. When Ben tries to speak with her in Spanish like he’s done with the other girls, he calls her out and says, “Yeah, you’ve said that to the last four girls,” and throws her hair off her shoulder. Oh, honey. And here we were all rooting for you.
The Mexican Immersion isn’t over just yet; Ben takes the girls to a Mexican store/restaurant where they’re paired into teams and have to make a dish from a recipe entirely in Spanish. When they all have to pair up and realize that there are ten people, including Ben, Olivia and Jubilee fight for Ben until Olivia sinks her claws in and wins while Ben looks like he wishes the Earth would just swallow him up.
As the girls search for the ingredients, Olivia spends the entire time treating it like a one-on-one date with Ben and they focus less on perfecting the recipe and more on eating crickets (...seriously) and taking tequila shots.
Finally, it’s time for the judging; while most of the girls get average reviews, the two chefs whisper to each other in Spanish that Ben and Olivia’s plate looks like a plate of dog food and it might be the second best moment of the entire episode. However, Lauren B. and Jubilee take home the prize as the chefs announce, “this entree needs to be on our menu!” Ben’s impressed.
Winning the cooking competition gives Jubilee a little bit of courage as she plans to steal Ben before Olivia does at their night date. Olivia manages to outsmart everyone else once more and steals him.
However, once Jubilee does get time with Ben, things get serious. Ben admits that he knows that Jubilee is struggling with feeling like she’s not fitting in and Jubilee says it’s because she’s not like the other girls but doesn’t want him to give up on her. She ends up asking him flat out if he still has faith in their connection and he painfully admits that with the way his other relationships have progressed, he doesn’t and he thinks that it might be time to say goodbye now before any more heartbreak can happen.
At the end of their group date, Ben surprises everyone by giving the rose to someone he “reconnected with,” despite the fact that they didn’t do much talking and during his one-on-one time with Lauren B. that night, he couldn’t keep his hands off her and you could see him very clearly falling in love with her. Though Olivia is once again thrilled she’s taking home a rose, the others are less than thrilled.
Walk, Walk, Fashion Baby
“Mexico City is known for its fashion,” is a statement we’re not quite sure we’ve ever heard before but Ben Higgins has that kind of face that says he doesn’t lie so we’re just going to go with it. Since it’s Fashion Week in Mexico, Lauren H. and Ben are invited behind the scenes to see how it all goes down and two hours before the show starts, the designers ask them if they want to participate. Lauren’s clearly nervous about the fact that she’s not a pro but despite the little notice, she absolutely rocks it. You’ve got to give the girl props; if a guy I was into took me on a first solo date to walk in a fashion show with statuesque, gorgeous models, I’d be cowering in a corner, not rocking the runway like a pro.
On their night date, Lauren H. and Ben finally get a chance to know each other. Apparently, she was also in a pretty traumatic relationship before this where her four-year live-in boyfriend was apparently cheating on her with three other women. Between her and Amanda, I’m genuinely surprised they’re handling dating a guy that’s also dating 10 other women this well. They’re cute, the dates cute, and Ben is clearly falling for her.
In their suite, the girls are talking and it’s clear that they’re all fed up with Olivia’s manipulation of Ben and want her gone. They’re realizing that Ben is taking this competition very seriously after sending Jubilee home and don’t want to end up like that.
Before the Rose Ceremony
You know the ceremony is going to be good when it starts with Olivia tells the camera, “Screw being nervous. I got the group date rose. I’m not going anywhere.”
Jojo has the first alone time with Ben that night and tells him that she wants him to feel comfortable talking to her, especially with how hard these past few weeks have been for him. It’s nice, honestly, being able to see someone verbalize that to him as he’s been a true gentleman making sure that all these girls are comfortable while they’re here.
At the table while they await their own time with Ben, Amanda is expressing her concerns to the group about who’s taking care of her kids. Olivia, who’s been shaming Amanda for being a mom the entire episode, decides to make the worst “joke” possible and says, “this is like an episode of Teen Mom.” Amanda, clearly startled, fires back an, “I’m sorry, what?”
Though Olivia has the audacity to look ashamed at her joke, Emily, sandwiched between the two, is fed up with Olivia’s behavior and decides to tell Ben the truth about what’s happening with Olivia and the other girls. She explains that she feels that Olivia isn’t showing Ben who she really is and that it’s affecting all the girls in the house. Though Olivia tries to save face with Ben by saying that things at the house are totally fine, Ben starts questioning her intentions by asking other girls about what’s really going on in the house. Amanda and Jennifer tell the truth about her being a bully and making everyone uncomfortable while the other girls gather around to comfort an emotional Emily.
As Chris Harrison comes out to start the rose ceremony, Ben interrupts and asks Olivia if they can talk for a minute. The girls are surprised and curious but mostly convinced of one thing: Ben’s going to take the rose away from Olivia and she’ll be the next one sent home.
Of course, we’ll have to wait until next week to find out.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.