‘Bachelor’ recap: Raleigh’s Matt James is a real prince. But there’s an evil queen, too.
Raleigh native Matt James made his premiere as ABC’s newest “Bachelor” last week, handing out 24 roses to jump start his journey to finding love. (Scroll down for that recap, and for all of our Matt James coverage.)
In tonight’s installment, Matt got his first one-on-one date, with Bri Springs, and went on the largest group date in “Bachelor” history: a wedding photo shoot featuring 18 wannabe brides.
Meanwhile, last week’s glimpses of the season’s potential troublemakers proved accurate, delivering this week a bit of the insane “Bachelor” drama we crave.
Let’s dive in.
Matt’s ‘Bachelor’ date with Bri
Monday’s show opened with the 24 women checking out their temporary digs at a Farmington, Pa. resort they immediately nicknamed the “Matteau.” As they considered upcoming dates, Khaylah Epps, a health care advocate from Durham, said the prospect of not getting a date is “terrifying” and that if she doesn’t get a date, “I’ll always be thinking ‘what if’ — and it will kill me.”
But Khaylah and the other women would have to wait, as Matt’s first one-on-one date was with Bri Springs, a communications manager from San Francisco. The two left on four wheelers, eventually switching from two ATVs to sharing one.
At some point, Matt and Bri are thrown from their four wheeler (they’re fine) and Matt apologizes on camera to Bri’s mom, whom he calls “Mrs. Bri” and says “I vow to protect her — better — from now on.”
Their reward for defying death is a dip in a hot tub, situated in the middle of the woods, and the producers make Matt take off his shirt and chop the wood to heat it. Bri takes it all in and calls Matt “the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen.”
Later with Bri, Matt talks about how growing up (he was raised by a single mom with one older brother), he gravitated toward friends with big families, so that he could experience what it was like to be in a big family.
They make out with a fireworks show in the background.
Victoria, this season’s ‘Bachelor’ villain
Yes, as the premiere teased, Victoria — who showed up in a crown calling herself Queen Victoria — seems to be this season’s very stable genius.
When Matt leaves for his date with Bri, Victoria immediately begins complaining about how the others are being “fake (bleep bleep)” for pretending to be happy for Bri. And she repeatedly tells the women that she is sick of them.
Then she announces she doesn’t want to be in a group date because she doesn’t like the women and doesn’t want to spend time with them. For some reason, Victoria said, they don’t seem to like her. Huh.
But she said she’d go on the group date if she had to. For Matt.
Guess what? She’s gonna have to.
Abigail Heringer, the deaf contestant who got last week’s First Impression Rose, predicts that the group date, which will have a record 18 women, will be a “sh*t show.”
The “sh*t show” starts way before the group date. Victoria picks a fight with Marylynn, her roommate, and decides she will sleep on the couch. She leaves the group, packs her bags and appears to camp out in the hotel lobby.
‘A bunch of gestures’: Matt’s group date
The massive group date is an outdoor wedding photo shoot.
Despite some cringey moments with Victoria, everything seemed nice until host Chris Harrison showed up and stopped things halfway through, hinting that Matt wanted someone who would “fight” for him.
Swear to God if ABC makes these women fight . . .
Luckily, it’s a game and not an actual fight. But still. I’m not loving it, because it’s still basically a fight.
For the game — Capture the Heart — the women divide into two teams and are armed with purses and bouquets, which they dip in paint to “tag” the other team members, and they smash wedding cake into each other and tackle each other as they try to capture a stuffed red heart hanging from a post.
The winning team gets to spend the rest of the date with Matt, and the losers have to walk home in their junked up dresses.
I don’t understand at all what’s going on in this game. Supermodel Chelsea describes it as a “free for all,” and she’s correct.
Victoria said her team was made up of a “bunch of queens” and the other team was a “bunch of gestures.”
The Red team wins, the Gold Team has to slog home. Some of the women on the Gold Team (Rachel, Katie) cry, which is never a good look.
‘Unfortunately, you went to Carolina’
On his group date, Matt, who played football at Wake Forest, spends time with Lauren Maddox, a corporate attorney from Miami, and he seems to really like her.
At one point he says, “You’re beautiful, you’re smart. Unfortunately, you went to Carolina.”
Despite being a Tar Heel, Lauren gets the Group Date Rose.
‘It’s an honor’: Matt’s date with Sarah
Matt’s second one-on-one date is with Sarah Trott, a broadcast journalist from San Diego.
They go for a flight in a biplane, aka deathtrapplane. Sarah says that Matt makes her feel safe, even when she’s a little scared. They survive.
Continuing with the series of COVID-safe dates, the two then have a picnic by a fire in the woods (this time Matt was not required to chop the wood while half naked).
Sarah talks to Matt about her family, but Matt could tell she was holding back. Later at dinner, Sarah opens up a little more, and tells Matt that her father has ALS, and that it has been very difficult for her family. Sarah quit her job as a journalist to come home and help be a caregiver for him. And she adds that her father wanted her to come on the show.
Matt tells her that what has given him strength through his life is his faith, and that he will be praying for her “pops” and her family.
“The fact that she should be home with her pops right now, with her family, and she’s here with me having dinner. I don’t even know what to say. It’s an honor,” Matt says to the camera.
Then Matt asks her what he can do throughout the experience to show her that he is someone she would want to be with it. (I can’t recall a Bachelor ever asking someone this on a first date — or at all.)
Matt describes her as selfless, loving, caring, compassionate and resilient.
I’d say she’s a frontrunner.
Victoria, the absolute worst
Before the rose ceremony, Matt hangs out with the women at the cocktail party, and proves that he is a straight-up P R O.
First, he and Abigail work out a secret ear-tugging signal to each other. Then he gives Marylynn an orchid, because he remembered it’s her favorite flower.
Awww. This is all going so well.
[Insert sound of record scratching]
Queen Victoria sees that her former roomie Marylynn got a gift and she becomes activated.
She tells Matt that Marylynn is “toxic” (what!?) and that Marylynn made her move out of their room (no). Matt believes this malarkey about Marylynn being a “bully” so he goes to find her and get to the bottom of it.
Meanwhile, Victoria tells the other women that she told Matt that Marylynn had been awful, and the other women say they disagree with Victoria’s characterization of Marylynn. The other women think Marylynn is nice.
But, sigh. Marylynn does a terrible job of defending herself to Matt, so this doesn’t bode well.
Marylynn valiantly tries to discuss it with Victoria, which is like trying to reason with a petulant toddler.
I can’t accurately describe how horrible Victoria is. Words simply fail me. If she was cast as a “mean girl” in a movie, her performance would be described as “over the top.”
Who will get roses???
Drama at the rose ceremony
In the middle of the rose ceremony, Sarah, who already has a rose, stumbled away from the podium and said she was about to pass out.
Medics were called and . . . that’s it! The drama is “TO BE CONTINUED,” the show tells us.
But in an upsetting twist, Victoria is shown in previews, so she seems to be sticking around.
See you next week.
More about ‘Bachelor’ Matt James
Catch up on our previous Matt James coverage:
▪ Matt James named ABC’s first Black “Bachelor”
▪ Durham woman is a contestant on “The Bachelor”
▪ Episode 1 recap: Meet, pray, love with Matt James
▪ See Matt James in middle school yearbook photos
How to watch ‘The Bachelor’
New episodes of “The Bachelor” air at 8 p.m. Mondays on ABC.
You can also stream “The Bachelor” the next day at abc.com/shows/the-bachelor or on Hulu.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 9:03 PM.
