‘Bachelor’ recap Week 3: Can Raleigh’s Matt James see the red flags on the field?
Matt James is starting to get the full “Bachelor” experience now.
Last week, the second week on the show for the Raleigh native, Matt had two good one-on-one dates, a pretty crazy group and a (nearly) fainting woman interrupting his rose ceremony. (Scroll down for the recap, and to see all of our Matt James coverage.)
This Monday, for Week 3, he deals with the fainter, Sarah, one of his one-on-one dates, and someone Matt seems to really like. But Sarah apparently forgot the premise of the “The Bachelor,” which will have Matt dating a lot of other women besides her for the time being.
We also finally get to finish that interrupted rose ceremony, where we learn if evil Queen Victoria’s poisoned apple of spite means curtains for Marylynn.
Here’s how things unfolded.
A fainting spell will put a target on your back
We pick up where last week’s episode ended: with San Diego broadcast journalist Sarah Trott almost falling out during the rose ceremony.
Sarah is checked out by EMTs and then gets some snuggle time with Matt outside, while the other women whisper and brood inside.
“She got exactly what she wanted,” one woman says of Sarah.
Khaylah Epps of Durham expresses “a slight bit of annoyance” over Sarah’s interruption (and also said that she felt “sucky” even saying that). Seems like a very human reaction to us!
Matt continues handing out roses, and the big question is if Matt will believe Victoria’s lies about Marylynn being “toxic.”
Friends, I’m sorry to say that Matt does believe Victoria’s smear campaign, and he sends Marylynn home, keeping Victoria. Matt, Matt, Matt.
Fortunately, our Durham contestant Khaylah does receive a rose, so she’s still in the game.
At the end of the ceremony, with Marylynn out of the way, Victoria zeroes in on her next victim, telling the camera that Sarah now needs to go. If Victoria had a mustache, she’d be twirling it. But she doesn’t, so she twirls a strand of her long hair instead.
Bleep bleep bleep: ‘Mmmm, chocolate cake’
The night’s first date is a group date. Matt arrives from the 1970s, wearing a white turtleneck and a short blue shirt-jacket with generous lapels. He pulls off the look.
Host Chris Harrison has already told us that the purpose of tonight’s date is to make everyone uncomfortable. So, to that end, the date will require both Matt and the women to write a steamy romance novel love scene, which they will have to read aloud in front of everyone.
Before the women read their erotic passages to Matt, Matt reads a passage of his own. He reads slowly, seriously: “She dropped her purse by a handrail leading up the steps. She was drawn to the kitchen by a scent all too familiar. Mmm. [LICKS LIP] Chocolate cake.”
It goes on from there, but this is a PG recap.
Katie — remember Katie from the first night? the one who brought a sex toy to meet Matt? — reads a passage, which is bleeped within an inch of its life, leading us to speculate that its rating is somewhere between Blushing Sailor and Triple X.
She is then one-upped by Victoria, whose story is just as dirty and apparently hilarious. We don’t really know because it was mostly Bleep Bleep Bleep Bleep Bleep.
Reclaiming my time! Reclaiming my time!
Back at the house, Sarah struggles knowing that the romance writers are enjoying an after party with Matt.
And yeah, she should be concerned because Matt is somewhere smooching up a storm with Rachael and Bri.
That “somewhere” is apparently just down the hallway, because Sarah, wrapped in her Grieving Shawl (OK, it was a black jacket), pads over to the after party and busts right in on Matt chatting with Katie.
Katie reports the news to the girls, while Sarah whines to Matt.
Khaylah has elevated to “incredibly annoying” because once again Sarah has interfered in her time with Matt.
And — honestly, this is amazing — the girls convince Katie to go back and RECLAIM HER TIME.
Katie tries, but Sarah is all “just one more minute.” Instead of leaving, Katie is all “OK, I’ll just be right over here” and stands just a few feet away. Katie gives them literally one minute before popping back over to remind her that this is not *her* group date. Not sure how Matt feels about this, but I’m loving it.
Now Sarah worries that the girls are upset with her (they are). Victoria follows Sarah outside to pretend that they were all concerned *for her health* when she showed up (I’m dying). Katie shows up to give her a “get your &#$% together” talk. As Katie points out, she’s over here interfering on their limited bit of group time, when Sarah has had “a whole entire date” with him.
I mean, Katie is kinda my hero right now.
But the whole episode has ruined the group date and there are a lot of long faces at the after party.
Matt still has a rose to give away, and he gives it to Rachael.
Welcome to The Sarah Show
The next morning, Matt shows up for his one-on-one date with Serena P. (she gets the initial treatment because there’s another Serena on the show) and learns that Sarah has taken to bed. The best advice would have been to “let her be, let her be,” but Matt — once again in a turtleneck and jacket — goes to check on her.
Sarah tells him how hard this is for her and says she thought about packing her bags to leave.
For many watching, this neediness is a red flag storm, but Matt can’t see any of them.
Sarah leaving would be a “tragedy” he tells her, and he tells her that he was happy to see her the night before, and he’s happy to come talk to her that morning. He’s just happy, happy, happy.
The girls downstairs? They are not happy.
Later that night, Sarah is still hiding in her room, not spending time with the other girls. They don’t like it.
“Sarah doesn’t need Matt, she needs a Xanax,” Victoria says.
When a new date card shows up, Sarah miraculously reappears, trying to slide in unnoticed. She is noticed.
Sarah apologizes to the women — specifically Katie — for interrupting the date and for shunning them all day. Every attempted platitude is met with a big ole “nope” from Victoria. And now, nearly all of the women have turned on her, telling her that she is “calculated, manipulative and toxic.”
And also, Khaylah is “very, very annoyed” again.
Victoria tells her she does not accept her apology.
It doesn’t look like Sarah has any friends in this house.
Donkeys and turtles: Matt’s date with Serena P.
For the next date, Matt goes horseback riding with Serena Pitt, a publicist from Toronto.
Serena is petite and funny: “What she lacks in size, she brings to the table in personality,” Matt tells us.
They have a nice picnic and are interrupted in the middle of a romantic kiss by a braying donkey.
They joke about childhood pets. Matt says he had a pet turtle and Serena P. tells him that’s not a real pet.
Serena P. tells us that she is “falling in like” with Matt.
At dinner, they talk about previous relationships, and he admits that he doesn’t think he has ever been in love before. But he’s definitely into Serena P.
“I can’t help but smile when I’m around you,” Matt tells her. “You’re someone I look forward to spending a lot of time with.”
She gets a rose.
Then they make out in the hot tub, Matt wearing swimming trunks covered with turtles.
Sarah exits: The long goodbye
The next morning we’re back to Sarah. She’s avoiding the other women, crying in a room by herself, and most of the women are still angry.
But Katie goes to find Sarah and tells her that she didn’t like what happened the night before, when the girls turned on her. Sarah tells Katie that she has decided she’s leaving, but Katie tries to talk her out of it, telling her that she needs to fully explore what she has with Matt, because she wouldn’t want to be his second choice just because Sarah left early.
Sarah then opens up to Katie about her dad’s terminal illness (he has ALS), saying that he has “maybe weeks” to live, and the time away from him is weighing on her. Katie, now also crying, says that her dad died in 2012, and that she thinks Sarah should go be with her dad.
“If I could get back the minutes I had with him...” Katie says. “I missed out on my goodbye with my dad, and I would never want that for you.”
Katie tells the other women that Sarah has gone home (Victoria applauds) and Katie warns them that they should “stay classy,” because they don’t know everyone’s story.
Katie doesn’t tell them anything about Sarah’s dad (at least not on camera), but she does say that she told Sarah that it was important to her that Sarah wasn’t leaving because she was “bullied out” by the women. Everyone nods solemnly.
Meanwhile, Sarah goes to see Matt, to tell him that she needs to leave the show because she’s under a lot of pressure being away from her dad, but also — ALSO — she says, she is being bullied by the women in the house. So in speaking to Matt, a big part of the reason she is leaving is because the women attacked her and she doesn’t feel welcome.
So yes, Sarah is still leaving, but not before poisoning the other women in Matt’s eyes.
Matt seems genuinely sorry to see her go.
“It doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop thinking about you, and praying for your dad and thinking about your family,” Matt tells her. “And when you’re ready, some guy is going to be extremely lucky. And I’m bummed it’s not me, but I’ve learned so much from you already and what it means to sacrifice and do anything for your family and the people you love, and I’m gonna miss you.”
Matt walks her to the black SUV and she is driven away, in tears.
But next week is another week, and ... there’s a “Bachelor in Paradise”-style twist, with an influx of five new women. Woo boy, it is going to get U G L Y.
And we’ll be right here to chronicle it all.
More about ‘Bachelor’ Matt James
James, who made news last summer when he was named ABC’s first Black “Bachelor,” is 28 years old and works with a real estate investment firm in New York City. He is also involved in a program in New York that helps children affected by homelessness.
We will recap the show each week.
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
▪ Episode 2 recap: Matt James is a prince, but there’s an evil queen, too
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 18, 2021 at 9:04 PM.
