‘Bachelor’ recap Week 5: Things get dirty this week for Raleigh’s Matt James
Things got a bit nasty on last week’s “Bachelor,” with the addition of five brand new women (only four survived), an ugly accusation about one woman’s character, and a boxing match that maybe got a tad too physical.
On this week’s show, Raleigh native Matt James is forced to address some of the nastiness in the house, confronting the women about bullying behavior (boy, Anna sure came from out of nowhere to supplant Queen Victoria as the season’s villain!) and telling them that he will not stand for it.
Will his warning do any good?
Monday night’s episode also showcased Matt’s “country roots,” since, I guess, “the South” and “the country” mean the same thing? But hey, I don’t know Matt’s life! He grew up in the city, but maybe he spent his summers down on the farm.
We’re about to find out.
Y’all need to straighten up
So just to pick up where we left off last week, the show introduced five new women, aka The New Girls, and The Old Girls — sorry, The Original Girls — just can’t get over it (these women wouldn’t last five minutes on “Bachelor in Paradise” am I right?).
Anna, from Chicago, even started a rumor that one of the new women, Brittany, who is also from Chicago, is maybe-possibly-could-be an escort. Katie, so far the only adult on the show, filled Matt in on the drama, so he stepped in to give the ladies a talking-to, saying he knows someone is spreading a rumor “that could ruin someone’s life.”
“If you’re having to belittle someone else for you to shine,” Matt said, “Then those aren’t the qualities I’m looking for in a wife.”
Anna — with huge, saucer eyes — basically had “It me” flashing over her head the whole time Matt was talking. (Katie is also a little nervous, not really wanting the piranhas to know she was the one who tipped off Matt.)
Matt takes Brittany aside, tells her that he’s sorry she has been targeted, but be strong.
Anna figures she better come clean and beg forgiveness. Or something. Matt is very nice about it, but also tells her “the damage has been done” and he escorts her out.
Well, this should be a wake-up call for the other women, scaring them straight into acting right.
WRONG!
Not acceptable, in any context
In the sweaty, panicky aftermath of Anna’s expulsion, some of The OGs do apologize to The NGs, but some of The OGs defend their behavior, saying “bullying is a strong word,” and that “toxic” isn’t really accurate.
Matt talks to Ryan, one of The NGs, and she tells him that Victoria had called her a “ho.” Matt acknowledged some of Victoria’s “antics,” but thought she had a “big heart.” Now he’s re-thinking that.
Victoria figures out that Ryan named her as one of the bullies and she flips out. She walks away from Ryan right in the middle of their talk, ranting to the camera that “literally, everything was going amazing” until that happened.
So then Victoria tries her version of damage-control with Matt, but it doesn’t go well. Matt tells her that he doesn’t like that she called Ryan a “ho.” Victoria is quick, though: “That was completely taken out of context.”
Matt, God bless him, responds: “I’m just curious, what context would calling someone a ‘ho’ be acceptable?”
Silence.
Instead of sending Victoria down the Anna Path, Matt gets up and walks out of the room. He ends the cocktail party, saying they’re going straight to the rose ceremony.
Victoria is spiraling. She tells the producers that, “literally, there’s no one in here he can marry besides me. I’m literally the best option for him. And I’m like, the only one with a working (bleeping) brain in this room.” And she says if Matt doesn’t pick her she will “literally die.”
She goes on and on and on — the crying, the whining, the collapsing — and the best part is the other women can hear it all. And they all want her gone.
We go straight into the rose ceremony, with Matt giving the first two roses to NGs Brittany and Ryan as a symbolic show of support.
And, thank you Jesus, Matt does not give Victoria a rose, and she must leave. She is not happy. Instead of the customary “goodbye hug,” Victoria stands in front of Matt with her arms crossed and tells him that she feels sorry for him because he “listened to hearsay.”
Outside, Victoria goes on: “He’s not my king and I’m still a Queen,” she says, and makes a gagging sound when she says Katie’s name.
While the girls clink their champagne glasses inside, toasting to “a clean slate,” Victoria is outside saying that the girls are going to be “so upset” that she’s gone, because she “brought so many people joy.”
She is also never dating another “Matt” as long as she lives because she hates that name now.
So that’s the great news.
The bad news is that Lauren, our UNC grad, also does not receive a rose.
Matt is already throwing around the p-word
The mood is dreary in the house the next day. Host Chris Harrison comes in and does his best job giving them a pep talk. It’s going to be a big week, he tells them.
He drops off a date card, and it’s a one-on-one date for Rachael. Matt seemed to like her a lot, way back in Episode 1, but they haven’t spent much time together since.
Rachael gets the coveted shopping spree date, which means she’ll return to the house loaded like a pack mule with bags of expensive dresses and shoes, and hated by all the women.
After a short fashion show, Matt puts a pair of Christian Louboutin heels on Rachael and she says she’s never owned a pair of shoes that cost more than $40.
In the dinner part of their date, Rachael tells Matt that she doesn’t have a lot of confidence and thinks Matt is out of her league.
“I like everything about you,” Matt tells her. “When I’m around you, you don’t even have to try and get my attention, you just have it. If you’re in the room, you’ve got it.”
Rachael tells him that she is already “completely falling in love” with him, but she’s scared because that may not be the outcome.
Matt asks her if he can share something with her, and he grins. “You’re not crazy, because I feel the same way,” he says.
Or maybe we’re both crazy, they decide. Awwww!
Matt tells the camera that “Rachael is someone that I could see, at the end of this, getting down on one knee and proposing to.”
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside
The next date is a group date, and this where we go all “Green Acres.”
Matt grew up in Raleigh, which (newsflash) is an actual (smallish) city, and he has lived in New York City for the past several years — but he tells us that yes, he is “a country boy at heart” and “grew up working on a farm.” (We need to know more about this.)
Excellent!
Unfortunately, we don’t get to see a lot of Matt’s farm skills, because the focus is on the women, who must gather eggs, milk goats, and make out with Matt behind the barn.
Katie and Abigail both struggle on the group date, after learning that Matt was kissing Pieper behind the barn.
But Abigail’s heavy heart gets a little heavier when she has to tell Matt later that night that there’s a chance that her children could be born deaf, and that her dad walked out on her family. Matt tells her he can relate to not having a dad around, and being raised by a single mom, and he’s not scared away by the things she is worried about.
Michelle, a New Girl who had a great one-on-one date with Matt last week, also struggles watching Matt interact with other women. They get some time alone to talk, snuggle and kiss on the couch, and she feels a little better.
But ... plot twist! Matt’s not finished cleaning up the “bully drama.” He says he has one more person to talk to.
Well, hello there MJ!
Matt tells MJ that her name came up during the conversations about toxic behavior, and MJ tries to act shocked, saying she “leads by example” and that he can trust her. He tells her he’ll talk to her more the next day.
She takes his “be nice” message to heart and immediately goes to the other women and picks a fight with Jessenia.
Matt has one group date rose to give out and he gives it to Abigail, because she was vulnerable with him.
MJ is still fuming. “My character is important to me, so I’m going to clear that up, real quick,” she tells us. And a sentence about clearing one’s good name has never sounded more sinister.
That time we learned that Kit has a famous mom
Matt tells us he’s still bothered by the house drama, but tonight belongs to Kit, who gets the next one-on-one date
The date is at Matt’s “Bachelor” pad, where they’ll cook dinner — but they start with dessert, so it’s chocolate chip cookie time (the secret ingredient, Kit tells Matt, is chocolate).
Matt feels natural with Kit, he tells us, and he’s having a blast.
Kit (Keenan) talks a lot about her mother, who is a fashion designer, and we’re a little slow over here, just now finding out that her mother is Cynthia Rowley.
‘I preach harmony, peace ... I am furious!’
Before the next rose ceremony, Matt sends a card to the house saying he wants to talk to MJ and Jessenia to get to the bottom of the last bit of drama.
The two women must get dressed up, pack their suitcases (something each woman must do before every rose ceremony) and then share a limo to the hotel. It’s an awkward ride.
Once they get to the hotel, to presumably make the case to Matt that they can all get along, MJ is absolutely itching for a fight.
“Y’all want to see me fight? Get your popcorn,” MJ tells the camera.
Then MJ starts yelling at Jessenia about how she is embarrassed by this situation, which she says Jessenia created, by saying her name to Matt (Jessenia told Matt that MJ coined the term “JV vs Varsity” in referring to the New Girls and Original Girls).
“You know what I stand for. I preach harmony, peace” MJ says, her voice rising. “I am furious right now.”
The two yell back and forth at each other until Matt walks in, the bickering running out the clock on the episode.
See you all next week, when yes, there will be even more fighting! And a new contestant!
More about ‘Bachelor’ Matt James
James, who made news this past 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:
▪ Raleigh’s Matt James named ABC’s first Black “Bachelor”
▪ Durham woman is a contestant on “The Bachelor”
▪ See Matt James in middle school yearbook photos
▪ Episode 1 recap: Meet, pray, love with Matt James
▪ Episode 2 recap: Matt James is a prince, but there’s an evil queen, too
▪ Episode 3 recap: The Sarah Show finale
▪ Episode 4 recap: A (literal) battle for Matt James
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 February 1, 2021 at 8:51 PM.
