The Take Home Message: Take Ownership of the Situation

Ok, so before I watched this episode, I already had a take-home message in mind, due to the clips and previews I've seen. It was "ABC needs new material." I was seriously SICK of watching people "have" girlfriends on this show. So Justin has a girlfriend. Oh my GOD. Who CARES??? We see this every season!!! PLEASE!

However, as it turns out.... I found that watching Justin's girlfriend be revealed and Ali yell at him and chase him around as he hobbled in that little leg cast of his was actually pretty amusing. They actually had some good material to work with. I love how his girlfriend sold her voicemails to ABC and we got to actually hear him go on about how much he loved her and wanted to marry her. That was pretty good.

So there is Ali, getting ready and primping and talking about how NOTHING could go wrong. Then Harrison turns up at the door and Ali was really nervous. You could hear it in her voice. Obviously she knew that Harrison was there to reveal some bad news and drop a scandal bomb on her. It happens every season.

She nervously lets him into her hotel room and Harrison looked like he was not really feeling this either. Anyway, then they dial up Jessie from Jake-the-monster's season and she reveals that one of the guys there has a girlfriend.

Ali was really nervous it would be someone she cared about. And I love how relieved she was when they were like "It's Justin." I mean, she literally LOL'd. She could NOT have cared less that Justin had a girlfriend. She was SO relieved that it was not someone she actually cared about -- such as Frank.

Anyway, then it was obvious she was just towing the company line and acting the part - mad that he had a girlfriend. ZERO tears came out of her eyes. She just went and yelled at Justin because she had to. Plus, if she HAD cared about him - which she didn't - she WOULD have had just cause to be mad, so she felt justified in screaming at him. I thought his performance was pretty lame. That one part where he was like "I have NOT been talking to her!" he looked really zealous. Whatever... I'm over him. He is obviously crazy and creepy and a liar. Unlike Wes, where it was pretty obvious they were making up this story line, obviously Justin IS a woman-player who actually DID have a girlfriend. However, Ali wasn't really that into him anyway, so at the end of the day - who really cares?

All right, so then Ali takes Ty, the divorced Southern gentleman on a date to a three hundred year old bath house that women are not allowed into. This date really grossed me out on multiple levels. Even though Ali did NOT care AT ALL that Justin had a girlfriend, I did still feel like she was on this date to prove something. Oiling up Ty in the male bath-house was just really gross and like she was trying to be all sexy and prove how attractive she really is or something. She was using him for his body. I don’t know, it was just gross and skeezy. You can also tell that she has NO chemistry with him... AT ALL.

AND -- I am offended that women are "not allowed" in that bath house usually. That is NOT cool. That is sexist. Screw that. I would have refused to go into that place. Oh... it's another culture? People are different around the world. Guess what -- I don't care!! I AM intolerant of cultures that treat women as inferior. I really don't care what tradition or history it's rooted in. You would be correct to label me as judgmental and un-accepting. Screw that sh!t and screw Turkey.

Sigh.

Anyway.... variations on a theme. Ty and Ali have dinner and over dinner it is revealed that traditional gender roles had something to do with Ty's divorce. It's unclear exactly what because the editors chopped the conversation up so badly we can't really tell WHAT in the hell happened. But it sounds like Ty expected his wife to stay home for him, and was really surprised to discover that women actually hold down jobs these days and in fact are sometimes even presidents of companies.

Well obviously that's a horrible match for Ali, since we know how much she loves her career at Facebook. She even admits that she is anything but "traditional" and that she has many concerns about Ty. However, she still gave him the rose.

I still think that I kind of like Ty. I do think he is cute, and he seems tall, in a good way, because I'm not usually really into tall guys. He might be gay though. Damn, I'm starting to through that accusation around so much, soon it's not going to mean anything when I say it anymore.

So, on the group date are Chris L., Kirk, Robert-o and Craiger.

They go olive oil wrestling with random Turkish dudes. The most notable part of this date was that Chris L. finally popped his shirt off and we got to see his tattoo for his Mom. Chris L., I want to stop saying bad things about you. I really do. But honestly, I didn't quite get the tattoo. It seemed like it wasn't really on his heart, but more on his rib cage. And it was kind of big, and seemed to be his Mom's name in script. Or is it her signature or something? I don't know.

It also seems like it might be kind of awkward if you were trying to get busy with him, like in a hot tub or something and there was his Mom's name on his chest. I don't know. What the hell do I know?

Anyway, so Craiger won the olive oil wrestling match. It was pretty obvious he was going to have to win, because he was going ON about how he had no one on one time with her so far. And he did NOT seem like he actually WAS winning. More like they staged it for him to win and get some time with her.

So Ali and Craiger go off and have some special one on one time, during which it became overly apparent to me that she is NOT into him and they have NO chemistry. Seriously. She has NO chemistry with him. I'm not sure if he was into her or not. I don't really think so. Other than the fact that she is the only girl there and he has to be into her, I don't think he really was that into her. He seemed pretty laid back and like he wasn't taking things too seriously.

So, I liked the part where Ty and Chris L. were sitting around in their PJ's gossiping about which guys are best suited for Ali. HAHAHAH!!! Yes!!! THAT is how guys spend their time together I am so sure. Having pillow fights and girl talk. Hilarious!

Anyway, so then she goes on another one on one date with Frank to the bazaar to buy random crap. Ali LIKES Frank. She IS into him. She DOES have chemistry and wants him bad.

However, he is no good. She is like "When we first went out, things were so great, but he keeps disappointing me." Then she was like "I just want the old Frank back." I am here to tell you -- that is a BAD sign. She has NOT known him long enough for the magic to have disappeared. There is no old Frank. He is the kind of guy that probably had a good first impression with her and things seemed great. However, sometimes when you get to know someone for another week or two or month, you then realize who they REALLY are. She is now seeing his true colors and doesn't like them as much, so wants to believe that she can re-capture the old Frank. But that's an illusion. This IS who he really is - neurotic and insecure. Things are NOT good with Frank and she should forget about him and let it go. But she's really into him. She has chemistry with him and wants him. And apparently he's going to drop some bomb on her as we witnessed in the previews of "coming up on this season."

Also..... uhmm...... I think that Frank is missing a tooth. ????? They fixed British Bachelor Matt's teeth. I'm just saying...

So, time for the cocktail party and rose ceremony. Chris L. rolls up for the occasion in a suit..... with TENNIS SHOES. As I said before, I really am NOT all into male fashion and picking out what every guy needs to wear. But his fashion choices need some help. Every other guy had a nice suit on, with a tie and dress shoes. Chris L. was wearing some tennis shoes, no tie and didn't button up his shirt either. I don't get it. Why wouldn't someone give him a heads up on what to wear???? WHAT???!!!! COME ON!!! Are they trying to make him look stupid or something? Like he really needs a woman, bc his Mom died and he needs a woman to tell him how to dress. OHHH!!!! Who's sexist now!!?? Me!!

Chris is such a sweet guy and all the women of America love him and he is The Next Bachelor. Ugh. I don't know. My feelings about him are just so mixed. Also, what was with the Cuba Libre shirt he was wearing at one point? We Googled it and it seems that it's a mixed drink. As worried as I was that maybe he was wearing a pro-Castro t-shirt or something, I was even more disappointed to learn it was actually a DRINK t-shirt (maybe?). Combine that with the flip cup incident and maybe he IS a frat bro? Who knows.

Anyway, Ali didn't need to have a cocktail party because she already knew who was going home that night: Craiger.

Ouch!! Really?? He's that bad that she doesn't even need one last cocktail party with him just to be SURE??? Nope!! He is history. It's always whoever you see the most of that gets sent home that night. When it's the person's last night on the show, they always use him a lot in the show that night.

I liked how he took ownership of the situation after he got the boot. "Before you say whatever you were going to say, I'd just like to say that I meant everything I said before on our date." HAHAH! Nice. Ali is NOT really that great, inside and out, etc, and whatever else he said. But I do like how he took ownership of the situation. I think that's always a good idea for everyone, at all times -- own the situation. Really. It's a good life idea.

Yours in the Single Life,

Julie Julie

PS - I hate it when she's like "My husband is in there" or whatever about "her husband." That grammar is NOT ok!!! Your husband is NOT in there because you don't HAVE a husband. Best case -- a guy you eventually marry is in there. It's not accurate to refer to "your" "husband" when you don't have one.

PPS - Why did they reveal who gets hometown dates? Frank. And someone else, but I can't remember who.