This episode had it all: Hilary Duff, the incomparable Ziwe, red flag accusations, and petty drama! This is why I watch The Bachelor. Love stories are nice, but let’s be real, the cattiness is key, especially in the beginning when there are so many women and most of them seem confused about what’s going on.
We begin the episode with the women moving into the mansion for the first time since Peter Weber’s season, which aired right before the pandemic began in 2020. Clayton is reflecting on the first night of his journey and he is so convinced his wife is in this group of women, very optimistic. He’s saying it so much that it’s having the opposite effect on me, the more he says it, the less I believe it.
Jesse Palmer introduces himself to the women, reminds them that he was once the Bachelor (which surely very few of them remember because they were barely out of kindergarten), and praises the process. He once again drops that he’s a happily married man and I see the producers don’t ask him to elaborate on that. He’s not married to the woman he chose from his season, but that doesn’t mean much because very few of the male leads are.
Palmer’s got a date card for the women and they squeal with excitement as if their name being on that card doesn’t mean they’ll be forced to do something incredibly embarrassing.
A Party Fit for a Kid
On the date: Teddi, Ency, Melina, Gabby Kira, Mara, Sierra, Genevive, Serene, and Cassidy
The date card said “This is what dreams are made of,” and while I’m not sure my mind would have jumped to Hillary Duff, the song would have at least come to mind. Disney couldn’t pay itself for the rights to play the iconic song from the Lizzie McGuire movie? That would’ve been a fantastic use of three minutes.
Anyway, these women are really, excited, like really excited, they screamed all through the reading of the date card, they are racing to Clayton and happy to see him. I’m not saying the excitement is fake, but also, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
The ladies are in Beverly Hills for the day hoping for some wine and dine time, but instead, they walk into a backyard with a bunch of screaming children. Sierra is thrilled to see screaming 10-year-olds, while Cassidy looks terrified.
Then, one of the GOATs from the early 2000s Hilary Duff pops up and Cassidy says she’s her childhood idol. Lowkey same, Lizzie McGuire was everything.
Turns out they are crashing a birthday party for a girl named Maya and Duff is enlisting their help to finish setting up for the celebration. Of all the things they could’ve been forced to do with kids, this is likely the best option.
Almost immediately, Cassidy decides to opt-out and in doing so, sets the tone for the entire episode. She starts off as too eager but ends as insufferable, but we’ll get there later on.
In some ways, you could say Cassidy understood the assignment, she’s there for Clayton, to get his attention, spend more time with him, and make her intentions known. Do you know what isn’t going to lead to that happening? Building a dollhouse with Gabby, so she doesn't. Instead, she pulls Clayton aside for some alone time where she oversells the chemistry between them and literally jumps him for a makeout session. I don’t see the chemistry between these two. I think about how he’s been with Teddi, or even Genevive versus how he is with Cassidy and I just don’t see it. But that won’t stop her.
Cassidy is laying it on thick. I’m all for aggressive moves, especially on a group date, but she’s not even really picking up what he’s putting down. Then, she is forced to mingle with the kids and basically tells them she doesn’t fuck with kids and immediately ducks out to spend time with Hillary Duff. She came with an agenda and it’s not my vibe, but I get it. Because she knows Clayton loves kids and that she didn’t contribute at all to the kids having a good party, she grabs a cake, that she didn’t even make in an effort to make it seem like she kind of cares about these kids. But she drops the damn cake on her way to give it to Maya, the birthday girl.
I would love to know what Cassidy’s strategy was when she decided to come on this show. While I don’t actually care if she’s here ‘for the right reasons,’ I’d love to know what her reasons are. I can assume it’s to grow her Instagram following, maybe getting some name recognition for some blog or small biz she’s starting. If that’s the case, I’m curious how coming off like an aggressive ass and being mean to kids is aiding in that? Sure, this is an edited representation of what really went down, but it’s not a good look for Cassidy.
It’s time for the nighttime portion of the date and the women are optimistic that this portion will go better than the daytime did, since many of them didn’t get time with Clayton.
Clayton and Serene get a moment together and we learn she’s a teacher. While she’s talking, Clayton looks so attentive, which is telling. You can also tell he really wants to kiss her and he does. His love language is definitely physical touch. Also, was it just me, or were all the kissing sounds turned up this episode? It’s so uncomfortable!
A woman whose name I do not know calls out the group date rose and Cassidy uses it as an opportunity to say she’s going to get it. She says she really likes Clayton and she knows he likes her. Kira addresses her behavior during the daytime date; she communicates that it was frustrating to see her not take the date seriously and Cassidy blows her off and says that she wasn’t there to help the kids, she was there to get to know Clayton (she’s not wrong).
I thought the women were being pretty nice about it, they were trying to clear the air and say how Cassidy’s actions made them feel. It is frustrating for her to not do her part during a group date. Sure, the tasks were silly, but the point of the date was to show how the women are with kids and Cassidy didn’t even try. It was also clear she doesn’t even like kids, which is the exact opposite of Clayton, that’s not a good sign for their future.
Teddi sits with Clayton and admits that it was hard to see him with other women, she quickly started to question if he still likes her, which I think shows a little immaturity on her part. It’s been two days, chill. Clayton says he has high expectations for her, that’s why she got the first impression rose. He encourages her to focus on them. Teddi agrees to focus on their relationship and says she’ll need a lot of validation. I loved this. Name what you need early on and set those expectations. The quicker you do that, the quicker you can find out if the person can keep up.
Back at the house, Susie gets the first one-on-one and she’s nervous to see how they’ll interact solo and if they’ll personalities and humor will be aligned.
Time for the group date rose. Clayton is handing out group date rose nominations before giving out the actual rose. He thanks thanking several women for the time he got to spend with them. Serene and Cassidy received praise for the connections they made during the date and unfortunately, Cassidy gets the group date rose. The women look pissed, Mara is crying and triggered over the drama. Cassidy says the rose solidifies where she and Clayton are at, I disagree. It’s early and Cassidy likely got the rose due to a nudge from production. Clayton has mentioned that he likes a woman with confidence and who goes after what she wants (he mentioned this on Michelle’s season too). So, Cassidy’s early aggression and excitement are boding well for her. As time goes on, I think the opposite will be true. She’ll continue to spend her time with him talking about how much she likes him, they’ll learn nothing about one another and she’ll act shocked when he sends her home in a few weeks.
Back at the mansion, we get a moment between Cassidy and Shanae. Cassidy says she knew she was going to get the group date rose and is already trying to take Shanae under her wing. Not to sound like Chris S., but Cassidy is talking like she’s got it in the bag. Girl, I guess.
Susie and Clayton Take Their Love to New Heights
I’m not even going to hold y’all, this date did not do Susie or Clayton any favors. This woman graduated college and just up and moved to Japan, she has her own videography business, she practices Jiu-Jitsu, and what did we get? A conversation about how important family is. It’s safe to say that family—blood or chosen—is important to everyone. Caring about and loving your family is not a personality trait. I don’t want to see a dozen one-on-one group dates this season where all Clayton does is remind us how badly he wants a family. That’s not interesting.
I don’t mean to gloss over the very heartbreaking story of her father’s organ failure, that sounds awfully traumatic and I’m sure it was a grounding moment for her. I’d just like to see more date conversations center who the contestants are. Especially when a contestant has so many awesome things they’ve experienced.
It’s not Susie's fault the date was a dud, it’s not even Clayton’s fault, I’m sure they talked about more than the importance of their families and partnership, but it sucks that this is the only conversation we saw.
Despite the less-than-stellar date, Susie did come off great. She seems genuine and down to earth. She speaks with confidence and has this optimism that even though she doesn’t quite know what she’s doing or what the future holds, she moves through life choosing to believe things will work out.
As the date wraps up, we get the first concert doors moment of the season. An artist named Amanda Jones performs her song I Choose You. I’d like to know what it would look like for production to pay someone with slightly more fame for these concerts? Is it really too expensive? Becuase production paid to play less than 30 seconds of N*SYNC’s It’s Gonna Be Me during Paradise, so they’ve got the funds. Give us a Chika concert, Khalid, Kasey Musgraves, or literally any R&B artist charting right now.
Back at the mansion, Cassidy is telling Shanae how important it is to be a competitor and make an early connection to stand out and last. I like that the women are openly talking about the show like it’s a competition/game because it very much is. I also see we’re back to leaving women off of dates, I love that for us as viewers, means more drama. Jill starts crying and questioning why she’s there. It’s a bit much, it’s only week one sis.
Nothing Standing In The Way of Our Love
On the date: Marlena, Elizabeth, Kate, Sarah, Lyndsey, Rachel, Tessa, and Shanae
Cassidy is already in Shanae’s head, she’s determined to stand out.
When the ladies enter the group date, the greatest to ever do it, Ziwe is leading the date and she’s going to help Clayton uncover which women are coming with the red flags. The women are playing Never Have I Ever. Ziwe asks questions like whose sent nudes, who has cheated on their boyfriend, and finally, asks the women if they’ve ever felt judged by other women in the house. Shanae says she has and somehow that turns into her doing the Nae-Nae, why? This is weird.
Now the women are doing an obstacle course of red flags where the point is to humiliate them, I mean to show how badly they want to hang out with Clayton. Sarah is the winner and gets to share a toast with wonder bread. I was personally disappointed our Olympian queen Marlena didn’t win.
It’s time for the group date cocktail party and Shanae is talking about getting the group date rose. She has big “I want to win” energy, not so much “I’m looking for my husband” energy.
Elizabeth grabs Clayton first and Shanae is pissed. Gotta be quicker, babe! Shanae crumbles, quickly. She’s in her head, she’s breaking down and does what women in crisis on this show do best, she throws her competition under the bus. She immediately begins saying Elizabeth is a walking red flag but doesn’t say how.
Outside of this petty drama, I noticed something about Clayton in this episode, he is very engaged when talking to the women he’s interested in. These women get a glow from him, he leans in, he smiles more, he asks questions about them, and almost never lets them get up without initiating a kiss (very different from the kissing Cassidy was initiating with him).
Shanae finally gets her time with Clayton and instead of working to be the front runner, she uses it to shit on Selling Sunset Elizabeth. Not a good use of time Shanae-nae, your teacher Cassidy would not approve! Clayton clearly does not like drama, he looks annoyed, but I appreciate that he addresses things immediately so he can move on to the parts he likes about this experience.
Clayton grabs Elizabeth to talk again and leads the conversation by saying there may be some tension between her and Shanae. It basically sounds like Shanae told Clayton that Elizabeth was nice to her one day and then mean to hear the next day. Nae-nae, girl, seriously? Is this the hill you want to die on because this is the beginning of the end. I liked that Clayton named this tiff as an issue between them, immediately taking himself out of the equation because he doesn’t need to be in it at all. Elizabeth’s response is solid as well, she turns it back on her, and Clayton’s relationship and says she’s focused on trying to create a connection with him, not start drama.
Afterward, Elizabeth grabs Shanae and says she’s upset about what she said to Clayton. Shanae said she’s offended because Elizabeth ignored her when she was trying to talk to her with her and Ency. Elizabeth explains that she has ADHD and can really only process one convo at a time, which makes sense. Shanae doubles down and says again that she was ignored and that Elizabeth is two-faced for her actions. This is an incredibly terrible use of time.
It’s time to hand out the second group date rose of the week. Shanae gets an honorable mention, but Sarah gets the group date rose, for clearly being there for the right reasons (Clayton’s words).
Before the night can end, Shanae and Elizabeth are arguing, again. Shanae is coming off pretty combative, mentions Elizabeth’s ADHD in front of the women as this weird jab. I don’t really understand Shanae’s issue. To me, the ADHD explanation is more than enough of a reason for Elizabeth's lack of presence during a conversation. Shanae is mad about a conversation we didn’t see, so that context is nonexistent for us as viewers, making this argument irrelevant.
Cocktail Party
Before the cocktail party, a woman is saying that some drama is going to go down and Cassidy is scolding her prodigy Shanae about being in the drama telling her there’s no benefit to it.
Clayton takes Eliza first since they didn’t get to connect this week. She calls out that she missed not seeing him, but is glad to see him now. During their time, she shares that she likes scrapbooking and she’d love for her and Clayton to start their own of their journey here. I’ve enjoyed the moments Eliza has created with Clayton and I hope we get more of her so we can hear about her upbringing in Germany.
A few more women get time with Clayton and in his ITM he says he’s having a good drama-free night, so of course, we’re about to get drama.
Shanae and Elizabeth go have yet another talk. Shanae isn’t satisfied with Elizabeth’s explanation of having ADHD and thinks it’s an excuse and that Elizabeth intended to be rude to Shanae. Elizabeth shuts down the conversation pretty quickly, which was the best thing she could have done. Shanae is having a conversation with producers and digging herself deep into a hole making fun of Elizabeth’s ADHD.
When Shanae joins the larger group of women, Kira speaks up and asks what the issue is. Shanae explains again that Elizabeth is a red flag becuase one day she’s talking to her, the next day she isn’t. How long have these women known one another, three days? Does Elizabeth even owe Shanae an explanation, is any of this that deep? The answer is no. The women, including Cassidy, agree and encourage Shanae to move on from her issue.
It was at this moment that I looked at the clock and realized we would not be getting a rose ceremony this episode. I hate when production breaks from their routine. Most of the time, not getting a rose ceremony means we’re focusing on petty drama and what’s happening between Elizabeth and Shanae was definitely that.
Cassidy takes some more time with Clayton and is ensuring him again that she’s here to stay and says she’s crushing on him big time. I still stand by my belief that Clayton is not that into her. Not to mention, Cassidy will barely let Clayton get a word in and her confidence is teetering on delusion.
As the episode comes to a close, Sierra drops a bomb. Cassidy has a fuck buddy back home that she was talking to while she was in quarantine for this show and WE GET THE FREAKING FOOTAGE. Oh my god, finally. For years we have heard accusations about something someone said in the house, or on a bus ride to a group date and we never get the footage even though former contestants have shared that footage often exists. Well, tonight, we got the footage! See below.
Although we’ll have to wait a minute to watch this mess unfold, I already foresee Bachelor Nation getting into a tizzy over this. Saying Cassidy is being slut shamed and arguing what you do before the show shouldn’t be held against you. I mostly agree. In theory, it is not the big of a deal that this woman was getting some before agreeing to go on the show. She’s not the first contestant to do so and she certainly won’t be the last. He wasn’t a boyfriend, it didn’t sound like she made any explicit promises to hook up with him once this was all over regardless of the outcome. So, this is harmless, right?
Ehh, not quite. I’m a big proponent of the I’m not her to make friends attitude, and your coworkers are not your friends philosophy. These ladies are colleagues at best. None of them are getting paid (yet) but they were selected by ABC to do a job (make good TV), if they happen to make friends along the way great, but it is not a requirement. Cassidy’s first mistake was being too trusting of women who are not her friends, her second mistake was running her damn mouth about her sidepiece while production was at the mansion and she was mic’d. Cassidy, sis, this is the type of tea you share on a dark day when no cameras are around. How could someone know how to play the game so well, but fuck up so drastically?
After Sierra tells Clayton about Cassidy, she goes and grabs Cassidy because she’s a grown woman that owns her shit. Sierra says she wanted Clayton to know who he was dealing with.
Clayton looks sick, he’s gathering his thoughts and visibly frustrated and Chris Harrison 2.0 comes walking in to answer one question: Can Clayton take back a rose (he’s the lead and it would be great drama, of course, he can). Before we’re able to get an actual answer, the show ends. We now have to wait TWO WEEKS to see how the rest of the cocktail party and rose ceremony unfold. Hopefully, the drama is worth the wait, but I’m not convinced it will be.
What do y’all think? Is the Cassidy news a big deal? Does the Shanae/Elizabeth drama make sense? Let me know in the comments below!