SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Monday’s episode of The Bachelor.
The first week of dates are upon us, and the ladies are ready to get this show on the road. In case you missed it, there are 18 women left vying for Grant’s heart after night one.
Alexe has the first one-on-one, since she got the first impression rose — a tradition that had been lost to recent seasons of The Bachelor. But before that, we’ve got a group date on the horizon.
Beverly, Sarafiena, Alli Jo, Natalie, Parisa, Vicky, Chloie, Zoe, Juliana, and Allyshia are the first group of women who get to spend some time with Grant. Naturally, since Grant is a pro basketball player, the first date is testing these ladies’ skills on the court.
Grant gives out a few pointers to kick off the date, with some help from a group of kids who go to school nearby. Everything seems off to a solid start, but before long things get a bit tense when Zoe interrupts the group’s slam dunk competition to steal Grant away for a moment alone. She takes Grant up to the rooftop for a chat, which doesn’t last long, but they still return to a pretty uncomfortable silence.
Before they can get back into the swing of things, host Jesse Palmer steps in to announce that the fun and games are over, and the women will now be playing a game of five-on-five in the hopes of impressing their man.
The Purple Team won the matchup with a whopping 18-2 score, and Grant determined Chloie was the MVP for her buzzer beater basket.
Of course, the date didn’t end there. Later that night, the ladies gathered with Grant for a cocktail party. After a toast, Grant pulled Chloie aside for another moment alone to share a bottle of champagne. They both acknowledge they’re starting to form a connection, and it doesn’t take long for Grant to go in for a kiss.
While Grant is away, the other women confront Zoe about stealing Grant away during the slam dunk competition, but it doesn’t seem like Zoe regrets her decision at all, even though most of the other women are aligned that they felt disrespected by it. In fact, Zoe goes so far as to interrupt Grant’s one-on-one conversation with Juliana a few moments later as well, which only stokes the flames. At this point, the women are pretty fed up, though it remains to be seen how they might address this situation with Grant.
Eventually, Alli Jo musters up the courage to try to steal Grant away from Zoe, but she doesn’t bring up the drama. Instead she focuses on deepening her own connection with Grant only to be interrupted once again by Zoe.
It’s not hard to imagine how this goes over with the rest of the women. When Zoe returns, things escalate pretty quickly once Alli Jo runs through her laundry list of complaints. But before they can finish their conversation, Grant decides he’s ready to give out the group date rose. He offers it to Natalie, who happily accepts.
That’s the end of that for now, since the episode cuts to Alexe’s one-on-one the next day. She and Grant meet at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles for a shopping spree followed by a romantic candlelit dinner.
Along the way, they get into plenty of shenanigans, from jumping on some model beds to making themselves a giant ice cream sundae to playing a few rounds of ping pong. The two of them fall into an easy banter, and Alexe is definitely impressed when Grant improvs a song for her on the piano.
When they finally settle in for their picnic with a bottle of champagne, they start to get deeper about their families and their pasts. Grant talks a bit about his relationship with his dad, and Alexe shares she was raised by her grandparents, which she says has heavily influenced her in adulthood from her career choice as a speech therapist to her desires about the way she wants to raise a family.
It’s no surprise that Grant offers her a rose at the end of the night nor that she accepts it.
At last, it’s time for the second group date. As a reminder, this one includes Litia, Rose, Ella, Carolina, Bailey, Dina, and Rebekah. They meet Grant at the Bellwether theater, where they’re surprised by Mario performing “Let Me Love You.”
Grant says he asked Mario to join them because he’s great at expressing how he feels through his songs, and they’re challenging the women to write a song to Grant — which they will perform in front of a live audience. They’ve even brought in choreographer Robin Antin to help them prepare some dance moves. No pressure.
Grant kicks things off with a freestyle of his own to get the vibes going, and then it’s time for the Backstreet Girls (name courtesy of Mario) to take the stage. They perform a group dance routine before each taking their time in the spotlight to sing what they’ve written.
Carolina wins, and her prize is a special moment with Grant while Mario performs.
All the women are hoping to make a good impression on Grant during the cocktail party, because the group date rose is still up for grabs. But, Grant is immediately put off by the energy in the room when he shows up, because he feels like the women are acting a bit awkward despite having a great time earlier.
He pulls Rebekah aside and one of the first questions he asks is whether he’s doing something wrong to establish that energy. Rebekah reminds him that, sometimes, it can be awkward when the women put themselves out there only for him to be more impressed by someone else — and for them to experience his intimacy with other women. He takes that criticism in stride and vows to be a bit more attentive to that. In fact, he brings it up in multiple conversations to reassure the other women that he does see them.
However, when Rebekah relays Grant’s feelings to the group, it puts a bit of pressure on Carolina, who begins to feel bad that she had a more positive experience on the date than everyone else did. She eventually addresses it with Grant, but he assures her that neither of them did anything wrong, even if others were upset by it.
At the end of the night, Grant gives the group date rose to Litia.
Before long, it’s time for the second rose ceremony. He gives roses to Juliana, Beverly, Sarafiena, Zoe, Carolina, Dina, Rose, Bailey, Parisa, Alli Jo, and Chloie. That means Rebekah, Ella, Allyshia and Vicky are headed home.
The Bachelor airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
