S7E6 “I can’t believe this.” – Ashley
Last night’s episode of The Bachelorette took place in Hong Kong. In the beginning, we saw Ashley walking around the city and getting in people’s ways who were probably trying to go to work and sustain the world’s economy, and then we saw her standing still and thinking about Bentley and trying to figure out what a “dot dot dot” means while everything else sped around her (fancy camera trick!). Then we saw her in her hotel room, walking around and running her fingers along tables (like one does when they’re an obnoxious mother-in-law does when looking for dust) and missing Bentley. Then Chris Harrison walked in and told her that Bentley was there in Hong Kong and ready to talk to her. After giving Ashley Bentley’s room number, she sat down and widened her eyes in shock, like a dentist who just discovered 9 molars in a person’s mouth. Eventually, she got up off the couch and went over to Bentley’s room and kissed him right away and thanked him for coming to see her. Bentley said calling her would have been too easy and that he really felt like he should fly around the world for her, even though his plane ticket was totally comped he’s one of those guys who wants credit when he didn’t do anything. They made small talk and discussed Ashley’s bug bites, and Bentley told Ashley that he missed her but was pretty mum about whether or not they were really done. Ashley told Bentley that if they were over he needed to tell her so, and so he said that they should put a period after the “dot dot dot” (these people are way too proud of their ability to use a metaphor). Then Ashley realized Bentley really should have called her instead of flying all the way out to see her, and even asked if the only reason he came to visit was because he wanted a vacation. Then Ashley stormed out and realized that Bentley was a player and how incredibly he disrespected her, which I’m not even really sure he did because he essentially said nothing other than “yeah,” “uhhuh” and “dot dot dot.” When she got back to her hotel room, she marveled at some kind of bird through the window, which producers wanted us to interpret as Ashley finally being over Bentley.
“I’m enjoying our date.” – Lucas
Ashley chose Lucas for her first one-on-one date and she took him downtown and walked through some markets and past some pig intestines with him. Then they went on a boat and had dinner, where Lucas toasted to a woman he never would have met and to a life he hoped he’d have. Then Lucas started talking about his ex-wife, who he thought was the love of his life but admitted to Ashley that at some point during the marriage, things got awful and he realized that he married someone who he wasn’t supposed to be with. And then for some reason, Ashley gave Lucas the rose after talking about how relationships fail. As they danced on the deck, a voice over of Ashley’s voice said that she liked Lucas’ “manliness.”
“You guys are going to be boat racing today.” – Ashley
For the group date, Ashley brought Ben, Constantine, Blake, Mickey, Ames and Ryan to a beach and told them that they were going to be divided into three teams and racing boats against each other. But since the boats needed to be rowed by a total of 10 people, each team of guys had to go off into the streets and convince people to help them row their boats. Ryan and Blake were smart enough to find someone who spoke English and who could help them convince other people to help them in their quest to win Ashley’s affections by being the first boat to pass the buoy. Mickey and Ames’ strategy was not to fill their boat with the most amount of people, but rather to find the most experienced boaters, and Ben and Constantine had no luck finding anyone to help them on their boat until they went into a store and bought some kimonos and met a few people who had nothing else to do, I guess. Once everyone got in their boats the race began. Ames and Mickey’s team won and as they were celebrating, two random people got engaged. Ashley then made things weird and asked who was next. Later that night they went to an empty bar and drank cloudy yellow drinks and talked about how boating leads to engagements. Then, Ames pulled Ashley aside and took her into an elevator and randomly kissed her and it was so weird because even after their lips made contact, Ashley’s eyes remained open. She was that shocked! They exited the elevator and walked onto a roof, when suddenly Ben came out of nowhere and started kissing Ashley too! Then Ben admitted that he wasn’t ready for love when he came on the show, but that now he was. Ashley cuddled under the blanket they were sharing, knowing full well one of these guys was going to become her husband! At the end of the date, she gave the rose to Ryan, who all of the guys suddenly hate.
“It is so good to finally see you again.” – JP
Ashley chose JP to go on her second one-on-one date because she hadn’t seen him since the day Bentley left, and she went into it wanting to be honest with him but she didn’t say about what. They sat on the ground surrounded by a bunch of pillows and ate ricey things and when Ashley asked where JP saw himself one month from now, he said getting down on one knee. Ashley laughed and put her fist in front of her mouth to catch any rogue noodles and acted surprised that JP was so confident in himself, but she really was pleased. Then she started to explain to him how she saw Bentley two days ago in Hong Kong and the reason why she was so sad when Bentley left was because she really wanted to end up with him. JP kind of sat there listening and probably pretty upset that Ashley was continuing to see people who were no longer on the show, and even though Ashley said she felt so super duper strongly for JP that she wanted him to know everything that happened on the side. JP said he appreciated her honesty and was happy she got the closure she needed and kissed her. It was sweet. She gave him a rose.
“Well hello gentlemen!” – Ashley
At the cocktail party before the rose ceremony, Ashley got all the guys together and told them that she fell in love with Bentley and so that’s why when he left, she was so devastated. She said that because she didn’t get the closure she needed when he left, he flew to Hong Kong to see her and that after talking with him, she didn’t like him anymore and that now she was completely back in the game of finding a husband in one of the guys who remained. The guys started puffing up their cheeks and tilting their heads in frustration and drinking their drinks, and they were all visibly upset. They asked her why she couldn’t find closure with him sooner and they really started to bombard her with questions and interrupt her explanations, and Ashley got so upset that she had to excuse herself from the conversation and go onto a balcony and cry. While she was away, the guys talked about how much they felt lied to and such, and how angry they were that she was, essentially, leading them on. Then they had their one-on-one chats with Ashley, and all of them told her she was wrong for thinking about Bentley on all the dates she was on with them, and Mickey eventually left because he felt lied to and cheated. In the end, Ashley eliminated Blake because after he learned that Ashley saw Bentley secretly, he exploded and told her she was wrong for lying to everyone. He got on his little boat and sailed off by himself, while high up above with the rest of the guys, Ashley toasted to their future together in Taiwan.
