Hell hath no fury like 25 women scorned on national TV. In one week, Bachelor fans will see whether Juan Pablo rides off into the sunset with pediatric nurse Nikki, hairstylist Clare, or nothing but his own regrets. First, though, he has to face the two dozen women he sent home -- many of whom are still holding a grudge. That's right, folks...it's time for the Women Tell All special! Let's recap.
The episode kicks off with a visit from Bachelor "royalty," as host Chris Harrison calls them -- Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici, who met on season 17 of The Bachelor and married earlier this year on live TV. After a bit of small talk about the wedding and Catherine's new haircut, Chris gets down to business, a.k.a. the wedding night. Catherine plays coy, talking about how "romantic" it all was, but Sean cuts to the chase. "Fireworks!" he says, to which his wife jokingly replies, "Quick fireworks!" (Ouch.) "He toots his own horn," she adds, "so I have to keep him in his place."
Ah, marriage. Next up for the happy couple? Kids -- within the next 12 months, they hope. "He's old," Catherine says of her 30-year-old husband when Chris notes how soon that is. "If I'm old," Sean quips, "Harrison's ancient."
Moving on to the real reason we're all here -- Juan Pablo and his rejected Bachelorettes! Of the 25 women he sent home, 17 are here to face him: Lauren H., Kylie, Danielle, Elise, Alli, Victoria, Chantel, Christy, Lauren S., Lucy, Cassandra, Chelsie, Kat, Kelly, Sharleen, Renee, and Andi. After a brief montage showing all the ladies gushing about how hot Juan Pablo is, Chris Harrison starts right in with the questions. "Clearly, Juan Pablo [is] an attractive man...why wasn't that enough?"
Andi is the first to chime in. "At the end of the day," she says, "those looks can fade, and you need something more than that." The other ladies agree that he never really asked them questions about themselves, and that when he did, he didn't listen to the answers. Lauren S. even goes so far as to say he "wasn't genuine," which dog lover Kelly takes issue with. She says Lauren was "very into him" while she was on the show and accuses her of changing her story just because she got dumped.
Andi, at least, believes Juan Pablo really was there to find someone, but that he wanted to find a girlfriend -- "someone to date...after this is all over and figure out if this is gonna work" -- whereas they all wanted to find a husband. (Would dating someone before marrying them really be so bad?)
One thing that seems to really bother the women about Juan Pablo is his obsession with being "fair" -- and his inability to stick to his own rules in pursuit of that fairness. "I think he used his daughter as an excuse a lot," Kelly says. Chris warns her to be careful with the Camila card and then throws the conversation to single moms Renee and Cassandra, who admit they were treated differently because they have kids. And speaking of treating people differently...how do the ladies feel about Clare getting so much special attention from Juan Pablo?
Kat and Andi, who roomed with Clare, say they didn't know about Clare's late-night swim in Vietnam until they watched the episode. Andi's not that bothered, though; she would have done the same thing given the opportunity. However, she does take issue with the way Juan Pablo handled the situation -- as do the other ladies. (After their tryst, he told Clare they'd made a mistake and shamed for her coming by.) "I think he had a case of buyer's remorse," Sharleen says. "He didn't man up the way he should have."
Sharleen, so nice to see you! Won't you take a turn in the hot seat? Chris introduces a brief montage showing Sharleen's "journey" on the show, from her first steps out of the limo to her multiple makeout sessions with Juan Pablo and, finally, her tearful decision to leave. "I knew that he wasn't the one for me, like, ultimately. You know, we still had something. We had something great, and I could see him as someone that I would date, very happily, but...we weren't airtight," she explains to Chris. "We didn't get each other completely." That said, she still has fond memories of Juan Pablo. "I have a lot of respect for him, actually, and I thought he was very kind to me," she says.
Next up, fan favorite Renee! Like Sharleen, Renee gets the montage treatment -- but her "journey" with Juan Pablo involves a lot less kissing and a lot more talking about their kids. "We were really, really slow-paced compared to everyone else," she admits. Still, the feelings were there, at least on her end, and she has no regrets about doing the show. "I learned a lot. You know, dating as a single mom is hard," she says. "It actually gave me a lot of confidence in the whole dating world." Speaking of the dating world, has Renee found love since leaving Juan Pablo? "I'm in a situation now where I'm very happy, but that's all I'm gonna say," she teases coyly. "I don't want to jinx anything." (No worries there! As Us Weekly confirmed on March 1, Renee is engaged to be married.)
On that note, it's time to move on to Andi, whose disastrous fantasy suite date with Juan Pablo led to an angry confrontation and tense goodbye in episode nine. So what really went down behind those closed doors? "There was just a lot of negativity," she says. There was also a comment, she claims, that she had just "barely" beaten out Renee. The tipping point, though, was when he brought up his overnight date with Clare. "I remember thinking to myself, 'This will never work,'" she recalls. "I remember just being mentally done at that point...For him to bring that up, I was just so shocked and appalled by it."
Lest you think that Juan Pablo is an unfeeling monster, however, Andi wants to set the record straight. "The things he said were entirely inappropriate and rude, but he wasn't mean to me. I think that should be made very clear," she clarifies. "I think sometimes it's just that he doesn't think about it...There's no filter there." So does she still believe in "great love," or did the experience with Juan Pablo ruin it for her? "I want that love. I really genuinely do," she says. "I will [continue to search for it]." (Possibly as the next Bachelorette?)
One brief commercial break later, and it's Juan Pablo's turn in the hot seat. Chris wastes no time with small talk, instead diving right in and asking Juan Pablo if he would change anything about his experience. "No, no. At the end of the day, you have to be very realistic, very mature, and very honest in this situation," he explains. "And I've been honest since day one with all of you...When you're honest with somebody, it's definitely going to hurt."
Let's hope you can take as much as you dish out, Juan Pablo, because these ladies have some bones to pick. First up is Lauren S., who calls him out on using Camila as an excuse not to kiss her. "I'm not here to kiss 27 women. I'm here to see how I feel," he replies. Next complaint? Chantel takes issue with Juan Pablo calling the single moms his "special ones." Andi, do you want to take this? "It's not him putting Cassandra and Renee above us," she argues. "I think he just saw them differently." Andi's quick to note, however, that there are lots of things she didn't (and doesn't?) like about Juan Pablo. "There's parts that I think he was a jerk, and I have no problem saying that to him," she says. This time, Sharleen jumps in to defend him. "I'm getting the feeling that other girls feel differently than I did, but I just felt like he did [take this seriously]," she says.
Kelly's face-off with Juan Pablo is up next, and it's a doozy. She calls him out for his comments about why ABC should never have a gay Bachelor -- in his words, gay people are "more pervert" and don't set "a good example" for kids -- telling him that she herself has a parent who's gay. "Tell me that in Spanish," she says, crying. Adds Victoria, who "has only lived in this country for 10 years" and "didn't speak any English" until age 15: "Please stop using 'English is my second language' as a cop-out. Pervert is pervert in English and Portuguese and Spanish and Latin and French."
Things are getting a little out of hand, so Chris intervenes and gives Juan Pablo a chance to defend himself. "I love gay people," he insists. "I have no problem with them, because I respect them, because they were born that way." Sharleen backs him up. "We talked a lot about equality, and...from what I can gather, he's very open-minded," she says.
On to lighter things -- namely, which of the ladies are Team Nikki, and which are Team Clare. Kelly and Sharleen are firmly Team Nikki, but Team Clare has its supporters, too. Tell Us: Who do you think Juan Pablo will end up with in the finale?
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