The ladies are down to just nine by now, which means feelings are developing, both for the Golden Bachelor lead Mel Owens, but also interpersonally between the women.
They are forging friendships, but they are also figuring out who they don’t like — and the show kicked off with a teaser of Robin telling Mel that someone isn’t there (say it with us!) “for the right reasons!”
Neither Carol nor Nicolle was too happy that Peg was the woman who got the one-on-one date. Not that they don’t like Peg (and they were happy for her as a person), but they both think they should have gotten it.
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Peg’s date involved going to the Orange County Fair with a surprise concert from KC and the Sunshine Band. She and Mel had a great time playing carnival games and posing for a caricature. They are really adorable together.
“She makes me happy,” said Mel at one point. Yeah, they are a great couple.
Things turned serious just a little when they talked about their marriages and divorces. Peg showed off her tattoo that she has matching with her daughter, then cheekily teased that she has another tattoo but they’ll “talk about that in the fantasy suite,” which Mel toasted to and was visibly blushing, it was pretty cute. Peg obviously got a rose, they had a great date.
Meanwhile, back at the Ponderosa, Nicolle was raising some serious red flags by talking about how she’s “not dating Mel, she’s dating America” and how they’ll all have “Housewives status” after the show because this cast is so much better looking than the season one cast.
WOW. That dropped my jaw right open, to just be that brazen about everything. It feels like a lot of times with these shows, the person who isn’t there for the right reasons — the editors don’t have on-camera receipts like this, necessarily. It’s always he said, he said, or she said, she said about people’s motivations, but this is pretty cut and dried.
Not that Nicolle doesn’t like Mel, because she seems to, and her honesty is kind of refreshing, but I can definitely see how her comments would rub the other ladies the wrong way.
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The other eight ladies go on the group date — Nicolle, Debbie, Cindy, Roxanne, Gerri, Cheryl, Robin and Carol. The date involved a sexy beachy photoshoot, complete with rolling around in the sand like in From Here to Eternity with Deborah Carr and Burt Lancaster.
The photoshoot is for People magazine/app and the women are understandably super excited. Girls who might compete on The Bachelor nowadays just would not understand how big of a deal People magazine was before the internet, but these ladies know, and they were pumped.
Debbie got teary-eyed in a white gown as a beachy bride because she’s never been married, so she’s never had a wedding. It was very touching. I was getting a little misty over here. She and Mel took beautiful photos.
All the ladies did a great job and seemed to have a really good time. It’s so empowering to hear them talk about feeling sexy at their ages.
Then the photographer chose Mel and Cindy for one last shoot on the beach, which is where the From Here to Eternity thing came in. The other ladies were not super thrilled about it.
In a really funny aside, the women talked about which celebs they liked when they were young and Carol revealed she had posters of Ted Nugent and Andy Gibb on her wall, which is hilarious. But Nicolle commented that when her plans to design a digital health coaching class fell through, the Golden Bachelor happened instead, so she’s “going with it.”
Again, the ladies weren’t super happy to hear that, and eventually, Robin couldn’t take it anymore and told Mel that someone isn’t there for the right reasons, but she didn’t name-names, so what can he even do with that? You can’t not tell him. What is even the point? Mel, of course, denied it and said he thinks everyone is there for the right reasons, so it was a big nothing.
He eventually gave the rose to Carol, so at least it wasn’t Nicolle, but Debbie was visibly sad she didn’t get the rose.
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Who Went Home During the Rose Ceremony on The Golden Bachelor Season 2, Episode 3?
Instead of a cocktail party, they had a tailgate party, and the ladies decided to make lemon bars. In the editing we all know and love from the Bachelor franchise, Nicolle said she put “the most work in” over the top of everyone else working hard, and Nicolle sitting in the jacuzzi. Snerk.
And then, like clockwork, Nicolle took all the credit for the lemon bars with Mel. Her desperation reeks, and it was hard to listen to Mel talk about how she’s “giving” and “all about [him],” right before she said they should jump in the pool with their clothes on because it “would make great TV.”
Ugh, there’s always one, isn’t there?
At the Rose Ceremony, three women were going home, which seemed like a lot. Peg and Carol already had roses, so the remaining four roses went to Debbie, Cindy, Cheryl and Nicolle, which meant the eliminated women were:
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Gerri
Rockville, Maryland
Home Care Agency CEO, 64
Robin
Napa Valley, California
Wealth Advisor/Vineyard Owner, 63
Roxanne
Austin, Texas
Longevity Nurse, 63
Oof, that one hurts. Robin was particularly sad, especially because she had made such good connections with the other women.