Yahoo News "Bachelor" Recap: Fourth Time's The Charm
Because she's been there and done that, literally, former Bachelor contestant/tear fountain Ashley Iaconetti is recapping this season of The Bachelor for Cosmopolitan.com. With insider insight (she and Nick are buddies, for real) as well as a clear eye for what's going down in the love connection stakes, read on for her thoughts.
Vanessa was always the one for Nick. I want to reiterate he tells me close to nothing - like he said on After the Final Rose, Nick didn't even tell all his siblings who he was engaged to! But Nick is so drawn to a sophisticated, well-spoken, sexy, challenging woman, and I believe it was all a matter of going through the Bachelor motions in order to finally be able to just be with her. Of course, I think he truly appreciated and cared for so many of the women he came to know along the way - Raven, Rachel, Corinne, and Kristina most notably; his departing tears with them always sympathetic and genuine and coming from a place of love, but not in love. But it was always Vanessa.
Nick says in his proposal to Vanessa he remembers the moment he saw her, and the moment in the second week of the show when he started falling in love with her. I truly feel like at that point he had made his decision, not hours before hand like he said in the final episode. Further evidence of this to me is when he started crying at dinner during their first date (and when he kissed her after throwing up.) You guys know I'd cry the moment I realized I found the one! I'm so happy for these two good souls and I hope it lasts forever.
Throughout the show, Nick had to keep his feelings locked up. One, because this is a TV show and you can't tell all the girls and cameras to go home. Two, because Vanessa is a very emotional woman and he didn't want her to get too caught up in their love story too soon. Vanessa admitted this week that she's never watched a full season of the show prior to being cast, so it was hard to understand why there were times he was giving her so little when she felt like he should have been emptying his heart to her. She never saw how detrimental saying, "You're the one" early on like Kaitlyn did with Shawn, or "I love you" to two women, like Ben with Lauren and JoJo, could be.
While fans have complained that Nick seemed disconnected during his season and afraid to let go and feel it all, like he says before the proposal, I do think him not revealing his cards was to protect the mystery of the show and the woman he knew would soon become his fiancé. Nick knows more than anyone how it feels to think you're going to be the final rose recipient and not be. Even though I'm pretty damn sure he knew it wasn't going to be Raven in the end, if something crazy happened and Cupid hit him with a love bow out of left field at the last minute, he never wanted Vanessa or any other girl he cared deeply about to feel led on.
So while it became increasingly obvious as this episode played out that Vanessa would be Nick's pick, the question that lingered was would she choose Nick back. She was very concerned about being chosen because he loved her marginally better than another girl. She also had big questions about their future. Would she say yes to a man who was seemingly unsure about her? (Of course this storyline would be built around the man who has struggled to keep a love connection on three prior seasons.) Who knows when Vanessa decided she would accept a proposal. Something tells me her brain was telling her to be hesitant, while her heart was saying jump the entire time. Always go with your heart!
And the big proposal scene was one of the most heart-felt, emotional, and passionate Bachelor moments ever in my opinion. It moved me to tears (shocking) and I haven't cried during a Bachelor proposal since before my time on the show. I've watched plenty of friends get engaged on this show at this point, but this one really got me sobbing. With this all said, the big question-popping moment was clearly edited to look as if Nick spoke first when Vanessa first entered the room. It was put together to show that he needed to win Vanessa over, and that there was chance Vanessa could turn him down otherwise. You can this was spliced together like this because of, wait for it, the missing lipstick! It was there and then it wasn't - seriously, I know my makeup - and there was obviously an over-the-top make out season in between Vanessa's entrance into the room and his confession of love. (You can watch me articulate this theory with video proof here on Access Hollywood. Literally, I'm a detective these days!)
It did make me wonder, though, how much footage of the lovebirds blissed out was left on the cutting room floor to preserve mystery. We saw so many tension filled moments between Nick and Vanessa, but this proposal made me feel like we missed seeing so much of what was clearly a very romantic relationship blossoming as the season played out. When I spoke with Alexis and Jasmine recently, they said it was obvious when Vanessa was in the room because all of Nick's attention would be on her. He looked at her differently, they said. These are the kinds of thing that don't make TV time because it would make for too obvious how things ended up. (That being said, more of that type of footage would make for a romantic season.)
Now there can only be one proposal, so there has to be a runner-up. (The day The Bachelor breaks this rule and goes polygamous really will be the MOST. DRAMATIC. FINALE. EVER.) Raven is such a great girl and I do think he loved spending time with her. She's an open book and chill AF, two qualities Nick respects greatly. I really admire her calm and cool collectiveness and how unafraid she is to be herself. Still, I have a hard time thinking that Raven was really feeling confident going into that final rose ceremony - she was so amazingly stoic during when Nick broke up with her. While I'm sure she was terribly upset, I feel like she was completely prepared for the moment. There wasn't an ounce of shock on her face; he shed far more tears than she did! He was obviously reliving the moments he stood in her place with his heart breaking. I loved seeing that empathy. Like him or not, you have to admit Nick has been the most empathetic, sensitive Bachelor. A lot of this of course is because he's been through the process multiple times. I hope the girls of his season appreciate this as much as I do.
Thank you all for reading these articles weekly during this special season. I love the outlet I have here to express my feelings (can't get enough of that) and let you in ~as much as I can~ about what's happening behind-the-scenes on this epic journey we call The Bachelor. Until next season...
Follow Ashley on Instagram and Twitter.
You Might Also Like
