'The Bachelor' Episode 7 Recap: Who's Going to Hometowns?
On Week 7 of The Bachelor, there are only six women remaining: Kelsey, Natasha, Kelley, Hannah Ann, Victoria F., and Madison. After last week’s harrowing five hours of footage, Peter has whisked the girls away to Lima, Peru, in the hopes that enough travel will make them forget their journey started in Cleveland. Throughout the episode, Peter tells us over and over how scared he is of the women not returning his feelings, and of ending up blindsided at the end of this. At the same time, any sign of emotional instability or genuine uncertainty is like catnip to him. We’ve all been there — it’s just pretty rough to see play out on TV.
The episode kicks off with Peter video-chatting his mom and telling her how afraid he is of getting hurt. “That’s the obvious fear, right?” He decides he has to set the women straight right away and marches over to their Lima lodging. He tells them they all need to seriously evaluate whether they can see a future with him, because he’s there for long-term commitment.
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“My biggest fear at the end of this is falling in love and they’re not ready,” he says. Given that three of the six remaining girls are 23 or younger, that makes sense.
Madison, one of the 23-year-olds, gets the first one-on-one date. She’s the woman who met Peter’s family for their first date, and we’ve seen about five minutes of her on screen since. But Peter clearly hasn’t forgotten about her — she’s getting a second one-on-one before Natasha has had a first. Natasha takes it shockingly well.
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On Madison and Peter’s date, she reassures him that she’s looking for a serious commitment too, and that she sees a future with him. They make out all over the boat: “I’m so freaking glad I got this date,” she whispers.
Back at the house, Kelsey and Hannah Ann (once champagne rivals) are discussing the implications of Madison’s date. Kelsey points out that, while they all “love Madison,” it’s better for everyone if she doesn’t come back. After all, Madison has some serious things to discuss with Peter.
On the date, Madison proceeds to bring those things up: Mainly, her faith, which apparently hasn’t come up much. “I’ve always said I want someone who reminds me of my dad,” she tells Peter. “The way that my dad has loved my mom…the way that he has such a strong relationship with the Lord.”
“It’s literally my whole life and all of who I am,” Madison adds about her faith. After pausing for an uncomfortable moment, Peter responds — and while he doesn’t seem to be on the same level, it’s definitely not a dealbreaker.
“My faith could be stronger,” he tells Madison. “But it is something that’s important to me.” That’s good enough for Madison, but he has more coming: “It’s scary as hell for me but I just feel so good about you — I know that I’m falling in love with you.”
Whoa. For newcomers here, I’ll say this: telling a contestant you’re falling in love when you still have five others is a bad move. And telling a contestant who hasn’t yet told you that she’s falling in love? Rare, and with good reason. Peter is still kind of acting like a contestant on his own season, always showing more emotion and being so unsure if it’s reciprocated.
Madison gets a rose (obviously).
A new date card arrives at the house: And thank god, Natasha is finally getting her one on one. She puts on her game face and goes to meet up with Peter, acting like it’s not weird at all that next week is hometown dates and she’s never spent time alone with this man. Good for you, Natasha!
Natasha gets right into it on the date: She hasn’t brought anyone home in four years, she has three scary brothers, and the last person she dated broke up with her because she was “too intense.” She says that’s why she wanted to be on The Bachelor: “You can be yourself.”
Peter, who equally loves the license reality TV gives you to act like a crazy person, agrees: “It’s a very beautiful process.”
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Back at the house, new BFFs Kelsey and Hannah Ann are once again talking shit. As it turns out, Kelsey also doesn’t want Natasha to come home. Imagine that! Another date card arrives: Kelsey gets the final one on one.
Natasha still has the evening portion of her date with Peter, and it’s genuinely hard to read how Peter is feeling. He asks how she’s feeling, and she says she doesn’t want to bring someone home to family unless it’s serious. “How do you feel?” she kicks back. “No, YOU,” Peter shouts (I’m paraphrasing, but barely. It’s awkward).
Suddenly, things go south very quickly. “I feel like it’s just a friendship with us,” Peter tells the producers. “And I feel like I owe it to myself to be brutally honest.” He picks up the rose on the table in a very misleading way and tells her he doesn’t see a future, admitting he might not have given her a real chance. Natasha’s luggage is picked up from the house, and all the women gasp. She goes home.
Next up is Kelsey’s date, and she’s gunning for Peter hard. She’s the only one to have told Peter she’s falling in love with him, and given how sensitive he’s been feeling this week, that’s a comfort. For their date, Peter has Kelsey run up a long, steep hill. “I love exploring and getting lost,” he says. “Just running down a dirt road…I need a partner in life who’s going to want to do stuff like this with me.”
Kelsey will do anything to prove she’s game and runs right alongside him, before they both collapse on the ground. Peter asks Kelsey wants she wants in life, and her answer is ready to go: “I want to be able to work a few days a week but also be home, because I think it’s important to raise your kids and be at home with them. It’s all about balance,” she recites.
Peter agrees; it is all about balance. She straddles him and they make out on the hillside. Back at the house, lawyer and only remaining sane person Kelley discusses Peter’s relationship with Kelsey: “They probably have a deep relationship that he likes, being a hopeless romantic.” A subtle burn, and proof that she knows Peter well.
At dinner, Kelsey know she’s going to have to pull out the big guns to get that rose (she is not 23). After weirdly downplaying her mom’s chocolate chip cookie recipe (“I don’t know if you’d like them”), she spills the real tea: “My parents got a divorce when I was in seventh grade,” she reminds him, then goes on to say she didn’t have a relationship with her dad growing up after that.
A year ago, her dad reached out while she was in Chile, she continues, and she took it as a sign. She’s since continued contact: “My mom doesn’t know,” she tells him. (She does now.)
“I don’t understand,” Peter tells her. “But I think it’s beautiful that you are willing to give your dad a second chance.” Still waiting on her rose, Kelsey talks about how Peter’s so much better than any of the other men she’s dated. He relents, and she gets the rose.
Finally: We have the world’s most awkward three in one with Hannah Ann, Kelley, and the rapidly melting down Victoria F. It’s unclear whether something new has happened to Victoria or she’s still just coping from her panic attack on last week’s date, but either way, it’s not looking good. Kelley, however, is supremely unbothered.
“Hannah Ann and Victoria F. are children,” Kelley tells the producers. “Who wants to be on a three on one date with them?” Not me, Kelley.
Hannah Ann goes first on their group date, and reads out loud a handwritten note of why she’s falling in love with Peter. Meanwhile, Victoria F. wanders through a field breathing heavily, and Kelley relaxes in a hammock: “I’m waiting for my man to come get me.”
Get her he does, and Kelley and Peter have a quick chat. “My family would like you,” she tells Peter. “It’s easy to be around you. It can be easy and it could still be fun.” This is a clear dig at Peter’s other relationships there, but she may as well have been speaking another language for all the sense she’s making to him.
“You hate that I used the word ‘fun,'” she catches. “I kinda do,” he says. Have you been watching this season, Kelley? Peter can’t talk to a woman for longer than five minutes unless she starts crying! He’s definitely not here for fun.
Last, Peter talks to Victoria F. (age 22), who takes more of an attitude with him than I have ever seen a contestant attempt on this show. Peter asks her how she feels about where they are, and she immediately goes into attack mode.
“That’s what you want to use our time to talk about?” she whines. “Every single time we’re together I feel like you’re in a mood.” This strikes a nerve in Peter.
“I don’t know if I can keep moving forward if this keeps happening, ” he tells her. “I”m not in a mood. You have given me reasons to doubt…I’m not in a mood.”
Sensing that she may have pushed him too far, master manipulator Victoria breaks down in tears. She tells him she’s just acting this way because she’s so scared of losing him: “It’s easier to just not have you in the first place,” she sobs.
Peter, hopeless romantic, is enthralled. He gathers all three women together and tries to fake them into thinking he’s sending Victoria home by walking her to the car: “I don’t want to go,” she says. He gives her the rose, then goes back and gives Hannah Ann a rose too. Kelley is sent home.
“The ones who are left are like little babies,” Kelley says in the car home. Those little babies are Madison, Kelsey, Hannah Ann, and Victoria F., and Peter will be visiting each and every one of their hometowns next week. Can’t wait for Madison’s super-religious family to confront Peter about all his windmill sex, or for ABC to track down Kelsey’s dad and force a random confrontation.
Only a few weeks to go — and the idea of Peter getting engaged to any of these women is pretty damn frightening. Stay tuned!
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