Bachelor at 20 and a Wedding!

THE BACHELOR celebrated its 20th season with a Sunday night special edition/look back at twenty shows and it was actually pretty good!
I'm going to make this short and just give a quick overview of the show seeing I did not take notes while watching. Hey, I'd just finished an 8-hour shift at Macy's and simply wanted to sit on the couch, eat something with melted cheese on top and drink a Coors Lite.
The show paid tribute to Bachelor Nation, the fan base that keeps the show on the air. Yes, you. We watched clips from earlier Bachelor shows, including the first one with Alex Michel and a bevy of ladies who looked a whole lot more real and less Hollywoodized than the ladies have in recent shows. Nowadays one must visit the nail salon, the tanning salon, the hair salon, the gym, the dentist, the MAC makeup counter and then get some hot shot designer to sponsor your clothes on the show.

It was fun to see loads of former Bachelors in one room with their wives (Andrew Firestone has three kids!), fiancees (Bob Guinney and Jessica, my neighbors), girlfriends (?), or lack thereof (Chris Soules is still alone, apparently). It seems the Bachelorettes have fared better at finding love. At the party we saw Kaitlyn and Shawn, Trista and Ryan, Deanna and hubby, Ashley and J.P. and Andy Dorfman and no one. There were also many pregnant, (engaged!) alumni like Ashley Salter, Ali Feditowski, and the tiara-wearing Diva who is one of Chris Harrison's favorite Bachelor people. (What?) Other alumni who attended were Sarah Herron, Chris Bukowski, Ashley the crier, Juelia, Jared, and more.
They showed outtakes, had funny little segments like "Worst Villain" clips and the show was thoroughly entertaining to this Bachelor groupie.
Then, we switched to another gathering, one that happened recently, to celebrate Jade and Tanner's wedding. I know these two events took place separately because Jason Mesnick and Molly couldn't come to the 20th party but Jason was at the wedding. Molly was home with the baby in rainy Seattle.

Chris Harrison interviewed alumni with the empty wedding scene as the backdrop, and for once, he did a pretty good job with ad lib. CH is becoming the king of Schmaltz and said "Never before in Bachelor history," so many times over the two hours, I forgot to count.

I really like Jade and Tanner's story and was very happy to see them fall in love on Bachelor in Paradise. I was hoping they'd make it past the afterlife when the show ended and was worried their relationship wouldn't survive. Last night they looked absolutely radiant and thrilled as they vowed to love each other forever in one of the nicest wedding ceremonies in Bachelor History. The vows were heartfelt, Jade looked absolutely gorgeous, and the flowers! Did anyone notice that flower wall Jade passed as she came off the staircase? The audience was filled with alumni, most crying after the vows and it was a beautiful ceremony with CH officiating.
The reception was a staged filming of more Bach alumni including Jillian Harris, Deanna, Andi, Michelle Money, Ben, Chris Soules, and Seal. Yes, Seal sang at the reception and did a wonderful job. The guy who sang at the ceremony Matt Nathanson was a little loud and it was a welcome change when Carly from Bachelor in Paradise sang a pretty song she wrote for the happy couple.
All in all, last night's show was fun to watch and I'm sure more than a few hookups occurred at the Dana Point La Di Da Hotel. And isn't that what The Bachelor is all about?
No, not hooking up! Love.

Chicken Enthusiast Booted Back to the Barnyard!

OH NO! We really wanted that chicken lover, Tiara, to stay and talk more about her passion for chickens and now that darned Ben has gone and ruined our chances of getting to know the only person on this season of THE BACHELOR who had enough of a sense of humor to list her profession as a Chicken Enthusiast. The only gal who playfully had a photo of Ben in her house along with photos of her chickens and interestingly enough, the only person on the show not drinking. Yep, you heard me. The Chicken Enthusiast does not need to drink to stay happy or relaxed or fun. She only has to think of her chickens and happiness floods over her like a veil of that mesh fencing stuff we all use in our backyards to keep bunnies out of our veg garden. I think it's called chicken wire.
Anyone sick of the chicken jokes yet?
I really thought after her little introductory movie in Redmond WA with the chickens, we'd see more of Tiara but I know on The Bachelor they edit out a ton. On the first night, the girls line up to speak to Ben and only a few of the conversations get aired. He said "Beautiful" three times looking at her. I wished they'd shown their conversation. I saw photos online of Tiara and Ben talking by the fireplace, engaged in a conversation. Go to her Instagram account. He has his hand on her leg! (Her name is Mizz_Minxy)
Maybe it takes a special person to understand a woman who has bonded with barnyard animals but as a viewer I felt like we got a promise of some really good fun with this gal and then never really saw her again (aside from those nervous looks and facial ticks during the rose ceremony.) Bummer!
The Bachelor producers missed the fun boat with this kooky twenty-seven-year-old, this woman who decided after she made all the cuts and auditions it takes to get on The Bachelor, that she'd list her profession as something that is her passion, instead of listing "dental assistant."
And Lace over Tiara?  What the heck? I can see where Lace makes good TV but what about a Chicken Enthusiast????

I'd like to take two or three sentences to tell you that Chicken Enthusiast is not a job, it's like saying Dog Lover. The Bachelor producers encourage this type of thing to make the show more interesting. One girl listed her profession as unemployed and you have to know that they are ALL essentially unemployed when they go on the show because they have to leave jobs for a maximum of 3 months.
Tiara chose to not list dental assistant but write chicken enthusiast. There are lots of people around the planet who think keeping chickens in cages where they can't stand up or move is unethical. That's what a chicken enthusiast is. I looked it up. And I'm now one. Kind of.
I don't blame Tiara for championing for chicken rights on The Bachelor. Girls go on for selfish reasons. The Chicken Enthusiast from Redmond seems to have chosen her cause and guess what? It's a worthy one if you think about it.
Anyways, Tiara is gone, off the show now, never to know Ben in the romantic sense and never to return, but wouldn't it be fun if she was on the After Show with Chris Harrison live? We could get to see her again and she might even bring one of her chickens (like Sheila!) as long as she could fit Sheila under the seat in front of her long legs on the flight from Seattle to Los Angeles. Tiara already has all the camera ready clothes for several weeks worth of appearances seeing she packed duds and dresses for months and came home several days after she left. Wouldn't you like to see the Chicken Enthusiast in the low cut gold mini dress with the killer stilettos? Imagine Blake Lively in that movie where she was younger than her elderly daughter and looked drop dead gorgeous in a cocktail dress. Ya, you got it

How about it America and Beyond. Do you want to see Tiara, the Chicken Enthusiast next week and have her explain what happened with Ben?
Let's start a twitter campaign to get her on the live show!! I'm making this up as I go along but I have to agree with myself here about the potential of what I just suggested!
I'll know if you all feel the same way if suddenly the internet lights up with this hashtag #BringBackTiara
I thought about using the ChickenEnthusiast hashtag, like Tiara has been doing, but I have to say that the propensity to spell enthusiast improperly is great. I had to sound it out, and I'm a professional writer. It's too much work for tweeters and Instagram fans.
Just go to Twitter, write your tweet, include the hashtag and send it to #BachelorNation and #TheBachelor
Here's an example you can copy and paste, then add you own message.

 Loved the #ChickenEnthusiast! How 'bout the live show next week? #BachelorNation #BringBackTiara
#TheBachelor @chrisbharrison RT pls

Looks like a great season ahead of us. I for one look forward to seeing what happens in the next weeks and how it all unfolds even though we'll be doing it without ever getting to know that Chicken Enthusiast. How 'bout you?

Kim Hornsby is the author of The Husband Hunt, a short novel series based on The Bachelor. The first book is free on Amazon right now. Go straight to the free romance book or find Kim and her bestselling books on her Amazon site.