Juan Pablo Rejected!

Juanuary is off to a great start with the 2 night premier now under our sparkly belts. Fashion was at a premium, tears were flowing, girls were drinking, and Juan Pablo, the newest Bachelor, was as charming and real as we expected. This is not your ordinary bachelor. Oh no!

He's Latin, for one thing, (speaks with an accent), he has a child, Camila (who looks like a normal little girl) and this Bachelor looks more like a deer caught in the headlights than anyone who has gone before him, including Ben Flajnik, or whatever the Napa vintner's name was. How could you reject such a sweetheart? More on that in a bit.
 Juan Pablo Galavis apparently has trouble finding women who would be good wife/mommy material, something I'm still scratching my head over months after hearing this. Moving on.
I tweeted and voted and shared and posted for the Venezuelan soccer player to be the next Bachelor so you can imagine that I'm happy to sit and watch Juan Pablo for two hours as he soaps his newly-toned body in the shower and laughs with Sean Lowe over going shirtless (they did) and how many girls to kiss. I loved the conversation those two had, full of teasing and good-natured fun -- like watching bloopers but not.

After a touching segment with Juan Pablo and Camilla and then his parents, it was on to the girls. Dirty Trick #1- The director made us root for the poor gal who opened her first Old Folks Home at the age of twenty. (Spoiler alert - She left in the first boat off the island). Boo.
Some girls the producers chose to compete for Juan's affection looked a little full of themselves, some looked overly excited about a reality show that might see them hitting the curb after the first night, and one looked downright strange in hippy garb with no makeup. The night before, she leaped into Chris Harrison's arms (her legs wrapped around his hips) to genuflect on her excitement to be on the show.
Hippy Girl, we'll call her, seeing she wore a flowery hairband and bare feet to the formal cocktail party and proceeded to put her dirty, big feet on JP's lap later and tell him she's a free spirit and hippy. Sound like a good mom for Camilla? Well, JP saw something in her and she will be going on to the next round. Maybe he read online that she's best friends with Kate Upton or that she wants to be a Mommy. Or that she dances naked in Mexico.

Twenty-seven girls got out of various limos, one bicycling a piano up the uneven driveway as she played-can you say awkward!?- one pretending she was pregnant - not awkward at all! - and one trying a science experiment about chemistry and then not even kissing his pursed lips - super awkward and missed opportunity!
I have to admit, aside from Hippy Girl, they all looked relatively sane. Then the alcohol took effect and things took a first night bachelor party too much champagne, turn. Cry Girl found it all just too close to the phone call where her fiance broke up with her months before and became, well, Cry Girl.
Not something you want to aspire to on the first night. Then she proceeded to tell JP about her heartache while he squirmed on the couch beside her. I'm surprised she didn't wear her ring. Poor Cry Girl who spent precious on-air time telling us she's not usually like this. Hopefully she'll laugh at After the Final Rose. Or even get invited, because she was eliminated faster than you can say "Don't cry, beg, or confess on the first night Cry girl!"
The Prosecutor from Florida stood out last night as normal,  flirty, cute, able to not seem desperate like some. See her picture to the right...
BUT, the most awkward moment of the whole night, besides Hippy Girl's feet and Massage Girl's horribly embarrassing attempt to win JP over with a clothes on, weird idea massage on a table set up in the garden, was the First Impression Rose. This, to me, is a kiss of death because many recipients go on to later make a horrible impression or get so full of themselves that they ruin their chances by developing needy behavior. Opera Girl, however, played it so cool when JP took off to get the rose that we felt horribly sorry for our TV Latin boyfriend. She admitted to the camera that she did not feel any attraction to the bachelor and when Juan Pablo handed her the rose, expecting some excitement, she paused so long I had time to yell at the TV "Take it back, Juan, she won't love you like I will. Oh, I mean like the other girls will." She took it, however, thereby taking up space in the final group of worthy gals when we know she won't return his affections. Or will she? In later episodes we see her embracing him, crying and even not calling him "Sir". What was up with that? I know us Canadians are polite but SHEESH!
The fact she's part Taiwanese gives her a 1/2 vote from me though. (My daughter is Taiwanese). Maybe she had a Tiger Mom who made her call everyone Sir. Canadians, however,don't call people sir and especially not a man who's singling you out of 27 gorgeous, accomplished women to say you are special. Translation: "I love your dress" really means 'I'm attracted to you.' Said twice, it means,"throw me a bone here, woman."

Front runners thus far, for me, are Nurse Nikki, Ali the Nanny and Piano Girl. Oh and The Prosecutor, Andi.
That's just my opinion and I'm not a man, not Latin, not actually there in the Mansion, not off camera watching these women in their unnatural habitat of evening gowns and champagne.
But that's what this show is all about, isn't it? Sitting on our couches at home, forming opinions, talking to the TV and watching this dating process unfurl before us. Can't wait for next week!



Kim Hornsby is the author of THE HUSBAND HUNT, a series of novellas on AMAZON books that take place in a fictitious Reality TV show. The first in the series is a free download, called Jaxie's Mistake. "like watching a season of The Bachelor!"
Check it out! http://amzn.com/B00BN1YNS0