phlebas

Yeah, I hadn’t watched the episode at that point and my source lied to my face :) just call me Reality Phleb!

(NOTE: I posted this before actually watching and had been told by a friend who is STILL LAUGHING AT ME that Daisy won. I am surprised about Jenn, and I’m happy to see some Asian representation. Unfortunately all I remember about Jenn is that she doesn’t care about drones.) "Rules"? I think it was always going to be Daisy from the moment they knew Joey wasn't going to pick her. I'm not happy about it either. She's got a pretty smile, but isn't otherwise all that dynamic on TV. I don't want to sound overly cynical or push conspiracy theories, but they got a chance to get a woman with a disability, and one that's not all that challenging for the audience. I doubt ABC was interested in going deep into Lexi's endometriosis because that about girl parts. Maria may have been #2 on the list and may have beaten Kelsey for it if Daisy had gotten the final rose. I think Lexi falls to at least #4, maybe drops below Rachel. Or maybe I really am overly cynical and people like Maria and Lexi turned it down. Maybe Daisy wasn't their first choice. We'll probably never know. I'm going to miss having Kelsey on my TV.

Charlie has The Blessings of the Taylor upon him. Voting him out is tantamount to heresy. No one expects the Taylor Swiftquisition!

I enjoyed Charlie baptizing himself in Taylor Swift's name in the challenge. Did anyone ask her if she's forgiven his sins?

I don't think they can cook the fish yet

They will ALWAYS pass on making someone interesting the Bachelorette. That's as true of Maria as it was with Ariel. At least they get partial credit with Gabby. I think our next Bachelorette is still in the show at this point.

Busy week, but finally got caught up with Fantasy Suites. Rachel seems great, but Joey talks to her with the same passion you would have while going over references with a potential new dog walker. Also, do not let her enter water from more than about 5 feet away. On that jump where she messed up her jaw, she went in feet first but head down -- she basically belly-flopped with her face. I trust her nurse friends have been giving her endless grief about that all week. In contrast to the Domestic Help Interview energy Joey brought with Rachel, getting within five feet of Kelsey forcibly time-jumps him back to puberty. (Same here, TBH, though her consistently incorrect use of "Joey and I" has a "sliding naked down an ice chute" effect on me. But that is my problem, and one Joey doesn't share.) ABC got their money's worth from Leslie (?) when she was trying to break Kelsey's mind. Well done. I don't think that note will amount to anything, but you can tell they were eager to have a cliffhanger. (That will get resolved before the WTA next week, right? Then quickly move to the rose ceremony and WTA can also include the new dog wal--... um... the third place finisher.) Anyway, I'm fully on the Kelsey Train. Her ears stick straight out from the side of her head and she DGAF and I love it. I don't know what to say about Daisy. They seem to have the same date every time. She has a very pretty smile, which is good because smiling is her go-to move. Daisy seemed to be talking herself into falling in love with Joey, which is exactly how love works, as we all know. I do wonder if somewhere during their marathon smile sessions she's clued into a potential roadblock between them. Religion or politics or a tall girl from New Orleans with excellent handwriting. At least two of those, ABC wouldn't air at gunpoint. The third they would resolve in a thunderdome. Anyway. WTA is likely to be annoying to watch but I'm curious to see all the BiP auditions.

I respect Taylor Swift a lot, even if her music doesn't always speak to me. She has a couple of decent tunes but I'm not going to be taking out a second mortgage to buy a concert ticket. But she annoys some of our dumber talking heads on the news shows, so more power to her. That said, being able to name all her songs is not quite the flex Charlie seems to think it is. If Taylor had been watching that, she would have gone from flattered to touched to uncomfortable to creeped out.

I had wondered what Maria's dad had been up to since The Room

If I had to haul probably 100 gallons of water up a beach with a holey bucket, I'd take my trunks off and use them as a bucket liner. I wonder if they were prevented from doing that. Jelinsky isn't even a legend among first boots. Franchesqua wouldn't give him the time of day. ETA: What's Franchesqua doing now? Apart from shooting Phillip's porch light out every year on her birthday?

Screw Joey, I wanted Kelsey A to be back on my screen as either the next lead or in BiP :)

As usual, I'm a day behind on the episode. When Daisy said she wasn't in love yet, did she mean she was really about 20 minutes away? By the time they strapped on those skates, seemed like she was ringing the bell. Did Jenn get a one-on-one? You'd think she would have mentioned it 38 times if she hadn't.

Well dang. I was hoping Kelsey would be the next Bachelorette. since chances were slim it would be Maria.

The previews seem to tip off that RS is right on his final three. But I could easily see him picking Kelsey A over Daisy.