S17.E24: Denver Reunion, Part 1

[TwirlyGirly]

Tensions are high as the entire Denver cast returns to revisit the most shocking moments from their season and reveal why their relationships have become so contentious. 

Air date: 4/10/24

[ByTor]

Tensions are high??? Now there's an unexpected plot twist 😁

[Retired at last]

This sounds like every episode so far. And we need two parts for this????? And then the Where Are They Now? episode? Are they kidding????

ETA -I just saw a clip from the Reunion show, so I don't know if that is a spoiler because it hasn't aired yet, so I put it in a spoiler box, even though the preview was on regular TV, so anyone could have seen it.

Spoiler

It looked like all the women were wearing the same color prom dresses and sitting across from the men - just like a junior high dance. Cam said something that sounded like he and Clarapist had had sex, and then she yelled at him and said (as she was dabbing her eyes from pretend crying) that HE manipulated her. At that point, ALL of the men started laughing. 

And I don't know if this was from the same scene, but Emily got up and walked out, because you know that every year, somebody has to. Unfortunately, Kevin Frazier is hosting.

 

Edited April 6 by Retired at last

[JenE4]

Wow. This is wild! And we are only 12 minutes in.

 

[LennieBriscoe]

I seriously  do not know whom to believe. 

E.g., both Cam and Clare seem equally astounded at what the other is asserting, and each, to me, seems credible! 🤭 🤫 🤔

[Kiss my mutt]

Well, Clare’s hair looks better. 

[Crashcourse]

Clare looks like she's wearing a wig.

Props to Chloe for wearing purple and not wearing pink to be part of the coven.

That's all I got.  I'm out now because I don't care about these people.  

[endure]

OMG 'pink power', seriously these powerho's give women a bad name.  Kudos to Chloe for not jumping on their bandwagon.  

[endure]

I know optics has been THE word used over and over this season 🙄 here's a def in case you just don't get it like me (copied & pasted)....

What do people mean when they say optics?

(used with a plural verb) the way a situation, action, event, etc., is perceived by the public or by a particular group of people: The optics on this issue are pretty good for the Democrats.

[Elizzikra]

I don't even want to watch this yet here I am...

I was vaguely sad to hear that Cameron started a new job in finance. I hope he kept his bike repair business too. 

Edited April 11 by Elizzikra

[endure]

I didn't really like or get Chloe throughout the season but by the end my opinion changed about her and even tonight she seemed very sincere and honest.  

 

[Elizzikra]

I am almost at the end of tonight’s episode and I can truly say … these people are exhausting. Every single one of them. I won’t miss any of them.

[redpencil]

The all pink and their reasoning for it gets a huge eye roll from me. I also don't buy for one minute that all the men lied about everything and all the women were the paragons of virtue as they seem intent to paint things. Every season has some couples where the wife is less at fault, more honest, more likeable, whatever, and others where the husband is that, and others where it's pretty equal. This season is no different (though pretty much nobody ended up likeable by the end).

ETA: I really think they should go back to keeping the couples isolated from each other. When they're all up in each other's business all the time it's exhausting and potentially harms their relationships. I think this season especially they fed into other's issues and really seemed to turn into a hive mind (particularly the women). Like all the couples' issues became all wrapped up in the other couples' issues instead of just focusing on their own relationships.

Edited April 11 by redpencil

[Jodyj]

I feel like this shows that they need to separate the couples from each other. Most of this could have been nipped in the bud if they didn't see each other every day.

I do like that the host is calling out that they all scammed the system and ruined it for everyone. Because they did. Every single one of them is to blame. 

And Claire.. sit down. Just try to be quiet for one minute when another person is voicing their opinion. They don't need you to crawl in their lap and whisper things into their being. 

It was interesting how us against them this was. The women have become a pack. Pack mentality isn't always the best. Even if everything they say is 100% true it doesn't seem like it. The whole "go get em" attitude was just the wrong way to go. Case in point Emily walking with her middle fingers up made her look like a child instead of an adult strong woman which she is. 

I wish all of them would have just tried to make it work this season instead of playing pretend. Given this an actual fair shot. 

I hope next season isn't this stupidity.

[atomic]

Cameron seems like a totally unhinged person. Asking Clare if they can get back together after bashing her the whole reunion. As many unlikeable people as there were this season, he takes the cake for biggest nutjob of them all.

[LennieBriscoe]

3 hours ago, endure said:

I didn't really like or get Chloe throughout the season but by the end my opinion changed about her and even tonight she seemed very sincere and honest.  

 

And here I thought she seemed the coldest and even cruelest. "Go ahead, say what you want. I won't be hurt." It is said that the opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference. 

At least the hot-under-the-collar "Pink Power" women had  their respective husbands' (alleged) gaslighting, lying, hypocritical strategizing, and manipulating to stake their divorce reasons on. 

Edited April 11 by LennieBriscoe

[kikicat]

That shot of the four pinkies dirty dancing backstage, with the camera panning to Chloe ignoring them while she scrolled through her phone, had me like

I really don't care who's lying because they all seemed to have an agenda, but the women's OPTICS were the worst.

My main take from this disaster was that the matchmakers really need to take the cast's physical preferences seriously (particularly the men). Too many of the matches don't get off the launch pad because of looks/chemistry. There's no time to grow into an attraction (setting aside that this cast seemed to have no honest intentions to even try). Jamie and Doug being the exception.

What a dumpster fire.

[LennieBriscoe]

It would be an improvement if the "experts" took any preferences seriously! 

Looks, religion, ethnicity, pets, employment status, lifestyle--- the whole shebang! 

[Yeah No]

3 hours ago, atomic said:

Cameron seems like a totally unhinged person. Asking Clare if they can get back together after bashing her the whole reunion. As many unlikeable people as there were this season, he takes the cake for biggest nutjob of them all.

I know, even I was shocked by that and I am no fan of Cam's!  If any of what he was saying about Clare were true why would he later suggest trying again with her?  It just doesn't add up unless he's a liar.  And then now with the women's accusation that he was the ringleader of the "sanitize our images/optics" team he looks even worse.

What I find significant is how Lauren is in solidarity with the other women 100% on their view of things.  I'm sure now people who don't like the other three "pink power" women will now trash her too even if they liked her before.  Meanwhile I think her support speaks volumes and lends credence to their side of the story.

Also compelling is how most of what Cam was challenging Clare about are things she is down on camera confirming earlier in the season.  She even told the camera episodes ago back when Cam was off for his medical issue that she had been trying to reach him by phone several times without success.  And yet back then she still didn't throw him under the bus but is on camera making excuses for him.  So obviously he doesn't know that the audience was witness to what she said she did when it happened.  Same for him telling her he wasn't attracted to her.  She told us that in a talking head right after it happened early in the season.  So her story in this episode lines up with what she said earlier in the season.  He can deny it all he wants but he is full of shit if you ask me.  One way you know if someone is making things up is if their story isn't consistent.  The more the women talk the more I see evidence that their stories are consistent over time and with each other.

Edited April 11 by Yeah No

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, endure said:

OMG 'pink power', seriously these powerho's give women a bad name.  Kudos to Chloe for not jumping on their bandwagon.  

Chloe just didn't want to get involved in something she wasn't there for and didn't affect her.  She wants to stay friends with everyone.  If she were on the receiving end of the men's "sanitation team" she probably would have joined the other women.  That's why Lauren is united with them.  She was also on the receiving end of the men's optics team.

4 hours ago, Jodyj said:

It was interesting how us against them this was. The women have become a pack. Pack mentality isn't always the best. Even if everything they say is 100% true it doesn't seem like it. The whole "go get em" attitude was just the wrong way to go. Case in point Emily walking with her middle fingers up made her look like a child instead of an adult strong woman which she is. 

I think these women became a united "pack" because they felt that they were on the receiving end of the men as a pack, united as "team sanitization", probably under Cam as the ringleader, who was determined to tell everyone how they could resist production's efforts to make all of them look bad.  And they tried to manipulate the women into going along with them on this even as they threw them under the bus and didn't stick to their own "script" about not making each other look bad.  If their motives were truly to make everyone look good they had a funny way of showing it!  

Also I wonder just how toxic that one producer was that Austin went out with (and didn't deny he did) that all of the men felt the need to unite to resist production's efforts to make them look bad.  How low has the show sunk?  Or was it all their paranoia?

[atomic]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I know, even I was shocked by that and I am no fan of Cam's!  If any of what he was saying about Clare were true why would he later suggest trying again with her?  It just doesn't add up unless he's a liar.  And then now with the women's accusation that he was the ringleader of the "sanitize our images/optics" team he looks even worse.

I'm not sure he actually wanted to get back with her. I get the sense he really hates her and it might have been more scheming on his part. Either way it destroys his credibility and reinforces what I've thought all along about what a fraud and manipulator he is.

[Rightside]

6 hours ago, atomic said:

Cameron seems like a totally unhinged person. Asking Clare if they can get back together after bashing her the whole reunion. As many unlikeable people as there were this season, he takes the cake for biggest nutjob of them all.

I'll bet money, the producers told Cameron to do that! He had zero interest in her.

Edited April 11 by Rightside

[cinsays]

huh, i think this all just reinforced the mean girl pack image of Emily, Clare, and Becka.   they're just pretty nasty and vicious people and them being around each other constantly for weeks has just made them worse by feeding off each other's bile.

Emily made some comment that any guy would want to have her.  uh, guess not.  all the facial expressions and her attitude make her unattractive.

i think the guys all talked about their situations but they didn't obsess and plot like the girls did.  i think they were not prepared for some of the accusations and that's why they look to some like they are lying, when they are just startled by some of what's being thrown at them and don't know how to react.  

the only person who came away from this mess benefiting by the experience is Clare. I'm glad the timing was such that she didn't get pulled into the gang but i think she would have distanced herself from them anyway.  her maturity wouldn't let her get caught up in their drama.

[atomic]

51 minutes ago, Rightside said:

I'll bet money, the producers told Cameron to do that! He had zero interest in her.

But he didn't deny it when Clare revealed that he does the same stuff off camera -- calling her a sociopath and then professing his love to her immediately after. Say what you want about her, but he's shown to be a toxic person himself with that kind of behavior.

[Empress1]

6 hours ago, kikicat said:

That shot of the four pinkies dirty dancing backstage, with the camera panning to Chloe ignoring them while she scrolled through her phone, had me like

I laughed. She was like “I don’t really like them like that so whatever.” She’s also older than they are and came across as more mature - the women in pink came across pretty badly, in my opinion.

I also laughed that the women were in pageant attire and Cam was in a hoodie. I’ve never understood why the dress code for reality show reunions is “pageant.”

14 minutes ago, cinsays said:

Emily made some comment that any guy would want to have her.  uh, guess not.  all the facial expressions and her attitude make her unattractive.

Yeah, I’m a straight woman so it’s moot but I find Emily wholly unappealing. She’s not particularly attractive, she’s immature, she’s got a nasty streak, and she’s too old for her drunk antics. She has some growing up to do.

6 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

And here I thought she seemed the coldest and even cruelest. "Go ahead, say what you want. I won't be hurt." It is said that the opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference. 

Genuinely asking how this is cruel? I thought she was just over him, which is what’s supposed to happen (eventually) when you break up. Like “I’ve got some distance on the situation, I’m good with it now, speak your piece.” Neither of them should want to be in a position where one can hurt the other - Michael even said, after the rest of them were nastily sniping at each other, that he hoped he didn’t inspire that level of hatred in Chloe.

I did not and do not believe for a second that Austin was ever attracted to Becca. Absolutely nothing about his interactions with her indicates any romantic or sexual attraction.

[JenE4]

15 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

I seriously  do not know whom to believe. 

E.g., both Cam and Clare seem equally astounded at what the other is asserting, and each, to me, seems credible! 🤭 🤫 🤔

Totally agree with you. And, you know what, I think they were both telling “their truth” (to quote Clare). They even did seem to validate the other in a “yes, but” way. So from what I gather, Clare did admit that she initially told Cam that they needed a plan for “optics,” and asked for his help. Cam then took the ball and orchestrated the optics plan, and every other couple ended up following suit in this optics pact. So, it is both true that it was originally Clare’s idea AND that the plan was Cam’s—neither is “wrong” per se by trying to pin the whole optics concept back on the other one.

Cam did agree that he explained physically what he asked for—and Clare admitted that she “filled in the blanks” on that meaning he wasn’t attracted to her. But Cam was very much attracted to her—and she’s just unable to let go of her interpretation of his actual words in answering a specific question that wasn’t really about her. (For instance, if you asked me beforehand to describe the kind of guy I usually went for, I wouldn’t describe my husband, even though I went gaga for him as soon as I met him.) Clare then went and told the girls “her version” of what Cam said, and Emily in particular seems to still be angry about Cam “telling Clare he’s not attracted to her,” which never actually happened though Clare feels like it did.

The Kens didn’t know what hit them when the Barbies came fully united with corroborated stories (and a bespoke dance).

I feel like this was almost to the women’s detriment because it seemed almost “too coincidental” that they all had the exact same experience and somehow Emily specifically chimed in on every detail on everyone else’s marriages and conversations. Like, they could have taken it down a notch. The guys’ reactions backstage were priceless! It was like they were defeated in the trenches realizing the other side brought out the heavy artillery and a coordinated plan of attack. Sounded like the guys barely even kept in touch (aside from Austin and Michael). Guess they forgot about aligning on optics for the reunion.

I thought Kevin did a really good job “speaking for the people” by pointing out when certain things didn’t add up and stopping the pile-ons and letting people speak for themselves. Likewise, Michael and Chloe had looks of shock, and I like how they were both all, I’m glad we didn’t end up like that, and I have the utmost respect for you. Though, I think the most surprising part of the episode to me was that Michael didn’t cite the foster kiddos and animal sanctuary as being the reason for saying no.

Anyhoo, I thought these 2 hours were action-packed, and they barely scratched the surface on actual events and conversations, so I’m surprisingly looking forward to the next 2 hours—especially when Kevin sets a boundary that makes Emily run sobbing temper tantrum style from the stage. 

Edited April 11 by JenE4

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, Rightside said:

I'll bet money, the producers told Cameron to do that! He had zero interest in her.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised.  The women may have been manipulated by the men but the men were probably being manipulated by the producers, which means in effect that the women were being screwed over by both the men AND the show itself!

[Lindz]

Cam & Clare were so annoying! So vague! So pointless! A simple yes/no question would've cleared SOMETHING up! Cam said he got what he wanted... DID HE TELL HER THAT?!! DID SHE TELL HIM THAT?!!! SEEMS NOT! & everyone else can shut up if they didn't witness it themselves. Why did she "despise" him & want out of the marriage? Because she was in love with her bf, according to him? He wanted out cuz she wasn't what he wanted, according to her? His "start fresh" to potentially try again BS reminds me of Orion's BS. & Kev taking that to mean try again. Um. No. I don't believe Cam meant that. I think he's putting on a show & calling her bluff to force her to admit she's not attracted to him. & the question was WHY?!! & Does Kev really believe they could begin anew with the arguing?!! NAH!!! It'd be more of the same! What were his compliments? Oh. Physical. He didn't say he was falling for her on the 4th day? Did she visit him or just TRY? Did she cancel multiple times? What happened during the "glimpse in the timeline"? 6 weeks prior he asked to get back together??? Still in love with her??? HUHHH??? WHERE'D THAT COME FROM?!! Seems super sketch like he's messing with her. They should've shown the messages cuz it's so confusing! How'd she "drag" him along the previous months??? So much we don't & won't know. 🤷‍♀️😒

[After7Only]

I've not always been a fan of Kevin Frazier at these reunions.   But he's doing a pretty good job moderating this mess.   I like that he's pretty much blaming the whole group for the optics scheme, and not falling for the woe is me, the evil boys all made us do it narrative the pink posse is trying to spin.  

I think Lauren is the one woman on the panel who has the best argument about being gas lit and treated poorly by her husband.  But she's overshadowed by the rest of the pink posse.  

 

[Lindz]

Clare's interpretation & what Cam said were 2 different things. She was right that they shouldn't have talked about what they wanted like Clint & Gina. She was wrong for furthering that conversation & reinforcing her belief that he wasn't attracted to her, instead of just asking him directly & she was wrong for the way she took the things he said. Like because she was hurt believing he wasn't attracted to her, she looked for ways to reaffirm him being hurtful. So common that spouses don't know if their spouse is attracted to them, it's tiring. Why can't they just stop that already??? Instruct them to share with their spouse that they're attracted if they are!!!! 🙄

 

[Lindz]

Again with the filling in the blanks. Again. So common!!! Chloe did what Clare did instead of asking to get clarity. They disagree about the last name thing & she seems to have a different stance on him not telling his mom to support her belief he didn't intend to stay married. Kev asking what if he told her to stay like with Nique. He & the wives ignore the fact that they are brand new stranger spouses & that's a demand of a more familiar partner. The husbands don't want to seem controlling & disrespectful of their wives' wishes. & What'd she think he wanted by his facial expressions?! & She didn't say it was because she didn't feel like he was fully committed. When he kept saying strong enough foundation I wondered what he was doing to get there & suspected he was doing nothing. That's what Kev should've asked him. That's what Chloe should've asked him. They worked their own agendas instead of deciding what they were going to do. Typical. 🙄🤷‍♀️

[seacliffsal]

Wow!  I could feel the actual hatred and tension through the t.v.  I think the women actually hate the men and that's not something I see much of in real life or reality t.v.  Unfortunately it seems that the women came in with a plan (other than Chloe) and exposed it when talking about their continuous communications and planning their outfits.  They all knew each others' perspectives and specific examples that were going to be used (as evidenced by their chiming in as everyone else was talking).  This is the 'get everybody's stories straight' that many people use when perpetuating a lie or story.  Having been a career high school teacher with excellent classroom management and very few discipline issues, I have learned how to accurately interpret facial expressions/reactions and student 'get the story straight' dynamics in order to be proactive in preventing issues from arising.  This leads me to believe that the women did plan on accusing the men of every issue and deny, deny, deny any personal responsibility.  There were a few slip-ups that revealed the women were far more participatory than they were planning on admitting (i.e. Becca letting it slip that the women were part of the strategizing about optics and another example I was going to use that just slipped my mind).

Also, some people should realize that the more they divulge, the more they implicate themselves.

After this episode, I feel pretty much the same about the participants as I had been feeling all season except I like Chloe a bit more, Michael a bit less, and Emily a whole lot less.

Agree with an above poster that Kevin is doing a good job and that next week will also be on fire.

[ChristmasJones]

So five divorces this season... made me wonder how many MAFS couples are still together at this point? 

[LennieBriscoe]

I might have been listening without full attention, so what exactly turned Chloe off/away from Michael?

I mean, I can guess (Attire? Jewelry?), but did she ever articulate? Because what I perceived as "cold and cruel" is her silence, her letting Michael wonder. But I could be off-base here. 

[Gator Stud]

2 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

Unfortunately it seems that the women came in with a plan (other than Chloe) and exposed it when talking about their continuous communications and planning their outfits.  They all knew each others' perspectives and specific examples that were going to be used (as evidenced by their chiming in as everyone else was talking).  This is the 'get everybody's stories straight' that many people use when perpetuating a lie or story. 

They all were lying and exaggerating with the exception of Chloe and Lauren.  I cant believe Becca and Emily let that gaslighter, Claire manipulate them.  They seemed much nicer before they joined the Mean Girls club.  I have a much more positive view of the men after these past 4 episodes. I always like Michael, despite his weirdness.  I liked Austin because he seemed like a chill guy.  I thought both Brendan and Cam were rude people, but after hearing the back story, I understand why.  I now think the guys are all Ok, but only two of the women ok.  I think the other three should get therapy.  I agree that the women got their stories straight and were lying about some things. Their goal was to make the men look bad, not just move on with their lives. I'll watch the rest and comment more later. 

But I will say this, if Emily doesnt want people to think she is an alcoholic and a One Night Stand Kween, she should not sleep with everybody and brag about it.  And not openly get wasted. And not do the split where her coochie was hanging out for everybody to see.   Austin wasnt throwing his business out there; he just vaped in private and kept it to himself. Emily wanted to be the Woo Hoo girl, and that is the way people perceive her now.  She doesnt seem like marriage material at all.  Becca needs a lot of therapy before she is ready for anything.  It might be too late for claire.  What kind of therapist becomes a gaslighter and goes about destroying fragile relationships? An envious therapist that needs therapy herself.

I would hang with any of the guys, but only Lauren and Chloe out of that group. Those three women need to work of themselves and not blame their husband for their issues, when it is really them that is the problem.

[Rightside]

1 hour ago, ChristmasJones said:

So five divorces this season... made me wonder how many MAFS couples are still together at this point? 

Out of 17 seasons with 69 couples (had to add that in!) there are 11 still married couples.

https://www.mylifetime.com/shows/married-at-first-sight/pages/which-married-at-first-sight-couples-are-still-together

Edited April 11 by Rightside

[ChristmasJones]

8 minutes ago, Rightside said:

Out of 17 seasons, there are 11 still married couples.

https://www.mylifetime.com/shows/married-at-first-sight/pages/which-married-at-first-sight-couples-are-still-together

Thanks! It was fun to read that. 

[starlightlost]

100% agree that the girls had gotten their story straight before this reunion. They were ready with their ammo and it comes across as just MEAN. They wore the correct color for sure. But we are all seeing through it and it didn't work. The men are meh and were not it this season but they are walking away from this reunion looking wayyyyy better than the ladies.

[Elizzikra]

Quote

I might have been listening without full attention, so what exactly turned Chloe off/away from Michael?

I was practically comatose by the time they did their couple's interview with Kevin, but I think she just repeated her mantra of "what is meant for you will not pass you" or something like that. Michael passed her so he's not meant for her and she's over it. At least, that's what she said.

I think that Chloe said yes on decision day in spite of who Michael is and not because of who Michael is. I give her credit for looking past what I think she found to be a distasteful outward presentation and realized that Michael is a kind, intelligent guy. But Michael, like all of us, deserves to be loved for who he is, not despite how he looks, and I think that's why Michael said no. I don't think those two were going to be happy together and it's for the best that they split.

Quote

The men are meh and were not it this season but they are walking away from this reunion looking wayyyyy better than the ladies.

I think only Michael and Chloe came out relatively unscathed. I think everyone else came out looking pretty bad. 

[kristen111]

19 hours ago, endure said:

I didn't really like or get Chloe throughout the season but by the end my opinion changed about her and even tonight she seemed very sincere and honest.  

 

All the while I thought Chloe was planted there for a reason.  As soon as she mentioned all the goats or whatever they were, and five kids, he was out.  Plus, I just could not see them together.

[kristen111]

This show is on my last nerve.  They have like 50 mods interviewing?   WHY ??????.   The girls were really ganging up on the guys.  I didn’t care for any of them.  Emily looks and behaves rough.

[Elizzikra]

Quote

As soon as she mentioned all the goats or whatever they were

I think it was just sort of "rescue animals" generically. She liked the wheelchair bound cow at the rescue they visited but that would probably be a bit much in the yard of the one suburban house they visited. Then again, I don't really know how much space one needs for a bovine paraplegic.

I do love that she rescues senior dogs. They are awesome and are so often overlooked. There was something about Chloe I didn't love but she got points from me for her devotion to the dogs.

[TwirlyGirly]

15 hours ago, Yeah No said:

<snip> I think these women became a united "pack" because they felt that they were on the receiving end of the men as a pack, united as "team sanitization", probably under Cam as the ringleader, who was determined to tell everyone how they could resist production's efforts to make all of them look bad.  And they tried to manipulate the women into going along with them on this even as they threw them under the bus and didn't stick to their own "script" about not making each other look bad.  If their motives were truly to make everyone look good they had a funny way of showing it! <snip>

One (or perhaps more than one) of the women said (paraphrasing) the men focused so much energy on the "optics" the fact they had just gotten married and were supposed to be developing a relationship with the women they were married to was practically forgotten.

I know a lot of viewers think reality TV is scripted, but I recall something I read a reality TV cast member said years ago: "If you don't do it or say it they can't use it." 

So while shows like MAFS aren't scripted per se, at the end of each season production has hundreds of hours of film of each cast member. When reviewing the film, storylines will be suggested and the producers can certainly tell the editors to use the segments of each cast member's footage that will tell the story they've chosen for them.

Although I have no idea who was gaslighting who in the husbands vs wives face-off, I'm leaning towards the grooms' side. From what I understand, there were so few men who applied for this season production had to scout social media (and perhaps do some in-person scouting at venues that attract single men) to find men and invite them to participate. 

I believe MAFS receiving more female applicants than male has been an issue from the show's inception, so they've always had to do this to increase their pool of available male candidates. But Denver's pool of bachelors was almost entirely* made up of men who were recruited by production.

My response to anyone who expresses surprise that optics were a bigger priority to the men than forming a relationship with their wives is: "Duh. Of course they were!"  

Because of that this season was doomed to fail before it even began.

*or entirely. I can't find the article I read that said all the men were recruited.

[Hip-to-be-Square]

23 hours ago, Elizzikra said:

I am almost at the end of tonight’s episode and I can truly say … these people are exhausting. Every single one of them. I won’t miss any of them.

In case you do start to miss them, there will be a "Where Are They Now?" episode on April 24th 😅😩

[Elizzikra]

43 minutes ago, Hip-to-be-Square said:

In case you do start to miss them, there will be a "Where Are They Now?" episode on April 24th 😅😩

Uhhhh - thanks?

How can I miss them when they won't go away?

[Hip-to-be-Square]

23 minutes ago, Elizzikra said:

Uhhhh - thanks?

How can I miss them when they won't go away?

They really won't go away! I can't believe that they're going to have MAFS Denver episodes until the end of April. Every time I watch an episode I think, "I could've been doing my chores or running errands!" That's when I know that I hate a show- when I'd rather be doing chores! 🧹🧺🧽😏

[princelina]

I watched today - the girls are out for blood and it makes them look bad, but since the men continue lying I have to side with the girls.

Cam:  "My family didn't come, but that's okay because later we'll go to New Zealand and have a wedding they can attend."  (Clare: "I love that!"). Then:  "You're dad doesn't even know about the wedding?"  "You want me to tell that to a man on his deathbed?"  "Your dad's on his deathbed?"  "Well no, but he's been in poor health for a while."  I don't care who "feels" Cam isn't a liar - he's a liar and here's why.  Tonight:  "Now I finally understand what gaslighting feels like [smirk] - I think we could be great together - let's try again!" STFU douchebag.

Austin:  will never, ever, ever admit he wasn't attracted to Becca.  Even Kevin knows it and wanted him to just admit it.

Brennan:  will never, ever, ever admit that he doesn't like Emily's drinking and one night stands and is "protecting" her by not saying that.  And no one will bring it up if he won't.  Emily still seems clueless, or maybe she's trying to taunt him into saying it so she can accuse him of "slut shaming" - I can't tell.

On the other hand:  Chloe knows "the universe" (not a sentient being) has saved her from Michael - but no "kiddos" or rescue animal farms were mentioned - why not?

I'm still waiting for Lauren to say out loud that Orion set her up - fingers crossed for next week! 😄

 

[endure]

5 hours ago, kristen111 said:

All the while I thought Chloe was planted there for a reason.  As soon as she mentioned all the goats or whatever they were, and five kids, he was out.  Plus, I just could not see them together.

I don’t think he was ever in, he probably wanted to be on reality TV to become an influencer, just my guess based on his look and style.

[StatisticalOutlier]

14 hours ago, JenE4 said:

Clare then went and told the girls “her version” of what Cam said, and Emily in particular seems to still be angry about Cam “telling Clare he’s not attracted to her,” which never actually happened though Clare feels like it did.

Which is like when Kevin asked her, "When Cam was sick, did you go visit him?"  She said, very definitively, "Yes."  Well, it turns out she did not visit him.  She talked about how she wanted to, and how Cam wouldn't return her calls, and Cam told her she brings bad energy.  All of which may be true, but they do not add up to a "yes" when asked if she visited him.

Quote

I thought Kevin did a really good job “speaking for the people” by pointing out when certain things didn’t add up and stopping the pile-ons and letting people speak for themselves.

I'm lukewarm on Kevin generally, but I think he did as good a job as can be done in a situation like this.  If people won't answer questions directly, there's not much you can do but try to get them to, and then give up.

Also, what's up with Clare repositioning Emily's extension?  Weird.

[endure]

21 hours ago, kikicat said:

That shot of the four pinkies dirty dancing backstage, with the camera panning to Chloe ignoring them while she scrolled through her phone, had me like

I really don't care who's lying because they all seemed to have an agenda, but the women's OPTICS were the worst.

My main take from this disaster was that the matchmakers really need to take the cast's physical preferences seriously (particularly the men). Too many of the matches don't get off the launch pad because of looks/chemistry. There's no time to grow into an attraction (setting aside that this cast seemed to have no honest intentions to even try). Jamie and Doug being the exception.

What a dumpster fire.

I’ve often said on here if you’re marrying at first sight wouldn’t you go into it with a totally open mind that you can work through a lot issues including and especially looks?  It’s bizarre but probably a lot of them are either clueless or there for the wrong reason, it’s not like they are being forced lol….. they chose this.