Chicks in the Office - Bachelorette Fantasy Suites Recap

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

The Bachelorette Fantasy Suites recap with the Luggage Guy himself. CITO merch > http://bit.ly/citomerch. Follow us on Instagram @chicksintheoffice and on Twitter @chicksintheoff + subscribe to our Snapchat show > http://bit.ly/thegroupchat & our YouTube > http://bit.ly/CITOYOUTUBE.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/chicks-in-the-office

Hey, Chicks in the Office listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. What's up, everyone? It's Chicks in the Office with Ria and Trent, giving you that Friday energy on a Wednesday. I bet you guys, we're not ready for that intro, but we have a fallen soldier, Francesca Mariano, who unfortunately acquired the vid. She's got COVID. She's not feeling great. So we're taking over. We're going to do the Bachelorette recap. And I'm feeling

great about it. How about you, Trent? I feel really good about it. I think this is the first time you and I have done a podcast, just me and you. Usually we have Fran who's great at sort of steering the ship and, you know, keeping us in check. We don't have that this time around. And I actually think it's going to make for a good podcast. We always do a good bachelor at recap. It's a good back and forth. This will be an interesting experiment with just the two of us. It really will. I'm really happy to get some alone time with you. I wish Noah would leave. So it could really just be truly me and you. He's kind of being like a cockplock right now. But whatever, we'll get on with the show. I did write down notes. You did. Does anybody want to applaud me or? I'll give you a little bit for that. Thank you. I usually just use my tweets as notes. Like that's pretty much that's pretty much an outline for me. But like what kind of notes did you take? Like how extensive are these notes? Well, my notes, I did them in the notes app. Usually I like to write them down, but I was like, I'll just do them on my phone. I write them down, like, as if... Oh, that's a lot of notes.

It is. And I write like LOL and stuff, like as if I'm tweeting them out, but it's really just in the notes. No, the better, like, the more you write down, the more you're going to remember when you're looking at it. Like, when you write LOL at the end of a note, you know that you're like, oh, this is a funny thing. not a serious thing. Right. And I like, and it's definitely something I want to talk about, you know? For sure. So I think we can get started. Noah, you feel free to jump in if you feel the need, but I think me and Trent got this one covered. That was, that felt rude. It was really meant to invite Noah. I'll shut up. I'll shut up. It was meant to invite him in, but also,

I like my long time and Trent. Keep your distance, Noah. Yeah, yeah. Keep it tight. Keep those lips tight and other things as well. I want to say this episode, I know we're going to get into it. We're going to talk about every part of it. A legit stunner. I'm stunned. I can't believe. For you.

For me, but I understand. And you are right. And I'm going to let you gloat a little bit and say how right you were about the final two that we have. But I really think there's even a part of you that can't believe what just happened, happened. The number one seed got knocked out. The number one seed is officially out. The guy who has been the frontrunner, the whole season, the guy who we all just assumed was going to be in the final two.

Minnesota Joe, comfortable Joe, Michelle likes Joe. They're from the same area. They both play basketball. They both are really good at basketball. They seem to have this connection all season long. And now he's just out of the picture. And I truly am still in shock. Yeah, I want to talk to talk about it in depth when we get to the end of the episode.

But I know what you're saying when you say you're in shock to you, even though I said this was going to be. be the final two. I am in shock. I kind of said that just to go against the grain, just to be like, ah, my boy Brandon is coming through. And then he actually did. So all very surprising. But before we get into it, this podcast, as always, is presented to you by DatChat. We love Dat Chat. We love talking to everybody on the cutting stems group during The Bachelorette, especially on Tuesday nights. Also, The Chicks in the Office is a great group to talk about the podcast, as well as the private messaging feature. Everything about Datchat is so fun, so awesome. So go to datchat.com slash Barstool to learn more about Datchat and download it now. The episode starts off. They're in Mexico, which I think we're just

happy to see them traveling outside the country again. I know the last few bachelor and bachelorette's we had, were they traveling outside the country? No, I think paradise, yes, but not. Yeah, no, I think Katie's season, she was the last bachelorette season and they were in New Mexico, right? I think they had a bubble down in New Mexico. So this is the first, like out of the country travel that we've been seeing. And I agree. I like that they're finally getting back out there and traveling more. That's a big part of the show where it was before COVID, where they get to go to all these lavish, awesome vacations. I did feel a little bit bad for Minneapolis. They've been in Minneapolis for three weeks. And I like Minneapolis. I've tweeted about how much I like Minneapolis.

It's a great place. But to contrast that to then jumping right to Mexico, I mean, Mexico is paradise. It's legitimately paradise. Minneapolis is great. It does not compare that well to Mexico. Right. And then when you put these people who are quote unquote falling in love in a place like Mexico, it's only going to heighten all of those things rather than Joe belonging in Minnesota and we'll get to all that.

But I think that the common theme of this episode from the beginning was getting it through the guy's heads that if they felt like they were in love with Michelle, falling in love with her, love her in any way, shape, or form. they got to tell her. Tasia stood in front of all these guys and said, if you have something to say, you should say it now. Like, say it on these dates because you're going to regret it. And I think what she was hinting to was basically like the big I love you. Yeah, because it has become clear that Michelle wants that. I think a couple episodes ago, we were wondering, is she going to want an engagement? Like, is that necessarily what she wants or needs at the end of this? Or is she going to be okay with,

oh, I'm just in, I'm in love with, you know, one of these guys and we're going to go off and live our lives. And if we end up getting engaged somewhere down the road, that's fine. I actually still think we're sort of there, but it's very clear that she wants to hear that you are falling in love with her or you are in love with her. That's a big part of what's going to, if you're going to end up with Michelle going forward. So that's big to her for sure. Yes, definitely. And I have that towards the end where she gives all these options, which I want to discuss all the differences between them. But first, let's talk about Brandon's date.

he goes first. Does the person who goes first make you nervous? It's interesting because they sort of had this discussion as well, right? Like Brandon and Nate had this discussion when Joe was on his date was like, what's the best position to be in during Fantasy Suite Week? And I actually liked that they showed them having that discussion because people who watch the show have this discussion all the time. Like what do you think is the best position to be in during Fantasy Sweet Week? And obviously Brandon was like, well, going first,

is the best because he was the first and Nate was like well going last is the best because he's third. I honestly think it's third because you are the last person that she gets to see. Like I understand going first maybe means like you get to make the biggest impression and then you are compared against all the other guys. But I think going third, I think it's as simple as you're the last person that she saw. So she's going to have the strongest feelings for that person. Whether or not that's true, I don't know, but that's how I think. Yeah, that's how I feel about it too. and that's why whoever goes first, like Brandon was first.

And I was like, fuck, this is really fitting into the narrative of like, Brandon's just not the one for her. He's going first. I feel like those guys always get left behind because the third is always the strongest, in my opinion, in your opinion, too. But clearly not this time around. They go on a horseback riding date. Very beautiful, obviously.

You can't go wrong with that kind of date. Have you ever ridden a horse? Have I ever ridden a horse? I think I wrote a horse at, um, at, um, at camp. when I was like 13 years old. I love to see some photographs of that.

I think I probably had them destroyed or I didn't allow photography to take place. Why don't I feel like you looked exactly like you do now as a 13 year old, just like small? Actually, I do. I look very similar. Similar haircut, similar shape. Like I really have not changed all that much from birth to now. I feel like you've just, you're like a grown baby. Yeah.

For some reason, even when I pictured trying as a kid, you still have like facial hair. Yes, he still has facial hair and like his haircuts the same. My haircut has changed very little over the years. You have a goatee as a baby. Like I've had a shaved head for most of my life because I don't know if you can see it now, but I have a scar on the top of my head. And I had an assist. Boy.

No, I, well, yeah, no. I had a cyst on the top of my head that had to be surgically removed when I was two years old. So they had to. Yeah. It wasn't a big deal. But now I had my head shaved for that. And then I just kept it that way, I guess, for the rest of my life. What an interesting fact that we did not know about you.

Can you see it? Can you see the scar? Oh, my God, I do see it. Yes. Wow, Trent. I don't remember. I was two years old when it happened. My parents could also be lying to me.

You don't remember? I was two. I don't remember anything. Was it worrisome? I don't know. You don't know that you didn't ask your parents these questions? I had a disease when I was like two, three years old. couldn't walk. Oh, I remember you told me about that. Yes. Wow. Well, my parents told me all about it.

I'm allergic to peanuts. Let's not forget that. Oh, wow. Here we go. No, it's allergic to peanuts, everybody. Here we go. We all have something. Mr. One Up are like, oh, don't forget about my peanut allergy. Yeah, no, I've looked very similar my whole life. Yeah, I would say so, even though I didn't know you your whole life. But I've never ridden a horse. I wanted to get that fact out. Really? Do you have any interest? No, no, I have no interest because of the episode of four. full house where Michelle falls off the horse and loses her memory. You guys familiar with that one? No.

It's the final two episodes of Full House. Michelle is like this big equestrian and she's riding these horses and then she falls off a horse. My one out an accent came out hard. They're off. She falls off the horse and then loses her memory. Can't remember the family. And then finally it comes back.

So ever since then, I've been afraid of riding a horse. I actually like what they did on this date though. Like just riding a horse to ride a horse. doesn't interest me all that much. But riding a horse through scenic views, like if there, I'm pretty sure there's the option to that at the Grand Canyon. Like if you want to ride horses or maybe don't know which one it is,

I would do that because you're riding it and you're also seeing all these beautiful views. But just to like ride around a horse like on flat ground, I have no interest in doing that. Yeah, I don't think so either. On the beach is nice or whatever, but still a little afraid. End up having a nice conversation where

Michelle brings up to Brandon that she thinks that their families are very similar. And obviously family is a really big thing to Michelle. I think we've seen that the entire season. I think if you're a teacher, you kind of have family is very important to everybody. I think, I hope. I don't know. But I think even more so somebody who's like a teacher like nurturing type to her kids and her family.

That I think is something that's pulling her closer to Brandon. How do you feel about that? Are you, I'm not going to ask you about your dating life too in depth, but do you feel like it's important for families to be similar? I, you know, I've never really thought about that part of it. Like, to me, it's really not that important to me. But I also haven't really gotten to that step in many relationships where you introduce them to the family.

But like if you're, if you're into someone and they're into you, I don't think you should allow something. like that to completely break it off. Now, if it, if it strengthens it, then that's a positive. I think that's great. I think if the families get together and they really like each other and you could see a future, obviously there's no negative there. But I don't, I think you should trust your own intuition and instinct when it comes to relationships. So if it's a negative, I don't think it should be a deal breaker. But if it's a positive, which it clearly is between Brandon and Michelle, I think that's all good things. Yeah, I think that's a great take on it. I agree. I feel like

If your families aren't similar, like, of course, whatever, your families like each other, whatever, but they're not very similar. It's kind of like whatever. You know, you can write that off as long as you like the person. But when your families are very, very similar, it adds so much more. You're like, oh, wow, our families are so similar. It just like makes you like the person more. But checks and balances, you know, just depends.

Absolutely. And outside of the family stuff, Brandon and Michelle, it's, this is the relationship that seems the easiest out of the final three. They're very goofy. Sometimes it, my perception is it swerves into a friend's own lane. Certainly, and I don't want to jump too far ahead, but after they spend the night together, they have a food fight in bed. I wrote that down.

I hate it. I don't want to jump around too much, but that, it can go one of two ways. One, they're like super friendly and that's super great and they're super into each other. But it did partially have the vibe to me that they're really good friends. Yes, I wrote down. I will never have a fake food fight with anyone. I don't care how in love I am. So I think we could fast forward a little bit. Obviously, they had a very nice night, hot tub, fireworks, the boys. This is the moment where Nate starts realizing, like, he got a little reality check that he wasn't the only guy there. Because Joe had been talking about how he was nervous about Michelle's date with Brandon to Nate.

And Nate was like, I don't care. I'm focused on my date. I'm looking ahead here. A little too cocky about it. That's a lie, by the way. Like, Nate's a cool guy and I really like Nate. He's trying, he's out loud saying that, trying to get himself to believe it. Because, I mean, there's so many, there's so many awkward moments this week. Who said it, Joe, when he said bros turned into foes. I actually love that.

I thought that was a perfect way to put it as, as cheesy and corny as it kind of is. Like, the fact that they have the three guys stay together during this week is a stroke of genius and also torture. Like, when they are just sitting there, coming to the realization that it's fantasy sweet week, it's the three of us, we're the only ones left, and each of these dates could potentially end with an overnight. Like, Nate can say all he wants that he's not thinking about it.

He's focused on his own relationship. At the end of the day, he knows he's on the show. He knows what's going on, and he's definitely thinking about it. I appreciate the effort to try to only focus on his relationship and be like, it's me and Michelle and nobody else. If you're a real human being, that's not possible to think that way.

Right, because it's all. all encompassing. Like it's all you're surrounded by. So how are you not thinking about it? I think you're right. I think he's trying to put on the cool guy act. This is the whole appearance he's had this whole season, in my personal opinion. I'm not like totally obsessed with Nate, but we'll get to that at the end. Obviously, Brandon, Michelle have a very nice night, spend the night together. They have a nice conversation at dinner where this is where it gets a little confusing to me. So Brandon tells Michelle he is totally in love with her. Like he is in love with her, right?

That's it. No questions asked. Yep. Michelle says to Brandon, I'm falling in love with you. What is the difference between the two? Like, because at that point, if you're falling in love with someone, aren't you just like in love with them? Or do you fall in the land? Like, how does it go?

Because I'm confused. I haven't landed yet. I haven't landed. I'm just in the air right now. Now. What is that? Like, is it like, I'm falling in love with you, but I could, I could be sucked back up and then I'm not in love with you.

Yeah, it's a good, it's a good point. I honestly don't think I have an answer for it. It's, it's probably- Once you jump out of the plane and fall, you only land. Like, you can't be pulled back up. Yeah. I was, I was actually thinking about this the other day, the difference between being in love or loving someone.

Like that you, I can love someone, but we're not in love. Like, Noah, great. great conversation. Yes, I've talked about this many of times before. Yes. I remember, this is so sad. But my boyfriend in high school is, it's not that sad because it was high school. I remember I was like, I'm in love with you. And he had already told me he loved me, right? So I figured, I'm in love with you. This is it. This is going to last forever. He was like, I'm not in love with you, but I love you. And I, I was like, oh, okay, very confusing because at that point you should just break up.

Like, unless you feel like I'm going to get there, it's like, I love you as a person, but I'm not in love with you. Let's break up. Not like we're going to still date now. Only if you feel like I will get there. I don't know. It's very confusing conversation. No, but I don't want to give any spoilers to another show.

But isn't that basically the relationship that Shiv and Tom have? I was going to, I was thinking that in my head. I think that- Shib loves Tom, but she's not in love with Tom. Yes. And I think that happens in a lot of relationships and why people, now we're just talking about when we sound like psychologists, I think a lot of people stay in relationships that they're not supposed to be in or don't want to be in anymore because they love

the person, right? They care about them. They don't want to hurt their feelings. Right. But they're not in love with them. And so they just stay because they're like, well, I love them. And it's like, all right, well, sometimes that's not enough. Like, you could love a person and care about them,

but that does not mean that you want to, like, stay in a relationship with them. Do you think that's what Michelle is talking about when she talks about Brandon, like that she's falling in love with them while he is fully in love with her? Yes, I kind of think so. I think she very much appreciates. And I think this kind of goes hand in hand when you, like, love a person, right? instead of like being in love with them. It's like you appreciate everything about them.

You think they're great. They're really nice. Right. You love them. And I think that's how Michelle feels about Brandon. And I think she wants to be in love with Brandon because he's in love with her and she sees how nice and excited he is. But I don't truly, I feel it more than I feel it with Joe, but I feel it way differently

with the way Michelle acts towards date. I agree with everything you just said. Because Brandon is like a really nice guy. He's one of the most likable people the franchise has ever seen. Like he's just he's bubbly. He's just like really a nice guy, easy to get along with funny. Michelle clearly has a good time with him. And I agree with what you're saying.

I hope that now that he's part of the final two, maybe they can get there. But at this given moment, it does seem that Brandon is far, more into Michelle than Michelle is into Brandon. But I do think Michelle is into Brandon, just not to the degree that Brandon is into her. Yeah, and I think we can see that from, obviously, we'll talk about it later on, but she straight up tells Nate she's in love with him instead of falling in love. And I think that's where the conversation comes in. We're going to get into Joe's date. But first, right now it's the holiday season, which can be very tough for people, a lot of stuff on the brain, even just in general,

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also noted, therapy can be very expensive and it's hard sometimes to find a therapist that takes your insurance. It's a whole thing, not with BetterHelp. Right now, this podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash office. That's B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P-L-P. Once again, that's B-E-T-E-R-H-E-L-P dot com slash office and get 10% off your first month. Now we got Minnesota Joe in the mix and Michelle calls him Minnesota Joe and she says, she hugs him. She says Minnesota Joe in Mexico. Hey, I hate it. I don't know why, but I hate it. No, if I'm Joe, I don't like that either because then I'm, I'm, I'm just the guy from Minnesota. Like, oh, it's almost, this is not what it is, but it's almost like he's like a mistress that lives in

Minnesota and it's like, oh, whenever I'm in Minnesota, I'll hitch you up, Joe. It's not, it's a, it should be worldwide Joe. You don't want to be specifically Minnesota Joe. Especially when you're not in Minnesota anymore. Right. And I understand what she's saying that it's like, oh, this is the guy that I know from where I'm from. And she probably didn't mean it in any sort of way. But if I heard that and I was Joe, I was like, that's not what I wanted to hear. Yeah, no, definitely not. Their date didn't really, they went ziplining. And Joe is clearly an introverted guy. He's a bit more shy. But to me, it just comes across as disinterested

sometimes. And I know that's unfair because obviously, like, you could just be a little more shy and then when you're on camera or whatever. And I guess it's kind of unfair for me to be like he's disinterested. But I don't feel it from him. I don't feel it from him. I feel it more from Michelle's end than I do on Joe's end. Yeah, I agree. And I do wonder, and it's not fair to say this because it's not true. But like I wonder if Joe would have made it this far if he weren't from Minnesota. Like how much? No, it's a valid question and didn't play basketball.

Right. But here's and what I think is happening and what happened in this episode or what's been happening all season is that all right, start the season. Joe's from Minnesota. He played basketball. Michelle and him connect on all these levels. So he's got all this goodwill baked in. And that's why we saw him as the frontrunner for the majority of the season.

because they connected on so many levels. But then as you move forward, you start to see the side that you're referring to where he is introverted, he is shy, he's not great at opening up and talking about his feelings, which is fine. Some people are like that, but I do think Michelle needs him to open up,

especially when you're trying to date in such a small window and things have to happen so fast. And it's just not happening in that way between Joe and Michelle. So as the season goes along, the basketball stuff, the Minnesota stuff, kind of starts to wane. Yeah, it's still there and that's comfortable that they're from the same place. But she needs to see more out of him, more feelings, more, you know, this is how I feel about things.

He needs to open up a little bit more. And as that continues to not happen, I think it starts to fall off to the point where everything that they have in common at the beginning doesn't matter as much because it needs to advance at some point and it hasn't. Yeah, I agree. I think that it's all very specific. surface level, even though they kind of wanted to act like it's not because of those things that they do have in common. And maybe she, Michelle in her head was like, oh, we have these things in common. We can really, like you said, open up more and evolve from these things. But it's just not happening. Also, when he was ziplining, like the screen that he let out was so, ah, like, he was just like, ah, it was so minuscule. But just, you could just tell that he is a shot, kind of. of a more of a shy guy, but it comes across as, like I said, disinterested.

And that really shows how little that he is, he has opened up where he was letting out, like pretty low screams. And Michelle was like, oh my God, he's going crazy. This is the craziest I've ever seen Joe. And he was literally just like, ah! Yeah, literally it was like, you could bitch. Michelle could probably barely hear him. Like we could hear him because he has a mic on him.

But she's so far away. If they made you, if you're on this show and they make you get on a zip, line you doing it. Have you ever ziplined? I have ziplined again at that at that same camp where I I think I wrote a horse. Was this camp just a training for the bachelorette? I must it might have been. Shout out to camp wopsie. That was great. We used to go to that every year. Did you lose your virginity at camp? No, I did not lose my virginity at wopsie. Fuck. That would be way cooler. I should have lied and said that I did. I zip line there for the first time. So I would do it again. It's fun. A lot of first at Camp Wopsy. Not, you know, not the, not the, Camp Wopsy, yeah. Wopsy, yeah.

Not the Virginia though. Not the Virginia. Blow job. No, nothing. Handy, nothing. Kiss. No, I was just hanging with my bros. Me and my buddies would go. Just the boys, you know, hanging. Just, you know, getting into all sorts of shenanigans, but nothing crazy. Just the motherfucking boys at Camp Wopsy. All right. Have you ever ziplin? Yes, I have in Punta Kana on my, my 16th birthday my parents said to me not on my 16th birthday specifically prior to that they were like do you want to be 16 or do you want to go on vacation they're going to cost the same and i was like why the fuck what i want to spend all this money on one night why not just go on vacation and my birthday's in the summer so it was like i definitely could take a vacation so we went to punta conna and said and yeah we ziplined that's way better than just having one party no way bad i don't know why people do if they have the option right or can't you say to your parents just give me all the money instead? Like if you're going to spend, think about how much money sweet 16s are. I actually don't have a gauge of how much they are. I'm going to look it up right now.

Although I would like to speak for the Jewish community that I knew you would. Bar Mitzvils are definitely worth it just because I'm still using bar mitzvah money that I have saved up to this day. Really? Well, also, you have you have that incredible video that I don't even know if you've publicly shown or have you talked about it where uh i don't know not publicly but if you don't want me to talk about it you can talk about it you can talk about it i don't care we were backstage at the national show chicks in the office live show and we're just trying to kill time and somehow we got on the topic of bar mitzvahs and no was like oh yeah my dad had this montage video put together of all of these uber uber famous celebrities saying happy what 13th birthday 13

it's like yeah it's like happy what do you say Happy Bar Mitzvah? I don't even know what you say. Congrats. No, they were all saying, Happy, Happy birthday, Noah. And it was like,

Britney Spears. Dude, Britney Spears, like, like, she did say, come celebrate with me too, which.

Yes. Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Julia Clinton, Hillary Clinton was in there. Usher was in there. He was like, he was like,

Noah. Like, it was, it was nuts. It's an insane video. Yeah. And they're all saying your name. Like there's like a compilation of them going, Noah.

Noah. Noah. I think now you might have to put this out there because it has to be seen to be believed. No, you have to. We can put it out there. It's funny. I think that was a good, like, at least I was nervous backstage. And then that distracted me once everyone was just like, what the fuck is this video?

Oh, at the live show? Yeah, yeah. I remember Noah showed me that years ago and was like, don't tell anybody about this. So I didn't. Like, I truthfully didn't tell a single single. soul. And then finally at that backstage at the live show, I was like, thank God. He's finally opened it up about this. I've been holding on to this video for years. I, at, by the end of it, I was standing on the couch yelling that I, because I couldn't believe that it was a thing that

was actually happening and that I hadn't heard about. It's literally Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, in their hot ass voices being like, happy birthday, Noah. It's crazy. It's insane. Wait, so how much does it like a sweet 16th? Oh, so I'm looking it up. It's like thousands of dollars. It could raise. I would even take the deal where, all right, your sweet 16 is going to cost this. Cut it in half and give me that money. Because then it's a deal for that.

Yeah. I don't know why, like, I understand the bat mitzvah, bar mitzvah, it has like sentimental value. I don't understand the sweet 16. It's like I, and even just going to them, I guess going to them was kind of fun because it was like when you first started drinking, right? It's like everyone, like I remember showing up to sweet sweet, sweet 16. absolutely wasted thinking I was, but not actually.

And like, I remember my cousin somehow. We didn't go to the same school, but she was, her dad was friends with my vice principal of my high school. I was fucked up and I like fell in front of him, but it was fine because it was like not somebody from our school when I had a three 16th. They're fun when you're not having it. Go on vacation instead if you're a 15 year old listening to this. But anyways, I didn't really feel the connection with Joe, Michelle.

They had their fantasy suite. They slept together, obviously. But once again, I wasn't, I wasn't totally locked in and sold on it. I agree. But also the things that Michelle was saying confused me because she kept using words like soulmate and love. And I could see myself spending the rest of my life with this person and waking up next to Joe is something I could do forever.

Like, I agree that it doesn't, I didn't feel it between the two of them. But then the words that she was using made me think, oh, maybe, maybe Joe, is going to be the one to the point where even after their date halfway through the episode or however long that was, I still felt like Joe was the frontrunner just because it's comfortable and all those reasons. And he said that he's falling in love with her. And like, I really thought he was still the favorite. It obviously didn't end up working out that way. But she just uses words like soulmate a lot with multiple guys. And it confused me. It confuses me too because I don't, like in a regular day-to-day life, I don't think I could be in love with multiple people at once.

Like, I think it's just, it kind of seems, I'm a little lazy. Like, I think that that just requires a lot. It takes a lot of bandwidth. Yeah, it does. And also just like, it takes a lot out of you emotionally to be in love with two people at once, right? Or three people at once. It's like, what does your brain even think of besides that?

Like it's just all that at once. But I guess in this situation, if you really think about it. I guess it's just what they're focused on. Right, because what you're saying is right, where you're like, I'm going to work. And it's just like, I got to think about more things than just these people who I love in my life. When you're on this show, they literally take everything away. They take your phone away. There's no contact with the outside world.

You're going to all these, you know, fancy destination places. And so, and they put you in a room where you basically only think about the relationships that you are involved in. So I could see it being plausible in this situation, but it's certainly on the, in the outside world, it doesn't seem feasible. But I can see in this situation being with these people all the time and the only people you talk to, I could see someone you fall in love with three people. Yeah, I guess you're right when you put it like sometimes I just, when I'm watching the show, I always compare it to real life, but it's just not real life. So I need to stop doing that because it's just not the case.

That's the lens. I would argue that's the lens that most people view it through and that's why people think the show is interesting or it's crazy and it's insane, but people still tune in because they can't fathom this happening in their own life when the situation that they're in is nowhere near what they're going through. Right. And it's also why people get so upset when these couples break up because they're also thinking about it in real life terms when it's just not. But let's get into the final date with Nate. But before we do that, like I mentioned before, it is holiday season, which means if you haven't done your shopping, now, is the time you must have heard on the last podcast that I got to get all my aunt's presents.

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Shop now, pay later with Sezzle. So we get into Michelle and Nate's date and they gave them by far the best date. The boats? Yeah. Yeah, the boats. It's either Brazen had a pretty good date. The ziplining thing would not be something that I'd be super interested in. But then, yeah, Nate and Michelle,

got to go out on a boat and just hang out all day. It seems pretty great. Yeah, I feel like, you know, the other ones were like knitting, gritty and making them, making them fight for it, zip lining, horseback riding through the woods. It's like, oh, we got to fight. We got a fight to have sex. For them, it's like, nah, we're going to sit back, drink on these boats. Then we're going to have a, it's like going on a tropical vacation.

You just relax all day, maybe go back, take a nap, and you go out to dinner. Do it all over again. They had a nice date. They did. And they did. And they also, my perception of this, and it changed once the episode was over,

but Michelle and Nate Seema, it seems a little harder. Seems a little more difficult. Seems like they got to work a little more at it. And now, then that's like reality distortion inside the show where is it harder for them because they're actually working on something that's real?

And the other ones are so easy that it's not that real. that's what always flips and it might be that and he's clearly one of the final two so it's probably more of that than the other thing but it just seems like Michelle doesn't know how Nate really feels and that was a big theme during his um during the the hometown dates where he doesn't he doesn't have a family that they talk about feelings or say that they love each other it's it's not that sort of environment so I think Michelle has trouble reading how Nate is really feeling and you kind of got a sense of that when they were at dinner.

And before dinner, she had said to during one of her interviews that tonight is very important for me and Nate and I need him to at least say that he's falling in love with me. She needed to hear that from him. Otherwise, she's not sure she can move forward with Nate. And then she's talking to him during dinner like kind of trying to drag it out of him to the point where she gives him three options. She puts him on the table. It was like A, B, and C, like a multiple choice test.

That's exactly what it was like. The other ones were easy. I was like, oh, fuck, what's the answer? The other ones were easy. Brandon is head over heels in love with Michelle. Joe is falling in love with Michelle. And then Nate is just, when they first sat down, what she said, she was like, so you got any questions or anything you want to talk to me about?

And he was like, no, I don't think I do. It's like, I don't know, man. And then, yeah, she gave him three options. Are you falling in love with me? Are you in love with me? and are you ready to get an engagement or be engaged? And he said all three. He said all three.

And I think that was the safest answer because I think he doesn't know. I think he was just like, I'm going to say all three right now because it's very easy to just say, I'm ready for all three instead of being like, I'm in love with you. In the moment, I thought that was the worst answer he could have given. So honestly, it's more so in my notes, I wrote that down. but as I'm thinking about it, I changed. Yeah, I had my flashlight on my face. You look like you're being held hostage.

You were also doing, you could have done shadow puppets. There was really, when you were moving your hands, I was looking, I could see the shadows. I wrote down that I was like, Nate says all three, LOL and capital letters. Because at first I was like, that's a terrible answer because it's a cop out. Yep. But on the angle that it's a cop out, I'm saying it's a good answer. because he doesn't know what he wants. It's a good answer now that he is one of the final two.

If he had not gotten a rose tonight, I think I would have thought, look at those shadow puppets, that that was the dagger. Because three options, you can't pick all three. Can you do what people normally do when they do shadow puppets? Yeah, there you go.

So they would have to be watching on YouTube to know what I just did. Yeah, you're, you look like you're kind of being held hostage like Noah said. Okay, sorry, I'll stop, I'll stop. Yeah, I just, Nate, it worked out. We know now that it worked out for him to get to the final two. I just thought that the dinner portion of their date did not go well because I don't think Nate knows what he really wants.

And I think that has been Michelle's biggest negative towards Nate because he doesn't express himself. He doesn't say, you know, I'm falling in love with you or I'm in love with you. And that's just kind of how he is. but I didn't think it was necessarily a positive coming out of this date. Yeah, I think that he is still very confused. And I think that Michelle is enticed by him because it's one of those like the chase, right? Like Brandon is so in love with Michelle and she knows that.

So it's not very exciting. Yep. Even though being in love is exciting and knowing someone is in love with you should be exciting, when you have another person who's not really giving you their all. all that you're kind of interested in, your attention is going to sway that way because you're like, wait, why is that person not saying they're in love with me? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with them? You're going to focus on that because you already know the other one's good. Yeah, Nate is a wildcard in that regard. He's like he's a little dangerous and not in like,

I don't think he's dangerous. I think that his like his makes a little dangerous. He's no, bad boy. He is. He's cool. He's got the earring. He's tall. He's got the tattoos. He has the earring. He's just like he's cool. And like there's an enticing aspect to that where I think you're right. Brandon's very comfortable because he's like so in love with Michelle. Joe, although he went home, he is comfortable for all the reasons that we've listed. And then there's Nate who is like, I don't know if I'm in love with you.

I don't know if I'm ready for an engagement. Check out my earring. Look at my tattoo. Like I'm cool. And I think there's certainly something. There's certainly something to that that Michelle finds. enticing. Yeah, for sure.

And I think it's more like, you can't fix somebody or change somebody, but I think a lot of times people like to think they can. And I think that's kind of the case here. I do think that Nate very much likes Michelle. Definitely. I think he so does. I just think he's not used to having those conversations.

And maybe it'll be different for Michelle. Maybe Michelle will open up a whole new life for Nate that he was confused about beforehand. but it's obviously going to be a little bit harder with him to crack that shell. And she, so they had their overnight and she said, I am definitely in love with you to Nate. It wasn't I'm falling in love with you. I'm going to be in love with you.

It was, I'm definitely in love with you. Yeah, I was, I was a little surprised by that. That one seemed the most sure and the most genuine. She's in love with Nate. and by far the most confusing, which she's the most sure about it. Yeah. And I wonder what that is. And it might be what I was saying earlier where like that's how what they're going through is how a real relationship works.

Where you're, it's always kind of like it's a thing that's always shifting and molding and you're trying to figure it out. The other two, Joe and Brandon, it feels like that's already solved. Like that's a Rubik's Cube that's already put together. And Nate isn't. Right. And at first, in the beginning stages of a relationship, you're never both feeling the exact same at the exact same time, I feel like. Obviously, in rare cases, you do. And eventually you get to the point where you both do. But there's always somebody who is maybe in love first for the other person gets there. And I feel like, right?

Yes. I think that's right. And I, yeah, I think Nate and Nate and Michelle are in different places, but it's, it weirdly works for them. Yeah, it seems like it does because we get to the rose ceremony. But before we do that,