SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Monday’s episode of The Bachelorette.
It’s another tension-filled week in Australia for Jenn Tran and her 15 remaining suitors, as Devin and Thomas N. are still going at it — and it looks like Sam M. is joining the fray as well.
Everyone enters week three with the intention of letting bygones be bygones but, in true Bachelor Nation fashion, no problem is ever resolved so quickly.
At least Jenn’s week is off to a good start with a one-on-one date with Spencer, which is the only solo date happening before the next rose ceremony. She invites him to take a helicopter ride over Australia, and it ends up being a romantic moment for the pair as Jenn starts to feel more comfortable with Spencer. They end their night with a romantic dinner, where Spencer opens up to Jenn about a previous engagement. He says that his ex-fiancée ended things about two months before the wedding, and he eventually found out she’d been cheating on him.
Rightfully, Jenn wonders if this will make it harder for Spencer to commit to another engagement in just a few short weeks, but he assures her that he is ready to take that leap again. Spencer gets his one-on-one date rose.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Thomas N. and Sam M. are busy launching their anti-Devin campaign. It certainly makes things interesting when all three are summoned for a group date along with Dylan, Marcus, John M., Grant, Jonathan, and Sam N.
Jenn has quite the group date planned for them. They meet her the Forum Theatre, where they learn they’ll be taking some striptease lessons from “The Thunder from Down Under” before showing off their moves for Jenn. Most of the men decide early on that, while it’s nerve-wracking, they’re going to commit to the bit. However, Sam N. is a bit apprehensive. He wants Jenn to know him for his heart, not his body.
So, when it’s finally his turn and, instead of stripping, he tells Jenn that he’s falling in love with her, everyone is fairly shocked. Several men take issue with the fact that he said it at all this early on in the show, but Devin tries to come to his defense, telling Sam N. not to feel self conscious for expressing his emotions.
Jonathan wins the striptease competition, but Devin gets the rose after he opens up to Jenn about going out of his comfort zone and facing some of his body image issues for the challenge.
Group date number two is just four men — Aaron, Hakeem, Jeremy and Austin. Just before he’s set to depart, Aaron receives news that he may have to depart the show to attend fighter pilot training, which puts some added pressure on this date to go well. If he doesn’t come out the other side feeling like a front runner, he’s likely to bounce.
The four men compete in a race driving competition, and Austin wins extra time with Jenn for having the fastest lap, putting Aaron in an even more precarious position going into the afterparty. While he does get some alone time with her later in the evening, he still doesn’t tell her about the fighter pilot training. Jeremy gets this group date rose (probably in part because he forfeited a faster time to sneak a kiss with Jenn in during his lap).
Finally, at the cocktail party right before the rose ceremony, Aaron pulls Jenn aside to open up to her about his decision but, by then, he’s already pretty committed to leaving. Jenn is very supportive of the decision, and it seems like the two are about to separate on amicable terms when Aaron decides to drop a bomb on Jenn, telling her to be careful because several of the men aren’t there for the right reasons.
Would it even be a season of The Bachelor franchise without a “right reasons” conversation?
Jenn tries to get Aaron to name names, but he refuses, which really sets her off. She walks him to his van before confronting the remaining men inside. She lets them know that if they are there to play games, they should walk out the door right now. It leaves everyone feeling frazzled and worried about their standing with Jenn, because now it seems she’s lost a bit of trust in everyone.
At the rose ceremony, Jenn extends roses to Marcus, John M., Jonathan, Austin, Grant, Sam M., Thomas N., Dylan and Sam N. That sends Hakeem and Tomas A. packing.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and is available next day on Hulu.