*No Spoilers* The Bachelor 18 Edit Discussions

If they had wanted to show Nikki in a bad light, they probably had a better camera angle with clearer audio. There was only a hint of her being catty, so not ruling her out yet. After Courtney, we know they will show the cattiness.

The tone JP has when he tells Clare that he is trying to be as fair as possible, makes me think she is not the F1. It was almost like the voice Ben had talking to Emily O. Ok, not quite that bad, but he might as well have said, Clare, stop bugging me with your drama. Plus, everything about their first date felt as fake as the snow.

I do think the reason they DID show Nikki "involved" (regardless of how much was shown) is because she has a breakdown herself at some point (shown or not shown). The editors like showing somebody commenting on somebody else BEFORE doing the same thing.

Regarding the Renee/Victoria discussion... WOAH! It does look like Victoria never liked Juan to begin with but was angry about something else. Renee is wonderful as a counselor, BUT... she also seems like she is "smokescreening" for the cameras so that viewers still think Victoria wanted to stay. One thing I found odd was that Victoria hardly batted an eye when Juan announced her departure at the hotel. Totally different than Amy sobbing in the earlier episode after her elimination.

Read Chris & Juan's bachelor blogs (which I carefully scrolled down so as not to accidentally see any comments), and Juan singled out Sharleen in his blog. Its interesting to me as she is the only one of the 3 who didn't go on dates that he did. Supposedly from her opera schedule she's not there till the end, but think she plays an important part this season.

"I didn't have a date with Sharleen this week, so I was happy to have some time to talk to her. She definitely didn't need to apologize for how she waited to accept my rose last week. I'm just getting to know her, and she's just getting to know me. I know she feels out of place, but I see something there and will keep trying to make her feel relaxed so hopefully she opens up to me later on."

I belatedly read those Juan's blogs on people.com.

Amusing that Nikki was "on fire" on screen, but Nikki was not in the second limo that he is praising in his premier blog: "As the women in the first limo came out, they were ON FIRE and they were gorgeous. Then the second limo came and I was like, "REALLY? Even better!" After the first half of the girls, I was a MESS because they were all so beautiful that I already lost track of them!"

With Clare: "It was nice to get into that hot tub when it was so cold around us. When Clare opened up about her dad, it really got to me. As a father myself, I want Camila to look to me one day like that. It seems like Clare's been struggling ever since her father's death. She even calls herself the Ice Queen. Maybe one day I will help melt that icy heart of hers. All I know for sure is that we were having a fantastic date together, and it got even better when Josh Krajcik started playing. He's an amazing singer, and to finish the night like that, dancing in the snow … perfect. I really loved my first one-on-one date. "

Those key lines are an odd combo. He wants to melt her heart, but he comments loving THE Date rather than the girl. It is as if Clare is a "therapy case" for him, like Bachelorette Ashley getting Ben Flajnik to deal with his daddy's death on his hometown... or Ben himself getting Kacie to discuss her eating disorder.

Uh oh. He already uses "Ay" with Lucy. Not that any of us are holding our breath to see her at FRC.

"I'm also so proud of Andi for overcoming her fear and really killing that photo shoot. I knew how hard that was for her, because it was hard for me as well, but I'm glad she did it for charity." Awwww... Juan the Therapist again. He is proud of his patient.

One more thing regarding the Victoria drama...from the previews it appears that she took her top off. Her behavior was definitely wild and out there that night. It wouldn't be unusual for some of the other girls to start whispering and laughing in a corner about all that's taking place. There was definitely more happening that night than we were allowed to see. To restate from above, I believe Victoria's final meltdown was spurred on by some interaction with the girls and not just about having no time with Juan.

DMBFan, that's an interesting comment about Sharleen. From the screen caps we have of her, someone (sorry, I can't remember who) pointed out that she most often looks serious or upset. I do think Juan is drawn to her, but I'm not sure they have much in common in terms of interests. I've wondered if she is one of the woman standing on the beach in the night time swimming scene. I haven't looked too closely at the screen caps to see if her hair could be a match. I wonder when that scene takes place...still leaning towards Miami.

It's really early but I think Clare is getting a f2 edit and I'd say f3 if not for the SCs in St Lucia. If I had to pick f1 right now it would be Nikki and then Andi. He seems attracted to both although not sure why no early date for Nikki. I don't have a handle on date order so not sure which episode for either if their 1on1 dates.

I don't see where them showing anyone taking part in drama means they're not the f1. We've had them cause the drama in the past even. Kat and her buddy, Lesley, did joke about Tierra but that never bothers me when someone goes out of their way to cause drama with others. I am interested to see what the problem is between Nikki & Clare.

JBF,Do you think English being his second language might be a reason why he words things in certain ways and can u also remind me again how many of the contestants they usually use that F1 music score on. I thought that was the background music I heard playing during Clare and Juan's 1-1 date. Thanks.

^^  We see Clare involved in some drama on what appears to be a group date possibly in Vietnam or south korea (oriental locale) wearing an orange dress. That was when we saw scenes of JP cajoling her at what appears to be the after party of the GD
Perhaps if someone would be kind enough to post the SCs in the SC thead we could take a stab at identifying is on that GD ?
The next drama scenes we see are her and Nikki in what appears to be the same clothes that she wears at Miami. We have SCs of 4 girls waving with Cruise liners in the background so that confirms Miami.
ETA : I also saw some SCs in the previews of Clare wearing a black top where she does not look like a happy camper.

lexforlife wrote:JBF,Do you think English being his second language might be a reason why he words things in certain ways and can u also remind me again how many of the contestants they usually use that F1 music score on. I thought that was the background music I heard playing during  Clare and Juan's 1-1 date. Thanks.

There's no problem with Juan's language. It is how they edit his dialogue. They will make sure he says on screen what they want him to say... even with spliced and diced voice-overs. If he is still in "cahoots" with his final lady, they will be sure to "frankenbyte", if necessary, enough "we" and "us" in his scenes with her.

The tune I keep referring to is this one: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

They played it with Sharleen on night #1 when Juan discussed about how your perspective of things change when you are outside of a country. I'll have to re-watch Clare's date... I didn't catch it, but they might have dabbled a little "strain" of it.

Going back through the seasons...
Des: F4 Zak W. and F1 Chris got it. Zak got it in Barcelona as he and Des discussed about "relationships that grow with time". Chris got it when his mother gave her approval of Des becoming apart of their family and when Des said Chris was "definitely husband material".
Sean: Sarah (mid-season... forget the episode) got when she said Sean makes her feel beautiful despite her handicap and F1 Catherine got it on her fantasy date after Sean told her she was "smoking hot". I think Catherine's fear was that she couldn't compare with Sean the Ken Doll.
Emily: Tony (ep #2 discussing his kid), Arie (Prague crooning some "romance" with her), F1 Jef (on his hometown after his letter) and Sean (fantasy date in the hot-tub) all got it probably because Emily was struggling to decide what she wanted the most in a man.
Ben: I have no idea if F1 Courtney got it or not, but F3 Nicki got it twice discussing her desire for a relationship that stands the test of time, while Ben kept commenting that he just wants a girlfriend. Go figure.
Ashley: Only F1 JP got it in Hong Kong when he tells her she should never be afraid to discuss anything with him and feel he would judge her in any way.
Brad: Emily, his F1, is the only one getting it. This is on the NASCAR date when Brad says he has no desire to replace her ex-boyfriend. He wants her to want him because he's "me".
Ali: Roberto gets it on his fantasy date after he gives her the "ILY" and her confidence is increased. This was, of course, before Frankie's abruptly ended fantasy date and the spectacular meltdown that involved twice the tears of Des/Brooks.
Jake: I have no idea when... or if... F1 Vienna gets it. Wasted a lot of time going through their youtube scenes to find it. Yet F2 Tenley gets it on her last chance date when Jake says she has everything he wants in a wife. Apparently "something" was missing, but what?
Jillian: Her dad gets it when he discusses her F1 Ed saying that he might propose to her in Hawaii.
Jason: Both F1 Molly and "F1" Melissa got it. The former gets it (the episode before hometowns) when she insists that she will move to Seattle some day. That prediction certainly came true. The other gets it on her fantasy date and at the FRC. On the fantasy date, she says Jason is getting over over her "fears"... not exactly a sign that she would wind up with him longterm like Molly.

Sooo... I think this tune, originally heard only at FRC in older seasons (like Deanna's) is used to emphasize a "theme" involving the lead and his/her relationship with the chosen. This is also true when it is heard with somebody other than F1 because what Des says with Zak and what Sarah says with Sean also applied to their F1s.

Regardless of what we have been shown so far between Clare and JP, all signs point to Clare as the F1, for me. I am not a guru at this promo analysis stuff and it is obvious that they have changed the editing this season, but I still see Clare! I'm a woman so who knows what I'll be saying by this time next month.

In case anyone was wondering, I am right now straddling my chair.....LIFE, you know!

and clare was the one we got to know when they showed the first behind the scenes episode a few sundays back. We didn't see them focused as much on the other girls. Unless they have her slated for the next Bachelorette in which case it makes sense for us to get to know her more behind the scenes. But I still feel there's a very good possibility for Clare being F1 based on body language.

For me, I'll be focusing more on Andi, than Clare or Nikki. IMO, Clare is F2 and Nikki seems like the sweet, although naive, F3 or F4. So I'm curious who the other woman is that will end up in the F3. I think JP's comment about 'being worldly' is important, who else besides Sharleen seems worldly. Maybe a NY lawyer taking on the Russian mob in court... [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]