Bachelorette 7 Media - No Discussion

cupcakes wrote:Extra
Mon 7/25
Socialite Kim Kardashian; singer Jessica Simpson; "Bachelorette" Ashley Hebert.

Live With Regis and Kelly
Tue 8/2
Actor Cory Monteith; reality star Ashley Hebert.

Usually, by the "overnight dates" episode of The Bachelorette, the remaining suitors and the woman of the hour enjoy exciting, romantic evenings in paradise.

But things just don't go according to plan for this season's bachelorette, Ashley Hebert.

Yet again, she's thrown for a loop in Monday night's episode, with the return of a previously ousted bachelor – and a premature exit by another. Who surprised Ashley this time? Read on!

No, it wasn't Bentley.

In Fiji, the recently departed Ryan showed up on Ashley's doorstep, eager to see her again.

"We had something," he says. "What if she's regretting sending me home? I just feel that there's things unsaid and undiscovered between the two of us."

Ryan says he wants to give Ashley time to think, but he doesn't seem to weigh too heavily on her mind as she sets out on a snorkeling date with Ben, followed by dinner and even discussion of the "L" word.

Next, Ashley takes off on a helicopter ride with Constantine, but by the time they sit down for dinner, the date takes a nose dive.

Constantine explains that he doesn't think their relationship has progressed to the point that he could consider proposing to her, let alone stay together in the "fantasy suite."

"It wasn't going to the next level," Constantine says, and he makes an early departure from Fiji.

Despite the open spot in the rose ceremony that Constantine left behind, Ashley does not invite Ryan to stay.

While he's a great guy for her on paper, she tells him, the special connection still isn't there – as it is with her two remaining guys.

On her final date in Fiji, Ashley shares a seaplane ride and a watery frolic with J.P. – and hands out roses to both him and Ben.

There's a filler montage recounting each guy she has left. Just in case you're just tuning in or something. Silly. I will not be recapping the recap, thanks.

Ding Dong!

But before any dates, who is at the door? Is it Ryan?! I KNEW IT. I predicted it would be Ryan! OK, so this is fun. Silly and contrived "Bachelorette" nonsense, but fun nonetheless. Is Ryan going to be the next Bachelor? I'd be OK with that.

Anyway, so he is "putting everything on the line" to see if there is "love to be had with this." Interesting - she kicked you out in the middle of a date, dude. But points for effort. So he explains to her how much his ouster blindsided him and how he can't stop thinking about her and that he wants a chance to see things through. He then says, "So, I called Chris." AH! "I want to talk to Chris Harrison." Seriously. A t-shirt, we all need t-shirts that say that, with Chris Harrison's smiling face on it.

Ryan asks Ashley for another chance and says they had a connection from the first moment at the limo. She's nodding, but is very hesitant. He gives her his hotel information and says he's here for a couple days, so she can reach out if she wants to spend more time together. Wow, that's pretty smooth.

"I'm here for a couple days, you give me a ring if you want to spend more time together." That is smoooooth. Talk about dangling something in front of her that she must naturally be curious about.

Ben's Date

Ashley walks contemplatively on a pier while looking very island-y, but in her expression you can see her put it all aside to concentrate on Ben. Heh. Their date involves a beautiful yacht ride while they rehash the hometown date. Ben talking-heads about how happy he is at this point.

Meanwhile, Ashley tells him to rub sunblock on "everything" on her. Whoa. Guess who's getting a Fantasy Suite invite? Seriously, they're about half a smooch away from doing it on the yacht deck. To cool off, they go snorkeling and that looks just amazing. Ben admits after the daytime portion of the date that he is really falling for her and that there is "so much [he wants] to tell her." Oooh. He says later that he thinks he's going to tell her he loves her tonight. Double oooh.

At dinner, he says he's open and available today, whereas two months ago he wasn't. He also says he's on the way to "the whole 'I love you' thing." Heh. He seems to have just jumped in with both feet, without actually saying it.

The Fantasy Suite card comes out and to Ashley's credit, it is made Ben's choice instead of making it seem like it's her choice because of course the man wants to shack up, like sometimes happens.

The Fantasy Suite is ah-mazing. AMAZING. But Ben says he has decided not to tell her he loves her. Hmm. I wonder why he changed his mind? We fade to black as the two of them, glistening from the pool, go inside the suite.

Constantine's Date

Ashley's big "surprise" for Constantine is a helicopter ride. Frankly, a season without a helicopter would be more of a surprise. But it's Constantine's first time, so he's totally stoked. As they ride, it is more beautiful than, say, a ride over NYC or a glacier. I mean, Fiji looks fake. How can anything look like that on this earth?

We check in with Ryan on a beach while helicopter sounds are either there or edited in. Are we supposed to think Ashley and Constantine flew right over him? Because that would be kind of awesome. Ryan's a sad panda because Ashley hasn't knocked on his door yet.

Meanwhile, Ashley and Constantine go cliff diving at a waterfall. Wow. Like everyone on this show ever on an adventure date, Ashley expounds the metaphor of them taking a leap of faith or both jumping in feet first or drowning in your love waterfall or something.

Ashley hilariously makes another metaphorical observation by saying she learned of Constantine on the hometown date that he looked at 108 houses before he bought a house, which she extrapolates to his pickiness with women and how they don't have time for him to be closed off and picky and whatnot.

He laughs and says that houses and women are not the same - well yes, but she's making an analogy. She even draws back on the "there's a part of me that worries he just can't jump into a relationship head first" metaphor, which - maybe not head first. That's how you break your neck and die. As long as we're being analogous.

At dinner, it comes out that Constantine is good friends with Ben so far on the show and she asks if it's weird. He says it's not because they respect each other. It'd be worse if they didn't. But he wouldn't be mad if his friend and Ashley were the ones who fall in love. Aw, very grown up of you, Constantine!

Constantine also admits at dinner that he wants to be able to meet her father and ask for his daughter's hand in marriage, but he isn't there yet. This gives Ashley a bit of pause. Meanwhile, he also says he won't accept the Fantasy Suite if he isn't in love with her because he respects her and he knows what the FS means and what it implies. Man, Constantine is kind of awesome.

*President Obama-Speaker Boehner speech-off*

Back on the date, Ashley wants to know where this leaves us if he's not in love with her and he's not taking the Fantasy Suite. He flat-out says, "If we're going to be honest about it, this means the end of the road for me." Wow. He's such a good guy! C'mon Ashley, admit it - you were feeling Ben and J.P. more anyway. Plus Ryan is waiting for you back on that beach there (you know he's still there, making sad faces).

Ryan's Time

So is Ashley going to Ryan because she wants to? Or because she's feeling rejected by Constantine and needs affirmation? I seriously wonder. Anyway, when she shows up he's happy like a wiggly little puppy.

They talk about how abrupt his departure was and she says he's one of the best guys she's ever met in her life - BUT she still knows it was the right decision because there was no passion or spark. She says she's happy with her two guys and he says he's happy for her. Aww.

And then she just kind of walks off. "Bye." Hahahaha. Poor Ryan. Are they prepping him for next Bachelor? Would you watch?

J.P.'s Date

They get to take a sea plane to a private island. J.P. says to Ashley, "We have our own island?!" Well, you don't get to KEEP it. They smooch and canoodle a lot. You know why I think they are the best couple? Because he got her the night Bentley left, where they skipped their date and just sat around in PJs and ate food and talked. That's real and that's why they actually have a real relationship.

As they stand in the water, he says his family loved her and that he's ready for the end. He wants it to be over and to hear that he's the guy. He talking-heads that when he looks at Ashley, he sees the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Ya know, I don't usually say this but I actually buy these two. I feel like they could make it, the way I felt about Ali and Roberto.

Their dinner that night is in the jungle, it's very romantic. And if they need to start a signal fire, Ashley's earrings are at the ready. Anyway, during dinner Ashley tells J.P. that she said goodbye to two guys this week and he about swallows his tongue. Um, is she mental? Does she know what that made him think? He got so excited for a second! Ashley, booo. That was mean.

But then they go to talk about Ryan and she assures J.P. that she quickly told Ryan she wasn't feeling it and that she likes what is going on with her guys. But then he confesses he's still holding back a bit because he wants to be the only guy when he plunges in (I swear, I wrote that without hearing in my head how dirty it sounds). She tells him not to hold back until you're the only one because that won't happen and he counters that he knows it has to be a leap of faith at some point, but he needs more. What more do you need? You're Top 2. It's kind of crunch time, J.P.

They get the Fantasy Suite card and J.P. says he's into it. Heh. They're totally gonna DO IT, y'all. J.P. talking-heads that he knows he's there, he knows he's in love with her. They smooch us into commercial.

Therapy

Ashley and Chris dish about the week in Fiji. Nothing spectacular happens.

Rose Ceremony

This is one of those symbolic rose ceremonies for Ashley, she's very intent that the guys want to be with her and not just her want to be with them. Her mission is to be the person who is waiting to see if they accept her rose. I guess this is the way they build suspense? Hm.

Ashley tells the guys about Constantine leaving and why the Rose Ceremony is still important to her. She wants them to really think about if they are on the path to getting engaged. She then offers them roses and of course they both say yes.

OK, we are down to the end of The Bachelorette and our Bachelor expert — who by the way called Emily Maynard last season — is making her pick!

Natalie Getz tells RumorFix exclusively that her gut says JP is the winner!

“JP and Ashley Hebert are so insanely into each other,” she says. “They don’t do anything fun on their dates, because they just want to make out and talk the whole time. These two are the real deal.”

But the winner of last year’s Bachelor Pad tells us if JP weren’t in the running, “Ashley would have fallen in love and married Ben F.”

The one thing that could stand in the way between JP and an engagement ring is his jealousy streak. “JP is already showing a jealous side and from Bentley to Ben F, Ashley has show that he wasn’t always Number One. Let’s hope he stays strong! I couldn’t bare to see Ashley hurt again,” Natalie says.

It's always surprising when a man rejects the fantasy-suite card on The Bachelorette, but host Chris Harrison says Constantine was ready to "pull the cord" on his relationship with Ashley. TVGuide.com chatted with Harrison about the eleventh-hour exit, why he didn't feel bad about letting Ryan show up in Fiji, and how Ashley's family won't give a "glowing report" on J.P. Plus: Who steals the show at Sunday's upcoming "Men Tell All" (9/8c, ABC)?

Were you shocked that Constantine decided to leave?
Chris Harrison: I was surprised he left, but I totally get it. Why hang around for a rose ceremony when it was so obvious it wasn't happening for him? And it's something we don't deal with often, but I'm guessing that with him being Greek Orthodox and she's not, there were a lot of obstacles in their way. I'm proud of the fact that he didn't get to the fantasy suite and have a disaster of a date. He just pulled the cord, said this isn't going to happen, I'm not going to propose, let's go our separate ways.

Bachelorette's Chris Harrison says bumps are ahead for J.P. and Ashley

It seemed a bit sudden during dinner. Was there something viewers missed?
Harrison: There was, but what's tough for us in those situations ... we don't want to show 20 minutes of a date dissolving when you know what's going to happen the entire time. So we had to show just a little bit of "it might happen" before quickly showing, "no it's not, he's leaving."

Both Ben and J.P. said they were probably going to tell Ashley they were in love, but didn't.
Harrison: It's definitely odd for a guy to be the one to say, "I love you, I love you," but you know you're not getting anything back. She can't reciprocate it so they only go as far as they safely feel. I think it's very clear they both love her and I think she understands they both love her.

Chris Harrison: Brad feels stupid and ashamed over losing Emily

At this point, it doesn't seem like one is ahead of the other anymore.
Harrison: In Ben's and J.P.'s minds, there's not a front-runner, either. Neither one of them feels like they're behind, neither one of them cares about the other guy, neither one of them even thinks there's another guy. That is a great thing, but also a dangerous, scary place to be because obviously only one guy is going to win this race. When you have two guys that are that in love and feel like they are that much in control of the relationship, somebody is going to go down in flames and that's exactly what happens.

Did you feel bad letting Ryan get on that plane to return when it was obvious Ashley wasn't going to take him back?
Harrison: No. I had a long talk with him and said, "I don't think she's going to take you back, but if you're going because you want to hear it and have some questions and maybe in the back of your mind you're hoping, then that's OK. But don't go there expecting a miracle." He went there realistically, but when he got there, he got his hopes up.

Can you see Ryan becoming the next Bachelor?
Harrison: I think he would make a good Bachelor. Is he the Bachelor? No, I promise you that we have not made a decision. When you see Ames on "Men Tell All," you'll think the Bachelor is Ames, so those guys are both very solid candidates. The No. 2 guy from this show is going to blow people away next week. I think we're going to have three fantastic guys that could be the Bachelor and that's a great problem to have for a change.

Harrison on Mickey's accidental exit and next episode's interview with Emily

What can you say about Sunday night's "Men Tell All"?
Harrison: Tim steals the show. I know people think of the guy as a cocktail joke, but I promise America will love him and they'll want to have a drink with him after the show. He did exactly what you should do when you make a fool of yourself — take it like a man.

Were there any fights?
Harrison: It was a little bit more heated than I thought it was going to be. They gave William a hard time and he had a tough night defending himself for what he told about Ben C. He sold him down the river [to Ashley] and the guys didn't appreciate that at all. William has a very rough "Men Tell All."

Onto the finale: It looks like Ashley and her sister will butt heads.
Harrison: I mentioned that this isn't going to stay smooth for J.P. and Ashley and what I was referring to was next week. Ashley's family comes to town and J.P. doesn't exactly get a glowing report from the family. It stirs things up.