Joelle Fletcher - (JoJo) - Bachelor 20 - *Sleuthing - Spoilers* - #2

She looks so different! I don't think I would have recognized her from that picture where she has orange/red pants on.

Excerpt of Ben's blog regarding Jojo' HTD:
"Watching it back, I think you can see that written all over my face when she is first talking to me. After talking to JoJo that day I know now that it was never even a consideration in her mind, but for someone who has a fear of being unlovable, I just thought that this was the beginning of the end and I was crushed.

So when she said that she was happy to put an end to her and Chad, it was an instant relief and I was able to breathe again. JoJo had really come to mean so much to me that the idea of her walking away in that moment really terrified me. "


In bolded, pretty strong words... The edited episode didn't really show all these strong feelings. Are they toning them down? If so, why?

Also, another interesting excerpt:

" I think going into those conversations I was trying to be so careful to be absolutely honest and not make any promises that I wasn't ready to make yet that I think I held back a little bit too much and maybe gave them their the wrong impression. They thought that my answers were too careful I think, and I can see how they may have come off that way, but that's not what I meant by it at all.

Watching the show now, I hope they can see how incredibly serious I was about JoJo and that I just wasn't ready or in any position to tell them that I was definitely going to propose to their sister. If I was holding back on my answers or being too political that was the only reason why. "

So he was holding back...Interesting IMO.

So I am team Lauren...but this blog... I don't know. The way he says I just wasn't ready or in any position to tell them that I was definitely going to propose. It makes me wonder. Everyone assumes they are cutting a lot of him and Lauren and to some extent everyone's dates are cut; I just wonder if they are cutting a significant amount of him and Jojo. And to what end?

I am team "is this show over yet" , but I have to wonder what is the obstacle to overcome with Lauren. She seems all in. The only conflict I can see is with JoJo now. The brothers. The ex. Ben was apparently holding back. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I believe there is more between Jojo and Ben than what we've been shown. Looks like the edit is hiding the full extent of his feelings, to better surprise the viewers at the end?

Give us 9 episodes of hardly any interactions with the F4 but instead fill it with unnecessary OTT drama of MOT girls just to give us 1 episode of a surprise ending is not good television to me. I'm also on team is this over yet!
 

nothatgirl wrote:

Maddy wrote:

Oh, wow, Jojo looks so different here! I know it was 3.5 years ago, so Jojo was about 21 and she wears more makeup now and has darker hair but still!

She looks the same to me except older, dif hair colour, thicker darker brows and way more makeup.

her posting a lot on SM about the bachelor just appears to me as the promotion of her brand, instead of it being a manifestation of her being happily engaged. she's either doing it for the bachelorette gig, or because she's inspired by Becca taking all the perks of being famous.

Her "I do love you" to Ben from the previews seems absolutely unconvincing to me. For something like that to happen, she didn't seem to be emotional about it at all. She said it so casually, as if she said it on the daily basis. so I just don't buy it. Again, just my opinion.

Lily wrote:

snipped ....

I find it interesting that after such a "disastrous" Htd, Jojo still made it to F2.. To me that says a lot about how he feels about her. The edit is doing everything for us to embrace the Lauren /Ben pairing and everything to write off Ben and Jojo as a couple.

I agree Lily.  And even with all the drama, Ben didn't awkwardly rush away at the end.  He and Jojo stood and talked it out at the car when he was leaving - lots of good eye contact from Ben, holding her shoulders, pushing back her hair and both of them really communicating to try to work through what had happened.  They leave on a very sweet intimate look and kiss.  I def think Ben had something real and good with Jojo and his blogs are backing that up.

Unfortunately they chose to show this fake drama with JoJo than what's on the cutting room floor. I would've preferred that than this chad stuff.

Who else would have made it to F2 though? Amanda had to go back to her kids and it seems that someone(Caila) is involved in a historic FD according to tptb. Maybe process of elimination?!!

iamreal2u wrote:Who else would have made it to F2 though?  Amanda had to go back to her kids and it seems that someone(Caila) is involved in a historic FD according to tptb.  Maybe process of elimination?!!

Exactly.

Taking Lauren out of the picture for a moment, after HTD I think the handwriting was on the wall for two girls: Amanda because I think Ben knew there was no way he would pick her and didn't want to keep her away from her daughters, and also didn't have the love necessary to become an instant step-dad (and perhaps deal with an ex if he knew how that goes); and JoJo because of the way her family treated Ben and the uncertainty of the ex and Ben's past experiences with that. But he couldn't send both home after HTD so he had to make a choice and if I were Ben I would have chosen Amanda too - so she could reunite with her daughters sooner.

There's a school of thought that the actual "second choice" is not F2 but F3, and IMO that's probably true at least on some seasons. Another school of thought is that F2 is the easiest one to dump. I tend to think that there isn't a "one size fits all" situation and that the real second choice depends on the lead. I don't necessarily think that F2 on The Bachelor is a coveted finishing position. F2 gets dragged through all the manipulation that F1 and the lead get dragged through which is physically and emotionally exhausting at best, and the reward at the end of the day is nada. F1 gets the lead and F2 gets a difficult path to ever being the lead on her own season.

If there's a historic FD mess with Caila then JoJo may have become F2 by default - no one else was left.
JMHO