Tia Booth - Bachelor 22 - Discussion

Sharleen wrote:TIA'S 1-ON-1

This was a knockout of a 1-on-1 date. It provided the perfect amount of heart to offset all the drama stewing throughout the episode. I mentioned this in my Flare recap, but I feel like there was no way for us to really know how big a player Tia would be based on her Night One showing. That said, watching the way these two look at and banter with each other, I still feel a bit ashamed for not seeing it coming sooner.

Anyway, we know Tia is from a small town but the show seems to want to remind us of that for some reason. Note her hair at the beginning of this sentence versus at the end...

In case you're not convinced, give the same sentence a listen...

Finally, in perhaps one of my favorite conversations (well, conversation excerpts) ever shown on this show, Tia and Arie touch on a HUGE topic: Religion. Now, this is a big deal because it's the first time (I think?) we've ever seen religion discussed where there were different perspectives. We've seen it brought up as something both parties share and are in agreement on (for example, on Night One of Kaitlyn's Bachelorette season, Britt and Brady quickly found they this in common). In fact, religious beliefs are addressed quite commonly as a given, like of course it'd be a huge part of one's life. (A few leads who come to mind here are Ben H and Rachel.) However, as a non-religious person, I've felt pretty underrepresented on this show for YEARS.

I'm not sure I ever mentioned this (I've written so much in these recaps it's hard to keep track!), but one of my first questions I asked the casting director about Juan Pablo upon finding out he was el Bachelor (at this point casting was complete and they'd officially invited me on the show but I was still a bit on the fence, especially since up until then I didn't know who the guy was), was whether or not he was religious. In fact, on our first 1-on-1 (in the tea room in Seoul), I brought this up to make sure we were at least somewhat on the same page. (This was on camera but never aired.) I'd seen enough of this show to know what the popular opinion on religion typically was and knew it could be an issue down the road. I'm open-minded but I always knew I couldn't be with someone whose beliefs were the polar opposite of mine, or especially someone who wasn't cool with my having different beliefs.

Back to Arie: Not only someone on this show, but the Bachelor himself, openly admits that he "doesn't believe a higher power is leading him" and that feels "he makes a lot of his own destiny". As someone who feels this way but who hasn't ever seen it expressed on a TV show I've been watching for well over a decade, this is a big deal. Also, seeing as how much of this show's audience demographic may not agree with him, it's a risk, and one that I admire and respect.

Tia, too, deserves credit for her fantastic response...

Tia: I'm not going to judge people or not accept people for having a different belief.
Arie: Could you be married to somebody who doesn't have that faith?
Tia: Yeah, like, if I understand your perspective of it. Because, honestly, I tend to go for people that are different from me, to kind of learn from them.

So, yeah. This episode had it all!