Things are not so easy in the Big Easy. Nick Viall took his remaining women down to New Orleans for some Southern comfort on The Bachelor’s Monday, January 30, episode, where some women were locked in a dark haunted house and others were encouraged to toy with voodoo. Watch all the highlights above, and read on for our full recap!
Corinne Gets Called Mature
The showdown between Corinne and Taylor continued, but it didn’t get any more interesting than where we left off. They bickered about emotional intelligence a little more, then Corinne told Nick that Taylor wasn’t there for the right reasons, and Nick praised Corinne’s maturity. Feeling successful, Corinne gloated in her interview, “I f–kin’ smacked the s–t out of her and she doesn’t even know it!” Maturity level: 10/10.
Moving right along to the rose ceremony, Alexis, Corinne, Danielle M., Jaimi, Jasmine, Josephine, Rachel, Taylor, Vanessa and Whitney all received roses. Danielle L., Kristina and Raven already had date roses, leaving Astrid and Sarah newly single.
Beignet or Bust
The gang headed down to New Orleans, where Chris Harrison announced there would be a one-on-one date, a group date and a dreaded two-on-one date.
Rachel had all the luck, getting the sole one-on-one date of the week and a date card that said, “Where have you beignet all my life?” Everyone was jealous, but mostly of the beignets. As Rachel flitted off to her date, she vowed to not bring any pastries back for the drooling women, showing her true colors.
The date was a totally standard Bachelor one-on-one, beginning with Nick and Rachel exploring a local market and cutely tasting foods, then moving to the famous Café Du Monde for the promised beignets and joining a Second Line street parade that was casually thrown in their honor. “I had no idea he had swag like that!” Rachel raved about the Bachelor, while we checked Urban Dictionary to see if “swag” got a new definition.
Over dinner, Rachel told Nick that her father is a federal judge, which made Nick’s eyes pop out of his head a little bit but didn’t scare him away completely. After exchanging ‘I like you’s, Nick gave Rachel the rose.
Someone Slips the L-Word
Alexis, Danielle L., Danielle M., Jaimi, Jasmine, Josephine, Kristina, Raven, Vanessa and Whitney were called for the group date, much to all of their relief, which meant that (surprise!) Corinne and Taylor would be together for the two-on-one.
But it turned out the group date wasn’t much better than duking it out with one other woman for the rose, because the group date took place in a haunted mansion. Sure, there were mint juleps, but there was also the ghost of a tantrum-prone 8-year-old that even the nonbelievers couldn’t deny.
While most women were exploring inside the house, Nick sat a comfortable distance away from the mansion for his time with Raven. She accidentally brought up “the moment [she] fell in love with [Nick],” which prompted Nick to do a double take as Raven continued to plow through her story. Later in her interview, Raven admitted, “I said it, whatever. I own it.”
Despite her confession, Nick plucked the rose from under a glass case, a la Beauty and the Beast, and handed it to Danielle M.
It’s All in the Cards
Just to point out how different these two women are, here’s how they prepped for their joint date on the bayou: Corinne relaxed in a bubble bath, smoothed on a face mask and went to town on three full plates of food, and Taylor sat quietly and sniffed calming oils.
Keeping things completely normal on this date, Nick sat in the middle of his two ladies — each with a hand on either of his legs — on a boat ride through the bayou, where they were led to a path in the woods. “Why are we here, where something got eaten?” Corinne wondered as they walked by a spine on their trek.
Then they came upon a voodoo priestess and her camp to have their tarot cards read. Because things felt too tense among the three of them, Corinne and Taylor had their cards read separately. Taylor went first, while Nick and Corinne had some alone time.
This is where things got eerie: Taylor’s cards revealed that she is emotionally intuitive, with someone around her who is nasty and cutting. The card reader warned her to not engage and listen to her intuition because something was about to be final. Meanwhile, Corinne told Nick that Taylor emotionally attacked her.
Corinne’s cards revealed that sometimes her mouth can get her into trouble, causing things to blow up in her face. She asked how to make a voodoo doll for a specific person, completely unrelated to the situation at hand. Meanwhile, Nick asked Taylor what happened with Corinne. Taylor said more stuff about emotional intelligence and told Nick that he wants someone who is self-aware.
They came back together and barely spoke. Nick rejoined them and gave the rose to Corinne. Taylor had no reaction. She hugged Nick, then Nick and Corinne walked off hand-in-hand. Stunned, Taylor insisted, “I am certainly not the villain in this experience,” which certainly makes her sound like the villain in this experience.
Making matters even worse for Taylor’s case, she pulled a move so reminiscent of Chad Johnson that there’s no way she can be the innocent one anymore. During Nick’s one-on-one time with Corinne that night, Taylor crept through the woods and crashed their date, promising, “Tonight, Nick is going to find out the truth about Corinne, and I wish her the best of luck.”
And thus we are left with another “To be continued …”
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
