Ready for roses! On “The Bachelor: Countdown to Nick,” Chris Harrison promised Nick Viall’s upcoming season of The Bachelor will be “unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.” The ABC special, which was sprinkled with well wishes from fellow franchise alums (including a message from Josh Murray promising not to show up and steal any of his girls — no hard feelings), featured a sneak peek into Nick’s upcoming season of The Bachelor, plus updates from couples of Bachelors past.
After a fantastic montage of Nick falling for Andi Dorfman, then being heartbroken by Andi, then falling for Kaitlyn Bristowe, then being heartbroken by Kaitlyn, then falling for Jen Saviano, then breaking Jen’s heart, Nick took center stage as the Bachelor. Finally!
… But not without some hesitation from Bachelor Nation. In what could have only been an attempt to knock Nick down a few pegs before taking on the coveted role, producers set him up in a booth where fans lined up to give him a piece of their mind. Most of it wasn’t pretty. One fan (or nonfan) told Nick that her family and friends have always hated him. Another said, “Basically, I just don’t like you,” and Nick heart-wrenchingly agreed that sometimes he doesn’t like himself either. Yet another made fun of his tight pants! We hadn’t noticed his pants before, but we sure will now.
Following a look at some of Nick’s women, including Christen, the religious virgin, and Liz, who had a chemistry-filled night with Nick at Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert’s wedding, we got updates from some of our favorite successful Bachelor couples: Ashley and J.P. Rosenbaum, Desiree and Chris Siegfried, Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shawn Booth, and Carly Waddell and Evan Bass.
Ashley and J.P. are “living the dream” in Miami with two kids — 2-year-old Fordham and 2-month-old Essex — and a white picket fence. J.P. calls Ashley “super mom” and said he is “finally getting the hang of the whole father thing.” They agree that life is good after over five years together.
Desiree and Chris are enjoying every moment of their newly acquired parenthood with baby boy Asher Wrigley born this past October, as Us Weekly exclusively announced at the time. Next steps: to grow their family further!
Ben and Lauren are living together and “nesting,” says Lauren. Despite constantly being asked when they’ll get married, the couple see getting a dog as the next step in their love story.
Kaitlyn and Shawn are enjoying life in Nashville, which is the perfect place to start a family, according to Shawn. They really, really think that this is the year they’ll start planning a wedding … or maybe not, since they so love being engaged.
Carly moved in with Evan shortly after their season of Bachelor in Paradise started airing, and she is loving playing stepmom to Evan’s three sons. “I fell into my family,” she said to describe how perfect this match has been.
Ending on a dramatic note, we got an extended look into Nick’s journey on The Bachelor, and the preview only got better as it went on. In short, we saw Liz telling the other women she had sex with Nick, a woman slapping Nick across the face, a woman determined to have sex with Nick and Nick crying in front of all his girlfriends that this engagement may not happen after all.
OK, Chris Harrison, maybe this will be unlike anything we’ve seen before. Watch The Bachelor on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
