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Bachelor Season 19 Premiere Recap: Chris Soules Finds Out That Some Girls Just Can’t Hold Their Alcohol

The Bachelor, Chris Soules
From fake organs to breakdancing, the Season 19 premiere of The Bachelor had no shortage of laughter and drama as Chris Soules met the 30 hopeful ladies competing for his heart.

Let the games begin! The Jan. 5 season 19 premiere of ABC’s The Bachelor paired the usual contestant cattiness with a little too much liquor, and even some freestyle breakdancing. Bachelor Chris Soules struggled to whittle down the gaggle of 30 eligible bachelorettes, but ended up sending eight ladies packing. While we’re not quite sure about some of his final decisions, it’s no question that this season will bring the drama. (Spoilers ahead!)

chris soules laughing

Related: PHOTOS: Meet the cast

Farmer Chris, who mentions a few too many times during the premiere that he’s upset to be missing harvest, broke viewers’ hearts when Andi Dorfman sent him home before the fantasy suite night on season 10 of The Bachelorette. The 33-year-old Arlington, Iowa native was the fan favorite for season 19’s eligible hunk, and had audiences chanting his name during the season 10 live Bachelorette finale.

Related: PHOTOS: Biggest Bachelor and Bachelorette villains

Chris, who spends much of his introduction dramatically overlooking his cornfield while leaning on a motorcycle, seems more than ready to find a wife. The fourth generation farmer says, “There is nothing really more important to me right now than meeting my true soulmate.” His sister mentions that he should “make sure she likes wine.” There should be no worries if the premiere is any indication. Cue the ladies! See photos of the wackiest limo exits from the premiere.

Related: PHOTOS: Bachelor stars' scandalous pasts

Extended Introductions

We get an in-depth look at seven of Chris’ bachelorettes, including Kelsey, a 28-year-old school counselor from Texas that was widowed just over a year ago, and Alissa, a bubbly 24-year-old flight attendant from New Jersey.

Among the profiled girls is Amanda, a ballet instructor from Illinois who lives at home with her mother. Amanda, 24, is quick to label herself as “crazy,” and admits her distaste for cooking and cleaning. Good luck on the farm, honey! The other girls who get some extended attention include:

Britt, 27, a waitress from Los Angeles

Jillian, 25, a national news producer from Washington, D.C.

Whitney, 29, a fertility nurse from Chicago

Mackenzie, 21, a dental assistant and mom from Washington

Related: PHOTOS: Bachelor's biggest splits

chris soules and bachelorettes

Limo Arrivals

Chris jokes that he hopes to “find somebody that’s excited to be with a real, grown ass farmer.” Don’t worry, buddy — almost every girl mentions how “excited” they are that he’s the Bachelor.

Several ladies strayed from the quick hug introductory format and got creative with their limo arrivals. Britt presents Chris with a paper offering a “free hug” and tells him to find her later for an explanation. Talk about strategy! Chris seeks her out, and her heartfelt explanation clearly wins him over. 

Other standouts include Reegan, 28, a donated tissue specialist, who arrives with medical cooler in hand. Chris hesitantly opens it to find a pretty realistic, albeit fake, human heart. While Chris laughs off the joke, we were a little grossed out. 

Next up is Tara, 26, a “sports fishing enthusiast” who arrives clad in flannel, Daisy Dukes, and cowboy boots. While Chris seems impressed with Tara’s decision to stay true to herself, the other girls’ dirty looks get to her and she quickly swaps attire. She then sneaks out of the house, reenters the waiting limo and emerges in her black cocktail dress to re-meet Chris. “I wanna show you that you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl,” she tells him. Luckily, this isn’t the last we see of already-entertaining Tara.

Amanda, 24, pulls off a cute “Secret Admirer” gimmick, and doesn’t let Chris actually see her during intros, while Ashley S. prods him to stick a lucky penny in his shoe.

Kaitlyn, a 29-year-old dance instructor who shows her knack for inappropriate jokes several times throughout the premiere, gets the censors going when she tells Chris he can “plow the f—k out of my field any day.”

The girls are momentarily fooled into thinking this season’s cast contains a meager 15 contestants when Chris takes a break from the limos and spends some one-on-one time with the early arrivals. Naturally, it’s high drama when the next batch of 15 women start to arrive and shake up the early camaraderie.

Tandra, 30, an executive assistant, cruises in on a motorcycle, while Alissa the flight attendant prepares Chris for the “bumpy ride” by strapping him in with an airplane seatbelt. Jordan, a 24-year-old student, plies Chris with whiskey, and Carly, 29, shows off her skills as a cruise ship singer by performing an original song on her on-hand karaoke machine.

“There are definitely more girls in this house than there are in Iowa,” one of the girls remarks as they keep rolling in.

The Cocktail Party

While some of the girls take the cocktail party portion of the evening as an opportunity to interrupt each other’s conversations with Chris, other ladies just stick to drinking.

chris soules doing crab walk?

As Kaitlyn adorably attempts to teach Chris a breakdancing move, which she calls the six step, Tara is knocking back liquor. “My best friends are Jameson, Johnny Walker, and Jack Daniels,” she slurs to the camera.

Meanwhile, Ashley S. is waxing on about onions and their layers, in what we can only hope is a drunken rant. During her attempt at a metaphor, she notices a plant off camera and insists that it’s growing onions. She soon stumbles off into the landscaping, only to discover, to her disappointment, that the produce in question is a pomegranate. Ashley S. later tells Chris she has added “running through sunflower fields” to her bucket list. Riiiiiight.

Chris seems smitten with Britt, quickly. “The way she makes me feel is why I’m here, and I don’t even know what that means.” He awards her the first impression rose, and also this season’s first kiss.

The Rose Ceremony

Tara continues her drunken antics at the first Rose Ceremony, hiccuping, yawning, and scratching herself while girl after girl is awarded a rose before her. At one point, Chris excuses himself to question her presence. “I was gonna pick her,” he tells Chris Harrison, “but Tara is like wasted drunk.” Much to our, and many of the girls’, surprise, he opts to let Tara stick around. We’re just impressed she didn’t fall over on her way to retrieve her rose! 

Chris ends up eliminating eight girls: Nicole, Amanda, Kara, Kimberly, Bo, Brittany, Michelle and Reegan. Kimberly, 28, doesn’t take her elimination lightly, however, and marches sobbing back into the house after she’s been axed. She confronts Chris just as he’s begun to celebrate with the remaining bachelorettes, but we won’t get to see the ensuing conversation until episode two!

If the promo for this season tells Us anything, The Bachelor season 19 will definitely NOT be short on tears and drama. Let’s get ready for a bumpy ride!

Tell Us, were you disappointed by any of the eliminations?

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