50 secrets only true Bachelor fanatics know

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THE BACHELOR -“Episode 2108” – Corinne, Rachel, Raven and Vanessa are left in Bimini, still shocked that Nick sent Kristina home before the rose ceremony. They wonder if they still will get a coveted hometown date from the unpredictable Bachelor. But with the stakes being so high, Nick will go on an emotionally charged journey to visit these final four women’s hometowns. Raven meets him in Hoxie, Arkansas, and cute couple have some great, sexy fun, but Raven’s father reveals some serious news. Then, it is on to Dallas where Rachel and Nick confront the challenges that might meet an interracial couple. Corinne is waiting in Miami where her father waits with some tough questions. Finally, Nick travels to Montreal to reunite with Vanessa. Although her special needs adult students give him a big thumbs up, things don’t go quite so well with her big Italian family, especially after her father drops a bomb about Nick that has Vanessa questioning their relationship. Just as Nick gets ready to make the gut-wrenching decision to send one woman home, he gets a surprise visitor, who could change everything, on “The Bachelor,” MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20 (8:00-10:01 p.m. EST), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Drew Cason)NICK VIALL, RAVEN /

45. They have to give up their phones, the internet and even TV

The best way to control a group of folks is to cut them off from the world. Take away any and all interactions with real life, and the environment becomes a pressure cooker for anxiety and drama. This is the perfect cocktail for excellent TV.

When the potential fiances check into the mansion, they surrender their phones and all access to the internet. Part of the reason the girls seem so close is because they have all that downtime. Lauren remembers, during her season with Ben, “we don’t have phones. We don’t have TVs. There’s not music. So, we would literally play games, like games that little kids would play.”

The boredom encourages the ladies to find other ways of entertaining themselves, and it usually means they have to get to know each other instead of getting to know the suitor. Leslie Hughes said this about her time on Sean Lowe’s season, “The only things I was allowed to keep were my journal and my Bible. We have nothing. We are completely cut off from the world. We have to talk to each other—we have nothing else to do.”

They are so contained and isolated they are virtual prisoners in the mansion. Not every person is being filmed all the time, and not every contestant gets a date every week, so there is a lot of sitting around, thinking about your feelings, drinking, and chatting.

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