The Bachelor: Greatest Seasons Ever takes it back to the beginning!
If you ever wondered how it all began with your favorite franchise, The Bachelor: Greatest Seasons Ever had you covered Monday night as we took it back to the OG Bachelor and Bachelorette seasons.
Yes, it was 2002 once again with Bachelor, Alex Michel, and leading lady Bachelorette, Trista Sutter, a year later in 2003. The fashion was questionable, Chris Harrison was a young, unknown aspiring TV host, and the drama started almost immediately. Oh, and we got a glimpse at the origins of some of our favorite phrases that have shaped the series as we know it. Perhaps it really was the most dramatic season ever?? A nice little Throwback Thursday on a Monday for Bachelor Nation!
With a double feature for our viewing pleasure, we have double the opportunity for weird and worst moments!
Yay! Let’s get into it.
In true what would become standard Bachelor behavior, the weird moments started for Alex’s season on night one. Yes, almost right out of the limo.
Amanda, Alexa, and Rhonda
We met sweet Amanda Marsh from Kansas who made the bold statement that she is not as innocent as she looks by touting about her sexual openness and the fact that she bought a trapeze for *ahem* bedroom purposes. Look at this scandalous talk from this wholesome little romance show! Clearly, things were a bit more free back in ’02. (Especially when the contestants didn’t even know if the show would actually air.)
Next in the weird category came Alexa who commented on how this process could be the fairytale she always wanted and that her dad would be SO PROUD of her for finding love on TV. Ah, yes, every father’s dream is for his daughter to marry a man who dated 15 women at the same time in his hunt for “The One”.
The worst came quickly for poor Rhonda Rittenhouse who had a very rough night after our Bachelor eliminated her at the rose ceremony. Rhonda did not take this news well and went into literal panic mode as she struggled to catch her breath and thought she was going to pass out. And the first ambulance rushing to the mansion to save the day appeared! The EMT’s informed her that she was merely having an anxiety attack and all was well. Except perhaps Rhonda’s now doubly abused ego.
No kissing on first dates, please!
Sometimes the worst moments are also the most awkward and that’s exactly what we got with Shannon Oliver who refused to kiss Alex because she doesn’t kiss on first dates. A fairly common if conservative rule, but then Shannon got a bit cray-cray and wouldn’t get in the hot tub during their one-on-one because that would mean she would be seen in her string bikini. Girl, may I introduce you to the concept of the one-piece swimsuit?
The final straw in Shannon’s prudish ways was her outrage at the invitation to the Fantasy Suite which she cleverly put together to mean that the other two contestants also had that opportunity. Shannon was not happy.
Alas, Alex couldn’t keep her around without ever experiencing any physical touching and she was eliminated at the next rose ceremony. The icing on the cake was when Shannon shook our Bachelor’s hand as her final goodbye and exited angrily after seeing Alex’s “true colors.”
Trista Sutter is the real MVP
The Bachelor: Greatest Seasons Ever moved on to Bachelorette Trista Sutter next and to be honest, we didn’t get to see many weird moments from the inaugural girl power season. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any worst moments!
The first worst moment came when the boys hit up Vegas for a group date where they could gamble on their love for Trista. Russ Woods came in hot and was all over our Bachelorette to the point where Trista had to have chat with him about his aggressive behavior. One of those, “There are other people here” chats. Probs not the move, Russ! You do not want to be overprotective, needy guy.
Greg T. and his living situation gave us what appeared to be Trista’s worst nightmare: the messy studio apartment of a struggling musician. Trista was appalled that this guy could actually live like this and even told producers and America about her disdain with the disclaimer that she isn’t judgey. It’s OK, Trista, a girl has to have standards.
It was awkward and our Bachelorette looked very uncomfortable and couldn’t wait to get out of there and back to her ABC paid for hotel suite. Yikes. But, like, let’s bring back those home visits to the franchise, ya know? I would love to see how our current contestants really live.
And they all lived happily ever after! Or at least Ryan and Trista did which is honestly all that matters.
Tune in two weeks for an all-new episode of The Bachelor: Greatest Seasons Ever as we look back at stud Brad Womack’s firecracker of a season!