The Bachelorette Hot and Cold with Alayah Benavidez: ‘We love a Harvard man’

Hot & Cold is a weekly look at which direction our Bachelorette contestants are trending, featuring The Bachelor season 24’s Alayah Benavidez.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Blake M. and Yosef headlined the first edition of Bachelorette: Hot & Cold last week. Dale aside, these two were polar opposites of one another during opening night. As we now settle into the fun part of Clare’s season, The Bachelor season 24’s Alayah Benavidez joins us once again to discuss the hot and cold picks for week two.

The second episode provided a bit of background on some of the men. Jason opened up to Clare on their emotionally deep one-on-one, Riley secured a rose to compliment his irrationally large biceps, and Jay revealed the reason he stayed in that straitjacket on the first night was that he was resting his absolute cannon of an arm for the strip dodge ball date.

There was one man who really turned a page on Tuesday night, though, and it was the beautifully prancing, sweat-less antelope himself, Bennett.

Hot: Bennett

Mr. Harvard turned a lot of people off with his pretentious entrance, showing up to meet Clare in a Rolls Royce on night one. He walked around for the rest of the evening with a scarf on (in California) and a martini in-hand, looking like a Bond villain.

Since getting more screen time, Bennett went from “I’ll be making nefarious plans in the boathouse of my summer mansion” to “let’s go for martinis and face masks at the spa!”

Alayah: “I have to pick Bennett, dude. We love Harvard man! I loved seeing his shoe collection, chateau Bennett, him always doing face masks, letting loose and getting more comfortable on the group date.”

After a very long, awkward pause as Clare joined the men on their group date, Bennett finally stepped up and pulled her for a talk. It took far too long for anyone to say anything, but Bennett smoothed the situation over when he took Clare aside.

Alayah: “THEN CLARE LEFT HIM ALONE!” He pulled her first and tried to have some time and she couldn’t even focus. I like him, he seems fun.”

Cold: Clare

Alayah: “I’m giving her some slack because she is a badass and I love that she’s a different lead than who we’ve seen before. But, I almost wonder if she’s too harsh?”

Clare has been taking a lot of heat since the airing of the second episode and much of it wasn’t related to her obvious favoritism of Dale like it was during week one. Although, perhaps some of the harshness was stemming from that.

Alayah: “She’s so goo-goo over Dale that I’m not as interested in watching the other guys, because we basically know she’s all in. I mean, they are adorable together and I love them but it’s basically over.

Bruin: “I agree with the Clare pick. I don’t so much mind the way she’s handling the season but I think it’s definitely tough to get excited about seeing her with the others because of what we know about her and Dale.”

Clare was expected to take a no-nonsense approach to her season of The Bachelorette, but there are times when she may be taking that a little too far for people’s likings (which is completely her prerogative but isn’t winning over those who enjoy the process).

Alayah: “She sent Brandon home instantly when he couldn’t seem to find the words, made the boys strip naked and gave them all hugs afterwards… Oh, and giving Blake a rose when he broke the rules by going to the group date [after losing in dodge ball] but waiting until the cocktail party the next day. She could have waited until the rose ceremony and not made it so obvious!”

By pulling Blake immediately and rewarding him for his bold move the night before, she singled him out in front of the rest of the group, some of whom were still a little upset at the move he pulled. But hey, she flat out said in the last episode that we’re playing by her rules this season.

The Bachelorette airs every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC. 

The Animal Defense League of Texas is a non-profit, no-kill animal shelter for abandoned, abused, or neglected dogs and cats in the San Antonio area. To learn more about their mission or to donate, visit their site.