It was the first night of The Bachelorette Season 16 two-night event on Monday night as our field of seven narrowed down to four in preparation for hometowns.
The Bachelorette Season 16 started the week with a confused Tayshia who went right into a one-on-one with Blake where he promptly was excused from the running to win her heart. Homeboy didn’t even make it to the dinner and drinks portion of the date! Ouch.
The dramatic exit early on had our Bachelorette sobbing after the break-up and led to more surprising events in the evening hours as she “realized she needed to do something else” that night. It was a short chat and another goodbye as Tayshia let Riley go home followed by a rose ceremony, more exits from Bennett and Noah, and then we were off to the Men Tell All.
With a roller coaster of an episode and even more of a roller coaster with the reunion portion of the show, who made moves and reached the top of our power rankings on night one of this week’s The Bachelorette Season 16?
#1: Bennett
He made a valiant (if not serial killer, creepily adjacent) return to the show after being let go the night before only to be sent home again right away, and made his Harvard ways known multiple times on the Men Tell All. Yes, the scarf-wearing, glasses chewing Bennett takes the number one spot in our Top 3.
Some would say that Bennett was a loser due to his unfortunate reversal at the rose ceremony following his proclamation of love to Tayshia. But Mr. Harvard was confident the whole time and held his own on the aftershow including confronting the Bachelorette on her reasons behind her actions. Plus, serving Noah green juice in a sippy cup was honestly just a great move. Bennett, you came in too pompous but were entertaining, to say the least. Please never change.
#2: Riley
Following this same pattern of saying what needed to be said and getting the answers to tough questions is our second heartbroken man of the evening, Riley.
Riley was blindsided when Tayshia showed up to the guys after dumping Blake and pulled Riley away from the group to break-up with him as well. He was very shocked and hurt and I think Bachelor Nation was honestly as surprised as he was when what he thought was real progress in their relationship was cut short.
At The Bachelorette Season 16 Men Tell All Riley sat down with Tayshia to get some hard truths out in the open. He handled the heartbreak as best he could all while looking stylish in a magenta turtleneck sweater. Fingers crossed we get more Riley on Bachelor in Paradise!
#3: Zac C.
Finally this week, we have one of our Final Four simply because he pulled off my favorite move of the week. And I mean, he and Tayshia do seem to legitimately be falling for each other, but that’s neither here nor there.
Rounding out in third place is Zac who was not here for Bennett returning and trying to swindle his way back into the group and into Tayshia’s heart. When Harvard strolled in and joined Zac on the couch and began explaining himself, he made the mistake of reaching out and touching Zac to which Zac said “Why are you putting a hand on me?”
It was hilariously aggressive and accurately conveyed how the rest of the guys were feeling about the whole situation. Thank you, Zac, for this delightful interaction that really put Bennett in his place.
Hometowns are up next and I can’t wait to see what kind of surprises are in store for this crew and our girl Tayshia!
Who made your top 3 on this week’s episode (part one, of course) of The Bachelorette Season 16? Tell us in the comments below!