The Bachelorette Season 18 premiere recap
By Ariba Bhuvad
The Bachelorette Season 18 is officially in session! Michelle Young’s time to shine as the lead is finally here, and I have to admit, it was an entertaining two hours. Between meeting the contestants, reuniting with Tayshia and Kaitlyn, and getting to learn more about Michelle, things were off to a great start. Well, sort of, but more on that in a bit.
First, I’d like to gush about Michelle and how wonderful she is. It’s been a minute since we’ve had a lead that really does have it all (sorry Katie). There is so much to admire and respect about Michelle who is a teacher, a college basketball star, and just an overall amazing woman.
The best part of the premiere was them starting things off with Michelle in class talking to her students about fractions…and the fact that she is about to gain 30 boyfriends. They’re all pretty supportive, but just like anyone else, they’re weirded out by the fact that their sweet ‘ol teacher is going to be locking lips with all those guys.
Trust us kids, we get it too.
The Bachelorette Season 18 is finally here!
Hailing from Woodbury, Minnesota, 28-year-old Michelle was all ready to go as she stepped into the role of the Bachelorette effortlessly. Her biggest motivation? The fact that her parents have been madly in love for the past 33 years.
Seriously, the Youngs made an appearance at the start of the episode, and they are absolutely adorable. #RelationshipGoals!
After spending an emotional few minutes with the cutest parents ever, Michelle was off to the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, California. Fun fact, this resort was apparently founded by the Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, so it’s already quite an interesting place to start your love story from!
Meet the men of The Bachelorette Season 18
Some of the men are introduced as the episode kicks off including Chris S., Joe Coleman, Clayton Echard (hello Mr. Bachelor!), Brandon J., Nayte, Chris G., Spencer, and Ryan Fox (hello Mr. Tractor and our first dramatic exit!).
Hosts Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe did their due diligence (in a strange way, I must admit) by asking each of the contestants to step out of their hotel rooms while they looked through their belongings. Most of the searches didn’t result in anything, that is until they got to Ryan Fox’s room.
They found lists and notes in his room that talked about how to get ready to be on the show. Specifically, how to avoid being a villain, how to get screen time, and just some random facts about teachers and whatnot.
It was certainly weird, but Ryan’s ABC bio is self-explanatory and explains his love for lists and spreadsheets so it wasn’t really that much of a surprise. In fact, he didn’t really have anything creepy in all of his notes, however, Michelle wasn’t about this weird behavior and sent Ryan home packing as soon as she found out.
The Bachelorette Season 18 limo entrances
I won’t get into the nitty-gritty details of each of these entrances, but there were certainly some memorable ones in there.
We had Jack, who seriously has a Milo Ventimiglia vibe going on. It was quite bizarre to see the similarities (and totally not a bad thing I must add).
There was also Daniel who showed up in a firetruck, and Romeo who absolutely had to say something about him and Michelle being Romeo and Juliet. And then there was Rick who had a creepy entrance–he presented himself as a dinner entree.
It was all sorts of weird, hilarious, and entertaining entrances, but it paled in comparison to the drama that unfolded later.
Joe Coleman, the ghoster
One of the contestants, Joe Coleman, immediately caught Michelle’s attention and that’s because they sort of have a history. Well, it’s more like she slid into his DMs, they spoke briefly, and then he ghosted her.
Seeing him again stirred up some feelings but the two were able to hash it out after Joe explained what happened. Joe is from Minneapolis as well, and following the George Floyd murder, he was going through a lot emotionally and simply couldn’t find a way to begin a relationship.
While Michelle was understanding about his predicament, she felt like it raised red flags in regards to his ability to communicate. But don’t worry Joe fans, he ended up getting a rose and lives to see another day on The Bachelorette Season 18.
The rose ceremony
Ryan left early on in the episode, but there was still a rose ceremony to get through. But before that, Michelle rewarded the First Impression Rose to Nayte, who was honest and open about his upbringing. He wasn’t used to the perfect parent couple like Michelle was but instead of being turned off by that, our Bachelorette was impressed by his ability to open up.
Apart from Nayte and Joe, the following guys made it through the rose ceremony (thanks Entertainment Weekly for this list!): Jamie, Leroy, Martin, Spencer, Rick, Clayton, Peter, PJ, Mollique, Romeo, Daniel, Brandon J., Will, Chris S., Rodney, Alec, Pardeep, Chris G., Casey, Olu, and LT.
We said goodbye to JoMarri, Jack, Garrett, Edward, Bryan, and Brandon K.
And just like that, The Bachelorette Season 18 is off to a great start, Bachelor Nation. Luckily, we have a lot more to look forward to in the coming weeks!
Next. Where was The Bachelorette filmed? (Season 18). dark
See ya next week!
What did you think of this week’s premiere of The Bachelorette Season 18? Let us know in the comments below!
You can watch the episode on ABC or with FuboTV (which offers a free trial to watch all episodes of The Bachelor franchise live!).
Be sure to check back in with us at Accept This Rose for our full coverage of The Bachelorette Season 18! It’s going to be a great one folks!