At the top of the episode of week two of “The Bachelor” season 25, lead Matt James said he hasn’t managed to find true love and he’s hoping to find it on “The Bachelor.”  

Host Chris Harrison announced to the ladies that there would be three dates this week including two one-on-ones, and one group date.

He warned “because it’s a record number of women, not everyone is going to go on a date.” The women should have seen this as a hint of what was to come for the group date!  The first date started right then and there.  The first date card read: “Bri, Love is an adventure. – Matt”

Matt stated that on the first night, the conversation with Bri went well and he hadn’t been on a date in a while. 

FIRST ONE-ON-ONE DATE:

Matt picked Bri up at the house where the women were and where there were ATVs awaiting for them outside.  The women watched as Matt put Bri’s helmet on.  After returning inside, this caused some conflict among the women.   Victoria was upset by the other women showing support for Bri getting the first date.  

After getting dirtied-up by the ATV ride and crash, they got to dip themselves into a hot tub in the woods.  During dinner, Bri revealed that her mom hasn’t meant any of the guys she’s dated.  She raised Bri as a single mom and got pregnant with Bri when was 13-years-old.  In quarantine, Bri said she learned that her mom is pregnant.  Growing-up, it was just Bri and her mom. She stated that her dad was absent.  Matt could relate in the fact that his dad was also absent and he gravitated to other family members who had complete families.  Bri said she did that with friends who have complete families.  

Back to the women:  Victoria expressed that she wouldn’t want to be on a  group date because she wouldn’t be able to be her authentic self.  The next date card arrived.  It read: “Chelsea, Serena P,  Abigail, Sydney, Illeana, Kristin, Lauren, Jessenia, Serena C., Kit, Kaili, Katie, MJ, Mari, Pieper, Rachel, Victoria. I’m looking for the one. – Matt.”  That was 18 names!

Back to Matt & Bri:  Matt gave Bri the date rose.  He liked how she opened-up and he said it’s something that he’s attracted to and wants to know more about her.  

GROUP DATE:

The 18 women arrived at a photo shoot where Matt was dressed in a suit.  He said “I’m a visual person.” Hence, Matt said he thought it would be fun to visualize them as his bride-to-be.  With that, the photographer announced that the ladies had ten minutes to get dressed into their wedding gowns which the women had to hustle to pick-out the right one.

  
One-by-one, each girl got to take a photo with Matt in their “wedding attire.”  When it came to Victoria, she upped her game by butting-in on Mari’s turn.  Adorning a “royal” crown, Victoria got aggressive with Matt by planting a full-on kiss on him and had him take off her garter belt!  The women thought it was a desperate attempt for attention.  

Then, enter Chris Harrison who announced, “to stay happily married is a lot of work.” Matt is looking for a woman that will fight for him.  Then he took Matt away from the group of women. 

 
They all, including Matt, reconvened at a different location in the woods. They had to play “Capture the Heart.”  That meant, they had to go through an obstacle course where their beautiful dresses got thrashed in an attempt to gather a huge heart for the win.  It was Red Team vs. Gold Team.  The winning team got to spend the night with Matt at the After Party.  The losing team had to walk home.  Mari brought got the win for the Red Team. That meant they got to go to the After Party.  Mari won the MVB award – Most Valuable Bride.    

AFTER PARTY:

Lauren, who pointed-out the last time she talked to Matt was when she got out of the limo, got some alone time with Matt.  Lauren told Matt that she wants a man of faith and who’s loyal.  Jessina told Matt that she’s dealt a lot with infidelity in her past relationships which made her hesitant to go on the show.  She said marriage to her “means that kind of unity” which is what she sees in her parent’s relationship.  

Back to the women: The next date card arrived which read:  “Sarah, the sky’s the limit for us. – Matt.”  Sarah was excited to get the one-on-one.

Back to the Group Date:  Victoria was chatting it up with Matt, who was tentatively listening.   He did tell her that he was going to continue to challenge her to be the person that she is.  Next, Matt presented the Group Date rose to Lauren.  He told Lauren that he was blown away by her from night one.  

SECOND ONE-ON-ONE DATE:

Matt and Sarah rode in an old style small airplane at the top of their date.  Sarah shared that her family is everything to her.  She’s close to her mom, and even closer to her Dad.  Matt sensed that Sarah wouldn’t be open and vulnerable during the first portion of the date.  Matt said he really “wants it to work with Sarah” and hoped she would open-up during the dinner portion of the date.

In her confessional video, Sarah said it was hard to open-up to Matt about her Dad and has to work on being vulnerable.  Sarah told Matt that she’s a private person which makes it hard for her to open-up.  She explained why family is so important.  When she was in college, her dad was diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs – which means he’s limited to speech and motion.  She told him that she quit her job of being a broadcaster to be a caregiver to her Dad.  Matt responded that the only thing that has given him strength is his faith and he’ll be praying for her Dad.  He was honored to have Sarah there instead of her being at home for her Dad.  She said she felt a calling to be there and her dad encouraged her to find love. 

Matt asked her what he can do to show that he can be someone that she wants to be with.  Sarah said so far everything has been so amazing and she wants him to be “as real as possible” because life is not always going to be rainbows.  Sarah added that she doesn’t take this lightly and considers it “something really special.”  On that note, Matt presented her with the date rose.  

Matt said he was attracted to Sarah’s compassion, selflessness.  Sarah nothing would be greater than being with someone like Matt.  “This is a start to something so beautiful and so special.” Then they spent time in a hot tub.  

COCKTAIL PARTY:

Abigail told Matt that she would give him a sign of tugging her ear to let him know she’s thinking about him.  He teased that he’ll do the same.  Rachel sensed a connection with Matt.  He agreed.  Kit said she’s really comfortable with him.  Magi promised to cook the most Ethiopian dinner for him.  Marylynn was upset that the week had been challenging for her and not getting any attention from him.  Matt got her an orchid to let her know he had been thinking about her.  

Victoria’s jealousy made her go talk to Matt about Marylynn.  She told Matt that Marylynn was her roommate, but because she’s “toxic” she had to sleep on the coach.  Matt told her he would get to the bottom of the situation.  He interpreted that Marylynn was being a bully.  Since Victoria never holds back, he believed her. So, Matt pulled Marylynn away from the group of women to talk to her in private.  Marylynn responded that she is not that type of person.  After that, Matt was done at the Cocktail Party and left.

Apparently, Victoria took something that Marylynn said the wrong way and as a personal attack that happened off-camera.  This information came out when Marylynn tried to apologize to Victoria regarding the incident.  The women were very upset at Victoria for ruining the Cocktail Party and robbing them of time with Matt.

ROSE CEREMONY:

Matt noted that he did hear some things that night that “were concerning,” but he has to continue to follow his heart. 

Women who got roses: Pieper, Kit, Magi, Rachel, Abigail, Chelsea, Jessenia, Katie, Serena C….then in the middle of the Rose Ceremony, Sarah had to step-out.  A producer helped her as she sat on the floor mentioning that she was “seeing stars” and was “blacking-out.”  The episode ended with Matt walking over to check on her.

To be continued…