Truth or Tayshia

As a long-time fan of The Bachelorette (and previous recaper), I’ve taken it upon myself to recap Tayshia Adam's season. So here it is: my Rose Recap of Season 16 Episode 7.

This episode starts with Chris Harrison interrupting the boy's pity party from last week. And even Chris Harrison himself needs to ask the boys for a recap of their drama. And while he's there, he announces the group date:

• Bennet

• Ivan

• Blake

• Riley

• Kenney

• Zac

The boys have to write a love song for Tayshia and if I wanted to see this I would watch Listen to Your Heart. And either Tayshia has a thing for musicians or everyone forgot that her ex has a whole Friendsgiving themed album. Ivan wins the date so he gets one on one time with Tayshia. Was his song the best? I’m not sure; they all made me cringe. But Tayshia wanted him to go on this date so at least in that sense he had the best song.

Ivan meets Tayshia at her suite and from there they play a couple of games and order room service. There’s something about this date that makes me smile. Maybe it's because they give me such friend vibes, and friends-to-lovers is my favorite dynamic, or maybe it's because this felt like the preamble to a slumber party, and slumber parties are my love language.

Eventually, they sit down and talk and it's incredibly serious given how lighthearted the rest of the evening was. They talk about their families and about being the oldest sibling. Ivan talks about how his brother became an addict and ended up in jail. Since both Ivan and Tayshia are mixed race, they talk about racism they have experienced in their own lives. It feels surreal that ABC didn't edit it out because I cannot remember a conversation about race happening on the show aside from Rachel asking Nick if he'd ever dated a black girl.

Tayshia says that Ivan makes her feel comfortable and safe and she gives him the rose. He does seem a little young for her but I have to remind you to take everything I say about relationships with a grain of salt because I am absolutely not qualified.

How Far are You Willing to go For Love?

• Zac

• Kenney

• Demar

• Bennet

• Riley

• Blake

The boys who didn't end up on the one-on-one get a second shot at a group date. Becca and Sydney, both Bachelor alum, show up to host Truth or Dare. They do an afternoon of dares and have a cocktail party of truths. There didn't seem to be any winning or scoring on this date, only embarrassing yourself for the sake of being a good sport. Tayshia gives the rose to Zach and let me tell you, trying to figure out Tayshia's type is absolutely wild and is still entirely a guessing game for me.

After the date, both Ben and Ed go to see Tayshia because they’re both insecure about how they’d fare at the rose ceremony. And I can't blame them; if I lived within walking distance of my crush I'd always be looking to get some extra time with them. Some producer leads Ed astray and he ends up at Chris Harrison's place instead, where they share a bottle of wine. Ben has a better producer (or he's more likely to make good tv) and he does end up talking to Tayshia. And maybe a thorough apology is my weakness, but I appreciated how Ben didn’t try to pass the blame off and talked about what actions he would take moving forward to that Tayshia never had to doubt him. Tayshia seems to forgive him, especially since if she wasn't into him she could have just said goodnight, but she let's him stay and makeout on her couch for a while.

There is, no joke, a half-hour of cocktail party drama. I couldn't hear some of it because I was crunching too loud on my snacks, but I certainly didn't miss it. The short version of it is that Noah ruffled some feathers, but when he talks to Tayshia about it he makes it seem like the attacks on him were actually an attack on Tayshia, and I know we don't see every second of the boys' interactions but this seems far fetched. Tayshia ends up canceling the cocktail party because hearing that your crushes are doubting your intentions would hurt your feelings.

Noah, Ivan, and Zach already have roses

The remaining roses go to:

• Ben

• Eazy

• Riley

• Brendan

• Bennett

• Blake

• Demar

• Spencer

• Ed

We take a moment and say out goodbyes to:

• Jordan

• Chasen

• Joe

• Kenny

Next week we’re staying in the same resort. And I'll still be wondering which of these guys would have been The Bachelor if Matt James wasn't already cast, because I am more interested in about 8 of these guys than I am in Matt but that's ok.

xoxo,

Cyber Claire