Every season The Bachelor tries to convince its fans the finale is going to be the most dramatic ending we’ll ever see, and last night’s season 18 finale surprisingly lived up to this expectation.
After being eliminated from Desiree’s season of The Bachelorette, women across America were swooning over Juan Pablo, the innocent Spanish guy with the cute accent. Little did we know by this season’s end he would be one of the most disliked bachelors of all time.
We saw the first signs of Juan Pablo’s flawed personality early in the season, when he had a steamy night with Clare swimming in the ocean and later blamed Clare for what happened and explained his concern about his daughter watching the show. Juan Pablo failed to recognize that he was a willing participant and made Clare feel like the situation was completely her fault. Strike one.
The night that sealed the deal for Juan Pablo’s fate was Andi’s dramatic exit after her stay in the fantasy suite. Andi explained that she couldn’t wait to get out of the suite the next morning, and would be leaving the show before the rose ceremony.
Juan Pablo had a far different interpretation of his rendezvous with Andi, concluding that he thoroughly enjoyed his night with Andi. Andi explained to fans that Juan Pablo is nothing but a self-centered selfish man who could care less about getting to know her more as a person and all he talked about was himself. She also added that he discussed in detail his dates with other women and that she had just barely advanced to the bottom 3.
Even weirder? Unlike most heartbroken women leaving the show, Andi seemed more angry than anything else. Even though she admitted to loving Juan Pablo just a week before in her hometown date, she was completely confident after her overnight with Juan Pablo that he was not the man for her.
Juan Pablo’s reaction to Andi’s exit was lackluster, congruent with his behavior throughout the season. He didn’t really seem to be phased by her exit or her words attacking his actions the night before. All he said was he can’t force someone to feel something they don’t. Strike two.
However, even the way he acted with Andi couldn’t prepare bachelor fans for what occurred in last night’s finale.
Clare was up first for her last one on one date, and the couple begins the date with a helicopter ride. For a moment while the helicopter was landing, the couple had a rare few minutes without cameras, but instead of smothering his potential fiancé with sweet nothings, Clare revealed he told her that they barely know each other followed by a sexual comment that she couldn’t even bare to repeat. She said the comment left a sour taste in her mouth and the two proceeded to have a disastrous final date.
Nikki’s date didn’t seem to go much better. The interaction between the couple on their final date was awkward to watch. The two seemed to have nothing to talk about, and definitely didn’t seem like a love struck duo with an engagement on the horizon. Even a scripted and staged show couldn’t convince the audience that this couple was genuinely in love with one another.
To put the icing on the cake, at the end of the date Nikki shared a note with Juan Pablo expressing her strong feelings for him, and even dropping the L-bomb at the end. Juan Pablo didn’t reciprocate her feelings, and simply just started kissing her, the only thing we’ve really seen him care about doing with any girl all season.
It was finally time for the final rose ceremony, and girls across America were on the edge of their seats wondering how the show would conclude. Clare got off the boat first to meet Juan Pablo, and any bachelor fanatic knows this is never a good sign. The first person to show up is almost always the “loser”, however in this case I would argue Clare was actually the clear winner. I wouldn’t consider any woman who has to spend the rest of her life with a selfish pig like Juan Pablo a winner.
Juan Pablo’s breakup with Clare was emotionless and disingenuous, not surprisingly. Normally breakups on The Bachelor involved a lot of tears, hugging, and apologies. However, as Juan Pablo leaned in to hug Clare good-bye she pushed him away and as she stormed off exclaimed, “I would never want my children to have a father like you.” Finally Clare had cracked. After her exit, Juan Pablo whispered under his breath, “I’m glad I didn’t pick her.” *insert jaws dropping across America* Oh and Strike three.
The presentation of the final rose to Nikki was one of the most insincere I’ve ever seen on any season of The Bachelor. Essentially, Nikki told Juan Pablo she loved him, again, and all he told her was I have a ring in my pocket that I’m not going to use it, but I like you a LOT *wink*. Are you kidding me, Juan Pablo? Any girl in her right mind would have slapped him across the face and left, but not Nikki. She happily accepted the rose.
The After The Final Rose special included more awkwardness and rudeness from Juan Pablo. He cut off host Chris Harrison multiple times, acted extremely entitled and pompous and refused to share his feelings for Nikki.
Throughout the season, Juan Pablo used being “honest” as an excuse for his behavior. As Andi so eloquently stated in her exit, “there is a difference between being honest and being a complete a**hole.” Juan Pablo is not honest, he is rude and degrading. Even his own MOTHER said he was rude.
There are two main things about the conclusion of this season that make me sad. The first is the fact that Juan Pablo has a daughter. Not only is it incredibly appalling that he would behave this way when he is a parent, but he has a DAUGHTER and still finds it perfectly okay to objectify women and treat them with a complete lack of respect. I wonder how he would feel if he watched Camilla get treated the same way many of the girls on the show were. I would only hope then he would realize the severity of his actions.
The second thing that upsets me is the way Nikki is allowing him to get away with treating her this way. Although everything on the show should be digested with a grain of salt because it is reality television, I would be absolutely appalled if my “boyfriend” embarrassed me on national television the way Juan Pablo did last night.
I want to make it clear: it was NOT the fact that Juan Pablo isn’t in love that angered me and so many other women across America last night. I completely agree with the fact that you can’t force a feeling that isn’t there, but it was the way Juan Pablo went about expressing himself that left a bitter taste in most of our mouths.
He didn’t share any sort of genuine emotion for Nikki. He didn’t share with America how amazing he thinks she is, how much fun they have together, or that he could see the possibility of loving her someday. All he seems interested in is physicality. Certainly not a boyfriend I would want. I was secretly hoping the “big surprise” at the end would be a giant dumping for Juan Pablo, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
Hopefully Nikki will realize that she is a beautiful, caring, and fun girl who deserves so much more than Juan Pablo.
I will say one good thing came out of last night’s finale: power to the women. Even though Juan Pablo was the one handing out the roses, at the end of the season we had 3 women stand up for themselves and turn him down. In the end, everyone in America saw his true colors, and I don’t think anyone is yearning to be his girlfriend.
Oh, and Juan Pablo, eeess NOT okay.
Sources: @PrincessProbz