When I took on The Bachelor beat here I didn’t think we’d be talking slugs and dog swears quite so quickly, but here we are.
Back when Big Brother exploded onto our screens and, in a very real sense, our hearts we learned a fascinating lesson that will serve us well living in our future surveillance state. And that thing is this: when there are cameras everywhere, assume everything in on the record.
So when an emotional Monique – fresh from her (ahem) dogfight over Sydney Harbour with Matt – reacted to the news that Abbie had smooched the heck out of the Bach, and that she was shocked – SHOCKED! – that the dating man on the dating show would datingly flirt with the dating women she used a term which, it’s fair to say, has seldom been used on the genteel airwaves of Australian television.
The term she used and which was then repeated endlessly by everyone – the polite “Dog C-Word” and its bleeped out non-euphemism – deserves its own spinoff, or at the very least to be the new informal term for the Gold Logie.
But first, let’s assess the date and whether or not lasting true love is likely to come from it. And the APS date tip is…
Squelching through fruit is a bad date idea
Matt and Abbie had a whole day together following PashFest2019 last episode, and part of the planned activities was making juices to drink with gin.
Now, drinking things with gin is a great idea and yes, something top shelf with tonic and a slice of cucumber, thanks, but juice making is one of those things that isn’t nearly as fun as you think it’s going to be.
It sounds sort of earthy and provincially romantic, crushing fruit with one’s feet, but it’s arguable that the sensation of fruit pulp under one’s toenails isn’t quite the groin-tingling thrill one might assume.
When your date literally compares it to “cold slugs squishing around your feet” you know you’re onto a non-winner, The Bachelor.
Also, if you’re going to jokingly ask someone to taste the subsequent foot juice, don’t then go on and on and on about how stupid they were for agreeing. Especially if they’re, say, on a televised competitive dating show. Then you look like a bit of a jerk, Matt.
Mind you, the other date on this episode involved shoving a fake pearl into an oyster to encourage it to secrete up a real one, so maybe don’t look to this show for real-world date options.
Anyway: at the end of the date Abbie told the Mattchelor about Monique’s mean canine-themed words and that set up Act 3 nicely.
Life lesson: don’t go humiliating other adults you barely know, especially if you want them to like you
There is definitely a time when it’s reasonable to have a frank and open exchange of views and to call someone to account for what they may or may not have said.
It is not with a bunch of women you barely know, lounging around in cocktail gowns ready to get their flirt on and being unwillingly drawn instead into a she-said-she-said schoolyard drama over whether Monique dissed him.
And yes, it’s a high-emotion situation but honestly: calling in grown women to demand to know if someone was mean about you is a weird flex.
Anyway, we’ve seen slug stomping, dog swearing and the admonishment of a group of women by The Bachelor. Television, this is your golden age.
Llamawatch: a tragic dearth of llamas
I know, this episode was in exotic Gosford rather than the Bachelor Mansion And Ungulate Menagerie, but even so: I hope the llama is OK. Can… can someone check?