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Before recapping this week, I watched this short clip by Bachelor Data, and she shares some interesting trends in the data based on previous seasons:
I think it is good to keep in mind that the producers change the order of the hometown dates to reflect different story lines. From the video, Bachelor Data shares that the hometown date that goes first on the show is normally not the winner of the season. As for the last person they show, they normally have a big plot line later in the season. With that being said, let's recap hometowns!
Aaron B's Hometown
Aaron B was the first hometown date. His family is from Houston, Texas and they started the hometown by meeting the family. Charity got to meet his parents and his two brothers. Aaron's family made them a very nice meal, not sure about the frog legs but no judgement here on their choice of food.
Overall the hometown date went really well. Their date started with Aaron saying that he felt he wasn't there yet to say falling in love, but by the end of the date he was! His family was also fantastic. They were super receptive of the process and trusted Aaron and his decisions. So overall, the date went pretty great! But it is hard to say if that it was good enough to catch their relationship up to the others, as Charity stated she felt that her and Aaron's was behind the others.
Joey's Hometown
Joey's hometown felt like the longest in terms of the time that they showed. And for good reason as this was the only hometown that had some drama. Joey's family I think was in Pennsylvania, admittedly didn't catch it and it was hard to tell from the locations they were showing.
Joey brought her to where he feels at home, on the tennis court. It seem like they were having a great time until Joey's uncle surprised them. From what Joey's uncle was saying in his talking head, he felt like Joey wasn't himself. He felt the vibes were off.
The meeting the family seem to go well. Charity got to meet his parents, the uncle again, and his two sisters. The only conversation that put Charity uneasy was the conversation with the uncle. He didn't articulate it great, or at least the cut didn't look great, but it seems like Joey is a pleaser. Joey will do and say what people want to hear rather than be his authentic self, according to the uncle.
This caused Charity to panic a little because the whole time she was sharing that she wanted to tell Joey she was falling in love with him. But at the end she decided to hold back and not share that information.
Xavier's Hometown
For me, Xavier was the big winner of the night! Personally, if you read the other recaps of this season, I knew nothing about him. Either I missed him or I didn't really pay attention when they had their conversations. So I got to learn a lot more about Xavier through the hometown, and it makes a little more sense on why he made it so far.
For starters, Xavier took Charity to go knitting in his hometown of Cleveland. What was cool about their date is they did it in a group, and it allowed Charity to hear a little more about why people knit, and showed a different side to Xavier.
At the meeting of the family, it was obvious he had a strong connection with his family. Charity got to meet his parents and his sister. The mom is currently battling MS, and this was what shaped Xavier to go into research.
Overall I think their date went really well. Parents could see their connection, and they felt like they grew a lot together in this hometown. Xavier also said that he is falling in love with her.
Dotun's Hometown
Dotun's hometown started with a curveball. His parents spend a good amount of time in Nigeria every year, and this happened to fall when they were going to meet the family. But spoiler, the parents arrived! They came back to meet Charity and to get to spend this time with Dotun. Charity also got to meet his siblings and his grandmother, who was very sweet.
Just like the other hometown dates, it went really well. Got good answers from the parents and they seem to see their connection. But, like I mentioned from that video from Bachelor Data, something always seems to happen with the hometown we see last. It will be interesting to see what it is. My guess is Dotun doesn't feel ready for a proposal when he is in the final two. Or maybe he is the final one and then gets cold feet. Something like that.
Rose Ceremony
Dotun
Xavier
Joey
Probably be seeing Aaron B on paradise! Not surprised he went home because it seem like their relationship was farther behind than the others, even with a pretty good hometown date.
Thanks for reading.