Matt James made history last night as the first Black “Bachelor.” But that wasn’t all that was special about the premiere episode of his season, it was full of firsts for the ABC franchise.
Unlike past “Bachelors,” Matt hasn’t appeared in the franchise before… in fact, he’s never been on TV before! But he had a feeling it was his destiny – after all, he’s BFFs with fan-favorite Tyler Cameron from Hannah Brown’s season.
Last night was the big premiere, and a whopping eight women were sent home. This time, the record 32 women vying for Matt’s heart met him at the quarantine-season location, the Nemacolin Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania. Here’s what happened:
- It was time for Matt to meet his matches, and boy, were the intros steamy. There was some clear front-runners, like Mari, who rendered Matt speechless, and Magi, who came all the way from Ethiopia to be on the show.
- Other memorable intros include Anna, who stayed one step ahead of the competition by bringing Matt a survival kit with “red flags” for him to wave at women. Khaylah arrived in a pickup truck, ballerina Alicia danced her way out of the limo, and MJ drove up in a pizza delivery car, pie in hand. Alana brought some spaghetti and gave Matt a “Lady and the Tramp” kiss, Katie brought him a sex toy that “got her through the pandemic,” and Kimberly brought along a big fish that she threw at Matt for some reason.
- Matt introduced himself to the group of ladies by leading them in a prayer instead of a toast… then the ladies proceeded to “steal” him from each other. Sarah got Matt to open up about the high expectations on him this season, Mari confided in Matt about her family in Puerto Rico dealing with the hurricanes, and Bri and Matt bonded over being biracial and raised by split parents… all the while, “Queen” Victoria, who had arrived wearing a tiara and sitting on a throne, complained that she wasn’t getting enough facetime with Matt. Looks like we have a season villain already.
- Abigail was the lucky girl to get the first kiss, after revealing she is partially deaf and wears cochlear implants. She got the first impression rose, too. He couldn’t take his eyes or ears off of her!
Then it was time for the first rose ceremony. Bri, Mari, Chelsea, Kristin, and even Victoria were among the ladies getting roses… and Matt said goodbye to a whopping eight contestants, Alicia, Amber, Carolyn, Cassandra, Emani, Kimberly and Saneh.
Matt has officially risen in the ranks from a TV rookie, and we can’t wait to see how the rest of his historic season goes. “The Bachelor” airs Mondays at 8pm ET on ABC.
Source: ABC