NEW YORK -- We've got a lot to unpack in this episode. It starts off Clare's worst week ever, she gets a LOT of time with Dale, calls him her 'fiancé,' and we get a first glimpse of Tayshia. Let's dig in.
This week's episode picked up with last week's cocktail party leading up to the rose ceremony. Clare was having a good time talking with all of the men and meantime, Yosef was getting worked up about a date he wasn't even on. He thought the dodgeball date was "classless" and he said he never would have participated because he's a father. Has he never watched this show? There's a wide variety of activities, many that I wouldn't recommend a child watch. The other men there told Yosef to be respectful, but clearly, that wasn't in the cards.
Confrontation with Yosef
Yosef sat down and told Clare that he has seen some "red flags" with her. He said that Clare said, "You guys are here for me." He thought that seemed selfish and he found it disrespectful. It's time away from his daughter. Then he dove into the dodgeball date and said he was "appalled" because of the nakedness. He found it to be humiliating and degrading. "Not in a million years would I be caught dead doing that," he said. Clare said, "Well that's why you weren't on that date." Then he said, it was "classless" and "I expected more from the oldest Bachelorette that's ever been." Ouch. I hope his daughter doesn't meet a man who talks down to her like this. It's just terrible and uncomfortable to watch. "You're not setting the right example for my daughter. I'm ashamed to be associated with you." OMG, he really did say that. It's just awful. "Do not ever talk to me like that," Clare said. "I never thought I'd ever have to utter these words again, but never would I want my children to have father like you. Get out of here!" YES, you go girl! Get him out of there! Enough already. He doesn't deserve another second. "You're not fit to be a mother to my child," Yosef yelled at Clare. With that, the other men stood up and rushed to her aid.
Yosef continued yelling that she was "classless" and said, "Remember, you're almost 40. She's all yours boys." Clare couldn't believe it. "I didn't even do anything to that man! Sick! Sick!" she yelled in frustration. Yosef should be ashamed of the way he acted. Dale came over and she cried in his arms. "He's lying because who wouldn't want to be here with you," Dale said. Clare said that Yosef told her everyone there was just appeasing her. Dale said, "No, I'm here to please you." Ha! He did the right thing going over to comfort her. "It's not even the second rose ceremony yet, and I'm so falling in love with Dale," she said.
Chris Harrison checked in with Clare as she cried it out. She had to let the shock of the situation go. Chris Harrison even acknowledged that Dale was great comforting her and that maybe he's the guy for her that would never let someone talk to her like that. She went out to the group and told them that she wasn't up for the rest of the party and she just wanted to get the rose ceremony over with. She was still crying as she spoke to them. The situation really shook her up.
Rose Ceremony
1) Riley (group date rose last week)
2) Jason (one-on-one date rose last week)
3) Chasen (group date rose last week)
4) Blake Moynes (rule breaker last week)
5) Dale
6) Zac C.
7) Demar
8) Brandon
9) Jordan
10) Joe
11) Jay
12) Bennett
13) Eazy
14) Ben
15) Ed
16) Ivan
17) Kenny
18) Zach J.
DeAnna visits Clare
Before Clare could leave for her group date, she got a special visit from her friend and former "Bachelorette" DeAnna! Clare gushed to DeAnna about how much she likes Dale, and DeAnna said, "When you know, you know." She showed off Dale's pants to her and they rolled around in them and talked about how great he smelled. Clare joked, "This could be the shortest season ever."
Group Date 1
"Jason, Jay, Eazy, Chasen, Blake, Ed, Riley, Dale today we separate the men from the boys," the first date card read. The guys waited around for her all day while DeAnna stopped by. She said that she scratched the daytime date to have a really long cocktail party with quality conversations. They seemed a bit confused. Dale was pumped because, "When I get quality time with her, that's a wrap."
Dale asked the other guys if he could ask for Clare to speak privately first. But before he left he asked for a group hug and some of the guys found it to be disingenuous. Clare took Dale back to her pad and she talked to him about how much she appreciated him. He said that he's seen how verbal abuse has affected the women in his life and that he was "proud" of her. "Why are you so perfect?" Clare said to him. Then, they proceeded to have a heavy make out session.
Meantime, the guys got a little anxious waiting. "Should we send out a search party for Dale?" They've been gone for an hour at this point! Yikes! Eazy went to go look for them and pretty much busted the whole thing up. Dale pretended like they were sitting in the living room the whole time. If looks could kill... The other guys were not smiling when Dale sat back down with the group. Dale couldn't remove the plastered smile off his face.
Clare asked the producers if they could hurry the rest of the guys along! The guys interrupted each other there on out and things got pretty tense. Dale was wandering the grounds, and stumbled across Clare talking with Jay. Clare asked him to stay and that was that. They made out some more. The other guys were so upset! Chasen interrupted them and when Dale went back he apologized to the guys and Riley said that Dale was being "a politician." Dale was honestly lost, and stumbled across them and it was a bonus that Clare was there. She gave Dale the group date rose and that just further rubbed salt in the wounds of the other men. Dale said that he was the "best guy suited to be there for her." That comment didn't go over well with Jason and the others.
One-on-One Date
Zach J.'s date card read, "I'm looking for my best friend." Well, it's not going to be him. They went to a spa and started off with a pedicure. He seemed so uncomfortable with getting his feet done because he's super ticklish. It was killing him! Then Clare gave him an avocado facial and she said she wished Dale was there.
Back at the hotel, the other guys were actually rooting for Zach J. to redirect the attention off Dale. They also wondered if they had communication prior to being on the show.
After their treatments, Clare and Zach jumped in the pool. She said that she's been getting some really weird energy from him. She decided it was time to get ready for dinner, and so she leaned in for a kiss, but he kind of stepped back for a second for some reason and she pulled back. He said, "Oh, what happened, I was right there," and tried to grab her to pull her in for a kiss, and she was like "no, it's ok," and she didn't like the way he tried to pull her in. She has to go with her gut. If you don't like the way a situation feels, you have to go with it. But from this viewers perspective, it seemed like a weird misunderstanding.
Zach sat at the dinner table waiting for Clare and hoping to talk about what happened earlier. But instead of Clare, Chris Harrison showed up, told him that he would be going home. Zach tried to explain from his point of view what happened and he left clueless. Dale said that he wasn't shocked at her decision.
Group Date 2
The rest of the men got a date card reading, "Don't take it personally." Clare took the guys to meet comedian Margaret Cho! She was going to help them write their "roasts" of everyone. The men not on the date would be their "audience." The guys were annoyed that Dale would be showing up later and they had their eyes set on him as a target.
Margaret Cho kicked things off by roasting all of the men. Then the men proceeded to rip on Dale. Clare thought that Ben did the best job telling jokes that were fun but not hurtful. She was bothered by the digs at her main squeeze. Clare found it uncomfortable... and Bennett ripped on him the worst of all. "That was awkward," Dale said with a smile. Even Margaret Cho was like, what's up with Bennett tearing apart Dale so much!
After the roast, Dale spoke with Eazy about how he got scorched by the other guys. He said he feels bad about what happened with taking all of the time with Clare, but said that he's trying to move forward. All of the men that were the "roasters" on the date met up with Clare for the cocktail portion of their date. She asked for Bennett first since ripped on Dale the most. Clare pretty much forced the men to explain the things that Dale said, and how he said, them and it monopolized all the time. Ben tried to keep the conversation focused on them, and a few of the other guys did too, but it didn't really work.
The men on the date all felt like she was only interested in Dale. She spent all of their time talking about Dale and trying to learn more about him. Kenny thought it wasn't fair that they felt like they were puttering around, but Bennett said that he finds Clare to be a smart girl and that it's still early in the process. Clare picked up the date rose and said that she didn't get what she needed from them. She wanted to sleep on it. That rubbed ALL of them the wrong way. "You dished on my fiancé so hard, you made fun of our connection," she said to a producer as she tore apart the date.
The guys on this date figured out Clare had tunnel vision for Dale. They started to wonder if they should walk out. Do they? What happens? The preview we are shown is still pretty vague. "The path we are on right now doesn't end well for anyone," Chris Harrison told Clare. There's going to be a lot of crying. The preview ends with a shot of Tayshia climbing out of the pool. One could only deduce that she's going to be taking over if Clare rides off into the sunset with Dale this early on. But nothing is for certain until we see how this all plays out next week. It's going to be a long seven days!
RELATED: Meet the men vying for Clare's heart