The Bachelor - Season 14, Episode 7, Jake Pavleka - Random Thoughts

On Episode 7 of The Bachelor, we find the final three women in St. Lucia with Jake, where he has all-day one-on-one dates with each of the women. Before the dates actually start, we see a montage of scenes of the history of the three women on The Bachelor that leads up to the present time. In watching these, I actually forgot that Vienna asked to feel Jake's abs as soon as she got out of the limo. The warning signals should have started flashing right then and there!

Is it just me, or was this episode of The Bachelor particularly cheesy? I felt like there were a lot of clichés being thrown around, and I just wanted to keep writing down corny quotes that kept coming out of everyone's mouths! I have a lot to say about this episode of The Bachelor, so I hope you'll hang in there with me!

Jake's first date on The Bachelor is with Gia. They head over to Gros Islet, where they browse through some stands set up by local vendors. Jake buys Gia a heart necklace, which they both insist she should never take off. Gia decides to wrap the necklace around her wrist as a bracelet, stating "I wear my heart on my sleeve for him."

What I found particularly surprising is that the women take their language much further than they usually do on The Bachelor. On most seasons of The Bachelor, the sentiments remain vague, and the phrase "I'm falling for him" gets used a lot. However, on this episode, Gia said that by the end of the date, she wanted them to be able to say I love you to each other and to also say - I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I was truly a little taken aback by this.

Jake and Gia's dinner on the beach at Smuggler's Cove that night was particularly romantic. Again, I can't help but focus on the cheesiness factor here. Jake said that Gia surprised him, because she is "drop dead gorgeous" but also very "deep." Jake also said -- "I am looking for someone to make their dreams mine, and my dreams theirs." Gia was extremely bowled over by this one sentence, telling Jake that she knew plenty of guys who could not say half of what he said. Clearly, Gia has been dating the wrong type of guy all of her life!

Gia also said -- "I'm ready to go all the way. We have incredible chemistry." Next thing we know, Jake and Gia are in the fantasy suite, with a bubble bath, rose petals, and candles. This date on The Bachelor ends with Jake saying, "Gia could be the woman that I propose to."

Jake's next date on the Bachelor is with Tenley. In a voice-over before the date starts, Jake talks about how excited he is that he and Tenley have the same morals, values, etc. Snooze central, if you ask me! Jake just doesn't seem all that excited when he is with Tenley. I think he appears to be in danger of turning into a robot when he is with her!

Jake and Tenley board a helicopter, and Jake flies them to a plantation that is in the middle of a rain forest but still on the coast. Tenley says that she can't fall in love with Jake until she knows that he shares the same idea of marriage.

I am amused by how quickly the women on The Bachelor resolve these issues in their minds. Jake simply says something about how he knows that he will still have "a little boy crush" on his wife after 20 years of marriage, and he will do "whatever I need to do to make my wife feel that." Tenley buys this hook, line, and sinker, and apparently is now free to fall in love with Jake!

Jake and Tenley then walk to a black sand beach. In a voice-over, Tenley announces that she has the fantasy suite in the back of her mind because she hasn't been with another man since her husband. Tenley says - "I am not sure that I am ready to make that leap of faith." For his part, Jake hopes "she feels safe enough to do this with me."

At dinner, Tenley gives a very impassioned speech, telling Jake that she has fallen in love with him. Jake does nothing to assure her that the feeling is mutual. His only response is to kiss her.

Then they dance on the patio. Tenley says - "I hope there's a lifetime of dancing." Again, Jake says nothing. In the end, Tenley gives in and spends the night with Jake in the fantasy suite saying, "I want every second that I can spend with you."

I felt that there was very little chemistry on this date, and I cannot imagine Jake picking Tenley at the end of The Bachelor.

Jake's final date on this episode of The Bachelor is with Vienna. They spend the first part of the day sailing on a pirate ship, in fact, the actual ship that was used in filming Pirates of the Caribbean. Jake says that he and Vienna have "a natural affection for one another" more so than he has with the other women.

I totally believe this because after his robotic date with Tenley, Jake appears to be an actual human being on this date with Vienna. He laughs, acts silly, wears a pirate eye patch, and overall really seems to be enjoying himself. Again, a lot about this date is super cheesy, like when Jake makes Vienna "walk the plank" of the ship, but at least Jake looks like he is having a great time, which is refreshing!

Jake challenges Vienna to scale the ropes of the ship and climb up to the very top. Vienna readily agrees, and Jake says that it is "fun being with an adventurous, fearless type woman." What Jake loves most about Vienna is that "she doesn't miss a moment of life."

However, at dinner with Vienna, Jake says that he needs to make sure that there is more than sexual chemistry between them. He needs to "make sure that there is substance to her heart." Cheesiness at its finest!

At dinner, Jake asks Vienna about the types of rings that she likes. Wow, he didn't ask Tenley or Gia about that! It seems quite clear to me at this point that Vienna will in fact be the last woman standing on The Bachelor. Whether Jake proposes to her is another question, but after watching this date, it is obvious that Jake has stronger feelings for her than he does for anyone else.

At dinner, Vienna comes right out and tells Jake that she loves him. Jake tells Vienna that he loves her "brutal honesty" and that "I always know where I stand with you." They go off to the fantasy suite together, where Vienna throws on a white negligee and closes the doors to the bedroom, shutting out the cameras. The white lingerie strikes me as a strange choice, and I wonder whether Vienna was trying to give off a subconscious impression of purity and chastity even as she threw herself all over Jake?

After the dates, Jake gets a phone call from Ali, which we knew was coming since it was shown in the preview from the week before on The Bachelor. Ali wants to come back, and tells Jake, "I know with 100% certainty that I made the wrong choice." During this conversation, I wonder why Jake is holding the phone so far away from his ear when he is talking to Ali. That alone told me that it didn't look good for Ali.

After a lot of hemming and hawing, Jake tells Ali that he doesn't think it is "a good idea'" for her to come back, and he gives her the ole heave-ho. Ali is crushed and cries profusely. Later on we hear Jake say - "At this point in the journey, I'm not in love with Ali. I have to trust that my heart is leading me in the right direction." I read a lot of predictions on the internet that Ali would ultimately come back to win this season of The Bachelor, but that appears to be out of the question after this episode.

One of the best tweets that I saw about this week's episode of the Bachelor was - "They should have a Morman Bachelor where no one goes home." Woo hoo, wouldn't that be a hoot if Jake could marry all three of these remaining women? It would be very reminiscent of the television show Big Love. I think that Vienna and Tenley would eventually end up killing each other. Now that's a show I would love to watch!

But I digress . . . . Someone does have to go home, and finally, it was time for the rose ceremony. Jake decides to send Gia home. As much as I liked Gia, I had a gut feeling that she wouldn't be around in the end. I think she was simply too insecure for Jake.

I have to give it to Gia, she made one of the most graceful exits that I have seen on The Bachelor in quite some time. She told Jake - "I don't think you made a wrong decision," and "I'm happy for you." I am sad that Jake chose to let Gia go!

The final episode of The Bachelor airs in two weeks. From the preview, it looks as though Jake does not propose to either of the remaining two women. We clearly hear Tenley saying "I don't know what I did wrong." Of course, we all know that the previews are created to generate interest and drama, so we will just have to wait and see what happens!

And now, for this week's AMAZING meter count on The Bachelor: a whopping 23! This is the highest "amazing" count so far on this season of The Bachelor.

Until next week's episode of The Bachelor, keep on being amazing my friends!