'The Bachelor' Part 1 Recap

Juan Pablo spent part one of the two-part Bachelor special traveling to the hometown’s of the four remaining women.

Pediatric nurse, Nikki, was the first stop for Juan Pablo as he visited Kearney, Missouri. Nikki took Juan Pablo to a local barbeque restaurant where the couple dug into delicious-looking baby back ribs. She commented on the chance to see Juan Pablo eat southern food. The couple finished their afternoon date with Juan Pablo riding a mechanical bull – which he did pretty well.

After the southern date, Nikki took Juan Pablo to meet her family where both of Nikki’s parents were accepting of Juan Pablo. Towards the end of the night Nikki’s father told her he would support her decision and gave her his blessing.

Despite Nikki’s want to express her love for Juan Pablo, she was unable to tell him how she felt at the end of the date.

Next stop on the hometown dates was Atlanta Georgia for Andi’s date. The assistant district attorney took Juan Pablo to a shooting range where she impressed him with her frequent bulls-eye shots. As for Juan Pablo, it took him a couple times to get the hang of shooting a gun, but he eventually hit the target. “It’s a lot harder than it looks,” he said.

Unlike Nikki, Andi expressed how close she was to falling in love with Juan Pablo. Her family visit would be a heavy factor in deciding whether to pursue the relationship. Unfortunately, Andi’s father made it difficult for Juan Pablo to win the family over. Within the first five minutes, you could see the look of disapproval on his face as the family questioned why it took so long for the bachelor to take Andi out on a one-on-one date.

Photo courtesy of ABC

When Juan Pablo sat down with Andi’s father, he asked her dad if the family would accept him and his daughter into his family. Her father responded with a somewhat neutral answer, telling him to come back when Juan Pablo would know his little girl was the only woman for him.

At the end of the night, Juan Pablo left with Andi close to falling in love with him.

Renee was the next hometown date in Sarasota, Florida where Juan Pablo met Renee’s son, Ben. The eight-year-old was a little shy when meeting Juan Pablo but he seemed to like the father of five-year-old, Camila. The couple watched Ben’s Little League game and after they went to meet Renee’s parents and brother.

The family loved Juan Pablo and Renee told her mom about how much she was in love with Juan Pablo. However, hadn’t told him her feelings. Renee tried to tell Juan Pablo at the end of the night but she wasn’t able to. She later said she wanted nothing more than to tell Juan Pablo’s car to come back so she could tell him exactly how she felt.

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The hometown dates wrapped up in Sacramento, Ca. where Juan Pablo met up with Clare. She took her beau to a local park where her father used to take her to feed the ducks. It also became the spot where she would go to think about her dad. While there, the 32-year-old talked about how hard it was for her to lose her dad. Luckily, she was able to get her father-daughter wedding dance because her dad didn’t want her to never have one. Clare then told her sentimental tale of how her father told her whenever she started to miss him, she should throw a rock into the water and know that wherever she threw it, he would never be farther than where the rock landed.

After her story, the couple threw a rock into the body of water in remembrance of Clare’s father.

The drama started, however, when Juan Pablo met Clare’s mom and five sisters. Things got heated when Laura, one of Clare’s sisters confronted her about the reality of what could happen in The Bachelor process – Clare could get dumped. Clare tried to get her mom’s blessing, but Laura hung around.

“You know Momma is very traditional,” Laura, said. “I know you got all these cameras here, but I don’t care. I’m not going to let you manipulate Momma. You’re not respecting Mom.”

Clare eventually gave up trying to find out her mom’s feelings on her relationship with Juan Pablo, but she definitely kept her anger for her sister’s actions wither her.

When Juan Pablo and Clare’s mom finally got the chance to talk, Laura demanded to be present, and the tension grew when an angry Clare told her sister to leave them alone.

Juan Pablo saved the date when he excused himself to talk to Clare to tell her having Laura present in the conversation was okay. This seemed to calm Clare’s nerves and, eventually, Juan Pablo was able to win over Laura.

With Laura out of the conversation, Clare’s mom and Juan Pablo had a heart-to-heart where they spoke about the relationship and Clare’s dad in both English and Spanish. Juan Pablo tells Clare’s mother how he hopes Camila looks up to him one day, the way Clare looked up to her dad. We also find out that Clare’s parents were engaged after three weeks.

The date ends with Juan Pablo receiving Clare’s mom’s acceptance and blessing. As for Clare’s other sisters, they continually told Clare how much love for Juan Pablo was written in her face.

“Laura can be difficult, but Juan Pablo handed it very well,” Clare said. “If he can look past my crazy family, I would love to marry him.”
The remaining girls and Juan Pablo met for the rose ceremony in Miami where single mother, Renee, did not receive a rose. As she took the time to hug the remaining girls, the camera panned to an emotional Juan Pablo who was trying to hold it together.

Juan Pablo walked Renee out and together they cried about Renee’s leaving. While there, Renee admitted to the single dad she had fallen in love with him.

The remaining girls are off to the exotic Caribbean island of St. Lucia

In part two of the two-part Bachelor special, we see major drama happening after the night in the fantasy suites. Andi claims something went terribly wrong and the morning after she wants nothing more than to leave the fantasy suite. We see a cut of Juan Pablo telling Andi he was just being honest with her.

“There’s being honest and then there’s being an asshole,” she responds.

Clare and Nikki are also seen crying by themselves in their rooms. What happened?

Find out Tuesday, Feb. 25 on ABC at 8 PM/7PMc.

Photo courtesy of ABC