‘The Bachelor’ Recap: Arie Luyendyk Jr. Faces ‘The Bekah-ning’

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Bachelor” episode from Monday, Jan. 22.

The fourth week of Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s televised journey for love marked the first week outside of Los Angeles and the Bachelor mansion, with him and his 15 remaining women traveling to Lake Tahoe.

The episode opened with a one-on-one date for Seinne, a 27-year-old real estate manager and one of few contestants of color still vying for the Bachelor’s final rose. The two went parasailing on the lake — while the rest of the girls jealously watched them from their cabin using binoculars. They also went to dinner, where they delved into each other’s past relationships. Luyendyk gave her the rose after she expressed her frustration of growing up not seeing love stories with people that looked like her.

Seinne, a Yale alum, is clearly out of Luyendyk’s league, which even he has acknowledged. Here’s hoping she goes far enough to be seen again on “Bachelor in Paradise” or even as the “The Bachelorette” but doesn’t end up as the Bachelor’s wife. The victory isn’t always the ring, as past seasons have proven.

While Luyendyk and Seinne were on their date, Maquel got a call that her grandfather had died suddenly, and she went home to be with her family.

For this week’s group outing, 12 of the women took to the great outdoors for a wilderness date. Things started out slow, with a little hike through Tahoe, but very quickly turned into an episode of “Survivor” — for which none of these women were ready. They each had to urinate in a canister to somehow prove they were equipped for the outdoors? When Luyendyk pretended to drink his own urine, one contestant, Jenna, was seconds away from actually drinking hers until she was stopped.

“I’ll drink my pee for Arie,” Jenna said. “For Arie, I will do anything.”

Girl. He is not worth it.

After the pee fiasco, the women competed to eat worms and bugs from the dirt, again for unknown survival reasons. Kendall the taxidermist finally offered some solid screen time, though, as she was very much in her element around dead animals. The group then split into teams to hike through the woods, competing to get to a hot tub situated in the mountains. Only on “The Bachelor.”

Krystal continued to play the villain on the date, trying to isolate Luyendyk from the girls and complaining whenever he took his eye off her for one of the 11 other women clamoring for his attention. In their solo interviews, the girls mocked Krystal’s baby voice and accused her of not being interested in Luyendyk but instead treating the show like a game. Wait, might she not be there for the right reasons? This has never happened before!

With Bibiana gone, Krystal’s new enemy appears to be Tia, as the two had repeated confrontations about hurt feelings and the Bachelor’s time. At the cocktail party, Kendall continued to get Luyendyk’s attention. Even though he is clearly uncomfortable with her taxidermy, he claims she is “quirky.”

“Kendall’s been a surprise every step of the way,” he said.

It was Tia who walked away with the date rose, though.

The second one-on-one date went to Bekah M., and for the week leading up to this episode, ABC had been hyping “The Bekah-ning,” where Bekah M., one of Luyendyk’s clear frontrunners, was going to tell the 36-year-old Bachelor that she is only 22. The women had already reflected their distaste about the age difference, but Luyendyk didn’t appear to know she was so young, and there was a lot of build-up that this was going to be a deal-breaker.

The two went on a horseback ride through Tahoe, which ended up in another hot tub and with an extended conversation about the Bachelor’s race injuries. The show hadn’t reminded viewers in about 30 minutes, so don’t forget, Luyendyk is a professional race car driver! At dinner, the two discussed how much chemistry they have, and when he started asking if she was ready to settle down, the moment finally came. Bekah M. asked himif he knew how old she was.

“Oh my god, 22? You’re so young. Have you ever dated anyone my age?” Luyendyk asked, who, maybe for the first time this season, showed some general shock and emotion.

Bekah struggled to defend herself and insist that she was ready for a serious relationship.

“I’m just thinking of all the problems that could come up,” he said in his solo interview, concerned that she would be ready for marriage at the end of the show. “I think we might be too far apart.”

After a long conversation where Luyendyk expressed his doubts and fears that he was going to fall for her and she was going to break his heart, he said, “This could be the start of something amazing” and gave Bekah the rose.

“You’re a risk, but at this point I can’t let you go,” he told her.

At the rose ceremony, Luyendyk decided to call off the cocktail party, but that didsn’t stop yet another conversation with Krystal, who interrupted the ceremony by claiming she needed to talk to him. The conversation she so desperately needed to have was one she’d already had with him 50 times, so it was clearly just another move for attention, angering the rest of the women.

When the roses were given out, Caroline and Brittany T. were sent home, and along with Maquel leaving earlier in the episode, that cut the contestant pool down to 12.

This season appears to be leaning far too heavily on the drama around Krystal to compensate for Luyendyk’s boring personality, and “Bachelor” producers are really stretching out the little material they have. No one can take Krystal’s baby talk much longer, but the Bekah M. conversation was the most interesting this show was been all season, so let’s see more of that storyline, please.

Next week, the journey for love continues in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and hints at Luyendyk finally seeing Krystal’s true colors.

“The Bachelor” airs on Mondays at 8pm on ABC.

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