“The Bachelor”: Chris Soules Meets 30 Women, Premiere Ends in Cliffhanger

Published at 5:14 am, January 6, 2015

EastIdahoNews.com Staff

ABC(LOS ANGELES) — The 19th season of The Bachelor began Monday night on ABC with a three-hour extravaganza that ended in an unusual cliffhanger.

Chris Soules, a farmer from Iowa who was rejected by Andi Dorfman on the 2014 season of The Bachelorette, was introduced to 30 women at the Bachelor mansion. After the standard getting-to-know-you mixer, Chris dismissed eight of the ladies during the first rose ceremony of the season.

One of the eliminated bachelorettes was a yoga instructor named Kimberly, who apparently had a hard time letting go. She briefly left the mansion before returning inside to ask Chris if she could pull him aside for a second. What happened next? You’ll have to tune in to next Monday’s episode to find out.

In a twist to the usual format, only 15 women were taken to the Bachelor mansion at first. They were confused when the party began with a relatively small number of bachelorettes in attendance. Their confusion gave way to disappointment once their other rivals showed up.

Many of the 30 women tried to stand out with funny, quirky or just plain awkward arrivals. Reegan, a cadaver tissue saleswoman, presented Chris with a fake heart in a cooler. Real estate agent Nicole wore a pig nose and told Chris she was hamming things up for him. Get it?

Tara wore a country outfit, including cowboy boots, to the mansion, but she quickly felt she was being judged by the other women. So she put on a dress, sneaked out of the mansion and into a limousine, and then introduced herself again to Chris. Tara’s choice of clothing wouldn’t be her only problem in the episode.

Ashley S., a hairstylist, provided some comic relief for the cameras when she became obsessed with a pomegranate hanging on a plant that she thought was an onion.

Amid all of the craziness, Chris gave his first impression rose to a waitress named Britt. He boldly gave her a kiss, too.

We should point out that the alcohol was flowing during the mixer, and it certainly had its effect on Tara. Tara was noticeably drunk during the rose ceremony, stumbling, stomping her feet and blowing on her hands for some reason. At one point Chris stepped out of the room and told host Chris Harrison that he had planned to award Tara a rose, but the fact that she was wasted concerned him.

In the end, Chris decided to give Tara another chance. He also kept Ashley S. around, too, but he dismissed Reegan, Nicole and six others. Twenty-two women in all remain in the competition, pending the outcome of Kimberly’s impromptu chit-chat with Chris.

The new Bachelor season launched with a one-hour red carpet event that featured appearances by former Bachelor couple Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici, Bachelorette couple Andi Dorfman and Josh Murray, and Nikki Ferrell, who was chosen by Juan Pablo Galavis on the 2014 season of The Bachelor but has since split from him. Nikki explained that she and Juan Pablo broke up because their lifestyles were too different.

A new episode of The Bachelor will air next Monday night on ABC.

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