It is that time of year once again, THGers and Bachelor Nation.
No, not for Ben Higgins’ contrived, scripted, and by and large lame journey for love on The Bachelor itself. That officially kicks off January 4.
For The Bachelor spoilers, though, IT IS GAME ON NOW.
As is the case each year, without fail, the details of the season leak early, revealing the results of ABC’s iconic dating show in painstaking detail.
Hilarious, almost always accurate detail. Reality Steve FTW.
So what can fans expect from the 2016 season, the 20th iteration of a massively edited, nonsensical amalgam of drama, cat fights and love?
Will The Bachelor spoilers posted more than a month ago, which called the winner before filming even stopped (that’s a first) be proven correct?
Oh yes. Read on to find out everything we know so far!
Episode 1 (January 4, Los Angeles): 28 to 21
Thanks to the Oracle of Bachelor Spoilers, Reality Steve dot com, we know the identity of the women seeking Ben’s heart, and who gets cut.
Each and every week. And oh, it will cut deep people.
Here are the 21 girls remaining after week one:
- Jami Letain
- Rachel Tchen
- Jen Saviano
- Lauren Bushnell
- Mandi Kremer
- Lace Morris
- Amber James
- Becca Tilley
- Olivia Caridi
- Sam Passmore
- Lauren Himle
- Emily Ferguson
- Haley Ferguson
- Jubilee Sharpe
- Leah Block
- Caila Quinn
- Lauren Barr “LB”
- Amanda Stanton
- JoJo Fletcher
- Jackie Dion
- Shushanna Mkrtychyan
The ladies have some interesting professions, as always …
Episode 2 (January 11, Los Angeles): 21 to 18
Eliminations: Lauren Barr, Sam Passmore, Jackie Dion
Episode 3 (January 18, Los Angeles): 18 to 14
Eliminations: Shushanna Mkrtychyan, Jami Letain, Mandi Kremer, Lace Morris
Episode 4 (January 25, Las Vegas, Nev.): 14 to 11)
Eliminations: Rachel Tchen, Amber James, Haley Ferguson
Episode 5 (February 1, Mexico): 11 to 9
Eliminations: Jen Saviano, Jubilee Sharpe
Episode 6 (February 8, Bahamas): 9 to 6
Eliminations: Lauren Himle, Olivia Caridi, Leah Block
Episode 7 (February 15, Indiana): 6 to 4
Eliminations: Becca Tilley, Emily Ferguson
Your final four, if you lost track are:
- Lauren Bushnell
- Amanda Stanton
- JoJo Fletcher
- Caila Quinn
Episode 8 (February 22, hometowns): 4 to 3
Elimination: Amanda Stanton
Episode 9 (February 29, overnights, Jamaica): 3 to 2
Elimination: Caila Quinn
Episode 10: (March 7, Women Tell All): Useless Filler
Seriously, who even watches this.
Episode 11 (March 14, Jamaica finale):
Originally, what Reality Steve – the man, the myth, the Bachelor spoiler legend – had Caila in the number two spot and Jojo finishing third.
Now, what we’re hearing from him is that Caila is out third, leaving Lauren and JoJo in the finals, with Lauren the heavy favorite from the start.
And the winner. Ben is engaged to her.
Steve reported early and often that Lauren Bushnell was the one Ben Higgins was smitten with her from the get-go and that she would prevail.
She does. Was he really just going through the motions, as Steve implied, or did Caila and Jojo have a shot to win the final rose down the stretch?
Perhaps we will never know.
Nor will we be absolutely, 100 percent certain The Bachelor spoilers are correct until the finale airs, because they are – by definition – spoilers.
Stealthily obtained, at that.
There will be subterfuge, celebrity gossip, ridiculous tabloid reports, tweets and misdirection galore. That you can take to the bank this spring.
Ditto the bevy of surprise twists, turns and water cooler moments that define the show, even if they don’t have a direct impact on the end result.
What you can also take to the bank is that none of it matters a whole lot. The spoilers may be wrong, but they’re almost certainly on the money.
Given the track record of the master, we would not bet against it, that’s for sure. Especially given that this season, the prediction was in SO early.
So congratulations, we think, to Ben and Lauren. How long will they stay together? Obviously we have no clue, but the bar is set pretty low …
