Speaking of Colton’s naysayers, anyone else notice how Colton was THE. MOST. OBVIOUS. choice for Bachelor, yet Chris Harrison described him as some ultra controversial choice? Meanwhile, last year, the casting choice of Arie as Bachelor came out of left field—I would argue he was far more controversial a choice—yet that was all treated like the most natural thing in the world. Go figure.

NIGHT ONE

I’ll keep with my tradition of sharing my first-impression notes from the limo exits. These are the women who stood out to me right away…

Demi, 23, interior designer: FIRST EXIT ALERT - “I have not dated a virgin since I was 12 but I’m excited to give it another shot” = Pretty bold. As she walks into the mansion Colton says, “I’m in trouble” - FRONTRUNNER.

Tayshia, 28, phlebotomist: beautiful, oozes kindness.

Caelynn, 23, Miss North Carolina: as I said over at Flare, I kind of wish she’d downplayed the Miss North Carolina thing, but then again we’ve had pageant sashes before while she’s got legit qualifications to back it up. Very poised.

Sydney, 27, NBA dancer: “I quit my job to be here” = “you can’t send me home Night One”, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Also, half Asian alert! Yay! (It always blows my mind how few Asians there are on this show.)

Elyse, 31, makeup artist - she is stunning in a classic movie star way.

Cassie, 23, speech pathologist - everything about her screams finalist to me. Frontrunner music, full exit, AND he put one of her butterflies in his pocket! A cute moment stood out to me here. When filming, when you’re all in the limo together (about 5 of you), a producer specifically instructs you ignore the limo driver. Yet, you can see Cassie forget to do this and turn to politely thank him, realize she’s not supposed to, waver, and then recover…