While I wasn’t over the moon for this episode overall, it did get me thinking. I usually write these first thing Tuesday morning, but since I had two planes to catch yesterday (I’m currently in Victoria, BC), I had to write later on—after perusing the Twittersphere and its ever-vocal opinions. The tense interaction between Corinne and Taylor was a lot more polarizing than I thought it would be. If I’m honest, I thought most people would side with Taylor, as frankly, her behavioral track record has been pretty darn good, and next to Corinne’s, downright spotless.

I am undoubtedly #TeamTaylor in this debacle but I do wish for her sake that she’d dealt with Corinne’s bombardment a bit differently. Taylor’s response was mature and measured, but I fear it came off condescending, which not only did Corinne hate, but some viewers did, too. I sympathize with Taylor here. I got my share of flak for using “big” words on my season; a shocking percentage of people loathed me for it—so, considering that type of viewership, it’s not surprising that her response to Corinne did not go over well on Twitter.

But let’s be honest here: The ladies’ issue with Corinne isn’t the fact that she isn’t mature, has a nanny or needs to sleep a lot. It’s the fact that she’s a pain in the ass to live with. I’ve mentioned before that it’s not so much about what some women do that bothers the others; it’s the fact that while they’re doing it, the other women are sitting around twiddling their thumbs for hours. (Yes, hours.) I’m reminded of when Jubilee gave Ben a massage on his season; the girls were deeply irritated, but I’m telling you, it wasn’t the massage. It’s the fact that they couldn’t go to sleep until that massage concluded, Ben was taken to do an ITM about it, the girls all did their ITMs about it, and everyone had discussed the massage ad nauseam. Before you know it, that Rose Ceremony’s taking place at 3 a.m. (Don’t even get me started on how long those take.) My point is, I don’t think Taylor, Sarah and the other ladies’ main beef was really with that bouncy castle. Sure, Corinne was pretty exhibitionistic in her Nick straddling, but I swear, the womens’ concern has more to do with the fact that that already tedious evening cannot wrap up until the damn bouncy castle does.

Related: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Corinne Olympios

This is where the sleeping comes in. There is a social decorum in all arenas in life, including the Bachelor mansion. This unique social decorum includes (but isn’t limited to) not stealing the lead away when you have a rose and other girls haven’t had their time (tsk, tsk, Danielle L!), not gloating about a rose, not being a poor sport, and not passing out while the other girls force themselves to stay awake for hours. To give you an example from my experience, it was frustrating when you were stuck in another long, late night ITM (because you weren’t aggressive enough to butt in front of others for an earlier slot), and other girls routinely signed up for the later ITM slots the next morning. (Meaning, while you’ve had to stay up later, you’re also forced to wake up earlier… and again, I’m talking hours.) It’s a lack of consideration for others, and Corinne is proving to excel in this department. Her trotting off to sleep while the other girls exhaustedly stick it out isn’t just her being tired. Her actions say: “The rules don’t apply to me.” And, in the case of last week’s Rose Ceremony (the one Corinne slept through), the whipped cream incident likely made the entire evening run longer and later, which makes the fact that she went off to bed even more irritating. Again, it’s not the fact that she sleeps, but rather what that sleep represents.

Now, I’m the first person to point out that she was permitted to sleep. Obviously, since her sleeping was caught on camera, production had to have had some involvement in encouraging and/or allowing it to happen. But, for once, I don’t blame them. I blame the girl who, as I mentioned on my blog last week, has a tendency to behave like she was raised by wolves. Manners, empathy, and yes, emotional intelligence just aren’t her strong suits. The thing with Corinne is, if she’s going to ignore that social decorum, she cannot be surprised when it rubs others wrong. I was truly flabbergasted when she played victim and was so thin-skinned this week with regards to the other women’s issues with her. Were they really that much of a surprise?

To circle back to Taylor, my only wish is that she’d not wasted her breath on telling Corinne about her lack of self awareness, because frankly Corinne couldn’t absorb that, because of her lack of self awareness. As Taylor herself said, “You can’t make people hear shit they’re not ready to f-cking hear.” And again, I have a hard time believing her (and the girls’) biggest issue with Corinne was solely that she’s too emotionally immature to end up with this 36-year old man (although it really does make her a doubtful candidate). Rather, I wish she’d told Corinne that, with her “blatant disrespect” (to quote Taylor from early this episode), she personifies a middle finger to the other women. And if, as she’s behaving, she really didn’t come to make friends, she shouldn’t be surprised when—lo and behold—she doesn’t.

My frontrunners this week are…

1. Vanessa, 29: Vanessa is still the reigning lady in my books. She epitomizes class and confidence, and it’s clear Nick not only adores her but takes her concerns to heart. Despite two solid 1-on-1s this week, neither came close to comparing to Vanessa’s, nor putting a dent in her first-place position.

2. Raven, 25: There is nothing not to love about Raven. She’s just so real and cool, very much a girl you’d want to be friends with, and she stands out without trying. As I said in my Morning After video, the fact that Nick chose her for this particular 1-on-1 speaks volumes as to how highly he ranks, values, and respects her.

3. Danielle L, 27: I finally had to bump Danielle M from the Top 4 and replace her with Danielle L because it has become impossible to ignore Danielle L’s chemistry with Nick. I felt her 1-on-1 upgraded their interactions from merely polite and full of “potential” to an actual bond—beyond only chemistry—being made.

4. Rachel, 31: We’re always shown Rachel’s 1-on-1 time (and the accompanying makeouts), and those early roses are still fresh on my mind. Though we’ve yet to see a big breakthrough with these two, I firmly believe that’ll be coming any day now in the form of a 1-on-1…

For more from Sharleen Joynt on The Bachelor, visit her blog, alltheprettypandas.com.Then come back to FLARE.com/themorningafter every Tuesday for a fresh recap!



Tune into The Bachelor Mondays on Omni at 8:00 EST/PST—and catch up on past episodes at www.omnitv.ca/the-bachelor.