A guest post from RHAP Intern and Live Show Producer, Jessica Frey (@ItsJessicaFrey)
If you had told me at the beginning of Bachelor Pad that Nick Peterson, the guy who did not even say a word on Ashley’s season of the Bachelorette, was going to be the winner, I would have laughed in your face. Good thing Rachel Reilly is on her honeymoon because she would not be happy seeing this guy people thought was a fan float to the end. Nick makes the controversial move on the finale to keep all the money for him instead of splitting the winnings with this default partner in Rachel.
I can see both sides of the Nick vs. Rachel, “keep vs. share” debacle, so lets break it down. Nick keeping the money was unexpected and great television. However as a Bachelor fan, Nick came out of nowhere so I can see where people are like “what the heck”? Furthermore, the other houseguests voted in a huge majority for Rachel and Nick to win, with the majority of them only voting for the pair because of Rachel. In that respects, Rachel is the reason Nick is there, therefore he should share the money. At the same time, Nick makes a great point in that Rachel did not want to be partners and he really was playing by himself, even if we did not see him play. It’s important to remember, the past winners of Bachelor Pad have all been couples that are friends or dating so of course they are going to share. This was the first time, the winning couple really did not have a relationship of some sorts, so the keep option was a viable alternative, and I’m more shocked both did not choose keep. I bet if Rachel decided to keep the money no one would be shocked. At the end of the day, it is a game as both Kalon and Chris pointed out. Nick even said the contestants were there to win 250k not 125k.
Rachel really was the big loser of the night and she was voted the winner as we find out Michael Stagliano did not love her like she thought, another shocker, they were together for less than two weeks on a show. At the time Nick choose the keep the money, people had forgotten about how Chris and Sarah got the Russell Hantz treatment.
Of course, it would not be bachelor pad if someone did not get engaged. Who would have thought it would be Tony and Blakely. In a weird way, they seem perfect for each other. It goes to show sometimes it is the one who was there all along as Tony left the friend zone. We’ll see if it lasts. I thought the surprise proposal was the big secret that was hinted at on commercials but luckily it was not.
All in all the big winners of the episode were the viewers.
