In a new episode of the long-running ABC dating show, Michelle kicks off her first week with a group date alongside Brandon J., Romeo, Rick, PJ, Will, Olumide, Casey, Danny, LT and Peter.
- Oct 27, 2021
AceShowbiz - Michelle Young's journey to find love continued in a new episode of "The Bachelorette". In the Tuesday, October 26 episode, Michelle kicked off her first week with a group date alongside Brandon J., Romeo, Rick, PJ, Will, Olumide, Casey, Danny, LT and Peter.
For the date, Michelle brought along three friends for the day and they were fifth graders Mia, Riley and Kennedy. Her students helped Michelle test the men with multiplication and some messy science experiments. The date also included musical chairs and a spelling contest.
During the date, Michelle and Brandon were bonding. They even kissed with Michelle admitting that she felt "there were definitely sparks flying."
Meanwhile, Peter and Will were fighting after Will wrote Peter's name on his whiteboard when they were asked to spell "narcissist." "For him to call me a narcissist in an environment, not just in front of you but in front of the children as well, I thought that it was completely uncalled for," Peter said. "I really thought it was inappropriate."
Eventually, Michelle gave the group date rose to Brandon J.
The first guy to get the first one-on-one date of the season was Jamie. He and Michelle went to Joshua Tree National Park, where they climbed a mountain to reach a picnic at the top. During the date, Jamie opened up about his family, telling her, "I definitely have a very different family upbringing and background from what I heard you describe." He shared that his mother, who died by suicide when he was 24, struggled with mental health problems that affected Jamie and his sister.
"I don't know you that well, but I'm so proud of what you've come through and how you conduct yourself," Michelle told Jamie. She then gave him a rose before they concluded their date with a private Caroline Jones concert.
For the second group date, Michelle invited WNBA stars Dearica Hamby and Diamond DeShields. The men played a game of five on five with the winning team getting more time with Michelle at the afterparty. Joe, who only learned about the death of his former basketball coach before going to the group date, won MVP even though his red team lost.
Joe and Michelle had a talk later that night as Joe told him how much his coach meant for him. "He was always trying to just help me out anyway that he could. Felt like he was family," Joe shared. The two then kissed, and Michelle said that she "never had chemistry with anybody this off-the-charts so quickly." She eventually presented the group date rose to Joe.
Meanwhile, there was suspicions surrounding Joe and Michelle as other guys questioned if the two knew each other before coming on the show. Jamie then decided to fill in Michelle about the talk. "There's been a whole bunch of talk today about this kind of feeling that maybe you might've known Joe before here," Jamie said to Michelle. "For me, personally, I just don't really care because I feel like whatever happened before getting here has nothing to do with me, but everybody else keeps feeling it. I think given that this entire journey is about authenticity and about trust and that that's the standard that's been set, I think that there's people out there that are questioning that."
Michelle then addressed the situation to the men. "What I want you guys to know is that first night when all of y'all walked in was the first night that I was meeting every single one of you for the first time," she began. "Joe and I exchanged a few messages quite a few years back … [we] kind of joke about it now, but Joe ghosted me after two messages and that was that."
Additionally, Michelle set the record straight regarding "rumor about me being spotted with a light-skinned basketball dude before the show." She explained, "Being a woman of color, you know, in Minnesota, any time I'm with a man of color, we're a couple, that's what everyone sees it as. I can have a romantic dinner with a white guy in a restaurant and nobody would say, 'Oh, they're a couple.' But because it's another black man, we're supposed to be together and it's frustrating because I'm open to all of you. What I want to do for you guys is I want to open it up for questions."
Hosts Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams later told the guys that Michelle decided to cancel the remainder of the cocktail party because she felt "emotionally drained." They went straight to the rose ceremony where she gave the roses Nayte, Rodney, Martin, Rick, Leroy, Spencer, Casey, Chris G., Mollique, Olu, Chris S., Will, Romeo, LT, Clayton and Peter.
While Michelle had cleared up some doubts, the men were still wondering who told Michelle about the suspicions.
