Susan of ‘Golden Bachelor’ makes guest appearance on Joey Graziadei’s ‘Bachelor’ season
*spoilers ahead*
Delco royalty has entered the chat.
On Monday’s episode of The Bachelor, starring Collegeville’s Joey Graziadei, a group of fan-favorite Golden Bachelor contestants dropped by to help the 28-year-old tennis instructor find love. Susan Noles, 66, of Aston Township was one of the cameos.
There was also a tennis match, a drone show at a cemetery, and our last Philly contestant lived to see another day at Bachelor Mansion.
Here’s what you missed.
🌹 The basics
We’re down to 18 women and saw three dates — two group outings and a one-on-one.
The show opened with a “Mrs. Right” pageant show, where the participating women showed off their talents. The women tried to woo Joey (and Susan) with their skills, including singing, dancing, and kissing (original!).
At one point, Lexi Young, 30, told Joey that she’s the best kisser. “I don’t know about that, girl,” Susan interrupted.
The digital strategist from Atlanta won Joey over with their little makeout session — “I can still feel her lip quiver,” Joey later told producers in a nauseating interview. Predictably, Lexi’s “talent” worked and she won the pageant show.
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🌹 Susan of Golden Bachelor makes guest appearance on Joey Graziadei’s Bachelor season
For his one-on-one date, Joey took Jenn Trann, 26, of Hillsdale, N.J., on a surfing date. Sparks flew and Joey made yet another cringey statement about kissing: “Our lips just fit perfectly together.”
Their date — which took place at the Hollywood Forever funeral home and cemetery — included the first drone show on The Bachelor in lieu of the traditional fireworks show. In Bachelor world, fireworks are important. Trends tracked by Suzana Somers, a self-described Bachelor data analyst, show that contestants who get a firework show often make it to the end of the series. (It’s still yet to be seen if Somers will include the drone show in her fireworks data.)
Later, on the second group date, we got what audiences have been waiting for: a tennis match.
“I’ve been playing tennis since I was 13 years old,” said Joey, who played the sport at West Chester University. “It’s what I do for a job. Sharing something so personal to me is exciting.”
There was also an inexplicably long product placement session for KFC where the women chowed down on mac n’ cheese and fried chicken during a pool party. It’s unclear how much this cost, but Ad Age reported that a 30-second TV spot on The Bachelor costs $153,429.
Standout contestants throughout the episode included Lexi, Kelsey, Jenn, and Daisy.
There was also continued beef between Maria Georgas and Sydney Gordon. It’s complicated, but the gist is Maria feels like Sydney is stirring the pot while Sydney believes Maria is targeting her. The drama! Gossip sites have even suggested that Sydney is a producer plant who’s intentionally causing trouble.
🌹 Philly flair is light, but Hollinger sisters do a podcast interview together
While Susan’s guest appearance added to the Philly-area representation, the Hollinger sisters were split in half last week when Lauren decided to go home.
Now flying solo, Allison struggled to get much screen time.
She was on the pageant group date where she bounced a basketball on her knees as if it were a soccer ball. Later, she showed Joey some of her moves with an actual soccer ball.
In an interview on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, Allison said that her sister’s departure forced her to hone in more on establishing a relationship with Joey.
“It’s hard enough going on this experience alone,” she explained. “But at the same time, having her leave made me be able to just focus.”
The sisters also cleared up some confusion regarding the story of them having previously dated the same guy.
“We messed that [explanation] up,” Lauren said.
The skinny: Allison was seeing a guy while attending the University of Delaware. It fizzled out. An extended (but unspecified) period of time later, Lauren moved to Philadelphia and met the same guy. They dated for about three months. Once it was serious enough that Lauren told Allison about him, they realized Allison previously dated him. Lauren ended it with the guy soon after.
“I texted him and said ‘this is really ... weird,” Lauren said. “I blocked him on everything. I said ‘don’t even try to talk to me.’”
The sisters also revealed that they’d be open to appearing on Bachelor in Paradise, especially since they wouldn’t have to worry about overlapping again.
“It’d be even better because there are multiple guys,” Lauren said.
We also learned the sisters’ cheesesteak picks. Lauren likes Geno’s while Allison opts for Angelo’s.
🌹 Who stayed and who went home?
Despite not getting a ton of airtime, Joey did give Allison a rose, meaning Philly still has an ambassador on the show.
Narrowing the batch of contestants down from 18 to 15, Chrissa Perez, Evalin Clark, and Starr Skyler went home.
In a preview for next week, it’s revealed that we’re getting not one but two episodes, on Monday and Tuesday, as the crew heads to Malta for the first international episode of the season.
The Bachelor will air on both Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC next week.