The 25 women competing for the affection of Jason Mesnick got there first opportunity to do so during The Bachelor's thirteenth season premiere broadcast. However by its conclusion, the 32-year-old single father and estate and legacy planning account executive sent his first 10 women home.
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The 10 bachelorettes Jason ousted at the onset of The Bachelor 13 were Ann, a 24-year-old flight attendant from Phoenix, AZ; Dominique, a 26-year-old medical sales representative from Mt. Carmel, PA; Emily, a 23-year-old casino marketing representative from Seattle, WA; Jackie, a 26-year-old wedding coordinator from Dallas, TX; Julie, a 26-year-old teacher from Columbus, OH; Nicole, a 25-year-old menswear buyer from Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Renee, a 36-year-old jewelry designer from Los Angeles, CA; Shelby, a 23-year-old account executive from Stockton, CA; Stacia, a 24-year-old charity accountant and single mom from Orem, UT; and Treasure, a 28-year-old nurse practitioner and single mom from Salt Lake City, UT.
"I'm kind of shocked. It's just kinda for a chance of a lifetime. I'm sad because I know that if he would have taken the time to get to know me that he would've seen a lot more than he probably did," Stacia said following her elimination. "I'm disappointed, I'm really disappointed."
"I really feel like he missed out. I do. I feel like he missed out on something that was great. I really thought I deserved my happy ending," added a disappointed Jackie. "God, I plan everyone else's happy ending. I thought I found the man of my dreams. I really did."
The Bachelor's thirteenth season premiere began with a recap of Jason's time on The Bachelorette's fourth season, which ended in heartbreak as his marriage proposal was rejected by DeAnna Pappas in favor of Jesse Csincsak.
"I'm both nervous and excited tonight. It's kind of bittersweet for me because last time I had my heart broken, so I got some mixed emotions," Jason said about returning to the same mansion where The Bachelorette had filmed. "I've been given amazing opportunity, and I'm gonna take advantage of it. One of these women is going to be my future wife."
The Bachelor host Chris Harrison welcomed Jason, who he added had "already won America's heart during his time on The Bachelorette, and asked him if he was confident that he would be able to find true love on the show the second time around.
"I would not have come back unless I knew it was going to work. I did not expect to meet a person like Deanna," Jason replied. "She is a wonderful woman, and if I didn't meet her I may not be sitting here right now."
After saying that his goal for the evening was to see which girls he had "a connection" with, the 25 girls began arriving at the house in limousines for that evening's cocktail party.
"Let the journey begin," Chris said as the limo's approached.
Highlights included Lauren, a 27-year-old teacher from Malboro, NJ; telling Jason that it was her birthday; Sharon, a 32-year-old teacher from Batavia, NY, giving Jason an impromptu salsa lesson; Jason telling Naomi, a 24-year-old flight attendant from Carlsbad, CA, that her position as the first contestant out of the second limo was the same position he had been in on The Bachelorette; Jillian, a 29-year-old interior designer from Peace River, Alberta, Canada, asking Jason to think of his favorite hot dog topping for an experiment she would do later in the evening; and Shannon, a 29-year-old dental hygienist from Marshall, MO, coming out of limo wearing fake overgrown teeth.
Before Jason entered the cocktail party and tried to spend a little one-on-one time with each girl, Chris explained that prior to the show's first Rose Ceremony, Jason would have to give one of girls the "first impression rose," which would guarantee her safety from elimination at the ceremony.
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Jason entered the party and was first taken aside by Shannon for some private time together where she explained that she had done her "homework" on him and knew such obscure facts as his birthday and his brother's girlfriend's name.
"I totally feel like a stalker, but I did my homework because I'm never going to settle. I'm all about taking a leap of faith, just like you said you are," Shannon told a surprised Jason. "I'm here for you."
Erica, a 25-year-old account executive from Monroe, CT, was the next to get Jason alone, where they talked about their siblings. Dominique followed next, telling Jason how much she wanted to travel to Seattle and how -- as she had already stated in a introduction video that had been shown earlier in the show -- she felt there wasn't much to do in her part of Pennsylvania.
Sharon met with Jason alone next, and told him that she had resigned from her job as a high school Spanish teacher to go on the show because she "didn't want to live [her] life with regrets."
Upon reentering the main party, Jason met with a group of girls that culminated in Kari, a 27-year-old advertising executive from Lee's Summit, MO, reading him a poem she had written called "Is there such thing as love at first sight?" While Jason seemed to enjoy it, Nicole said she felt uncomfortable listening to Kari spill her heart out.
Jillian followed through on her "hot dog topping experiment" and cooked up some wieners before bringing Jason in to see whether he would choose ketchup, mustard or relish. She was excited when Jason chose mustard, which she had said was the choice of men who were worth settling down with.
"My test on Jason was a true success," she said later.
Jason the reconvened with the girls and were met by Chris, who brought the "first impression rose" into the room and immediately drew the attention of all the girls.
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Jason then resumed talking to the girls and sought out Nikki, a 29-year-old administrative assistant from Blue Island, IL, whom he said he had been looking forward to getting to know. Nikki told him that she wanted to be a mother "more than anything" and added that she had become well-trained by taking care of her three nieces and nephew.
"So you watch all of them, like, on your own?" Jason asked her.
"On my own, yep," Nikki responded.
"Wow!" Jason said. "I'm a dad and I've never even come close to that."
Nikki added that she had been "broken-in completely" and was ready to take on the duty of a mother.
"To be a mom, or a stepmom, I'm completely ready," Nikki gushed to the cameras afterwards. "It's something I want more than aything in the world... With Jason you've already got Ty, which is a huge bonus. So I'm completely ready to step in and and take that part full-on."
Jason then spoke with Renee, who told him of her "vision boards," which consisted of her cutting out magazine clippings containing words and phrases that expressed her goals and mounting them on a poster board so that they would become reality.
"The universe is listening," she told him.
Jason was then whisked away by Raquel, a 27-year-old medical student from Recife, Brazil, for a dance lesson. However, midway through the dance, Molly, a 24-year-old department store buyer from Grand Rapids, MI, chose to cut in to get some alone time of her own.
"Raquel probably wasn't to pleased with me interrupting, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get that one on one time."
While the two were able to begin a conversation about Molly's hometown of Milwaukee and her willingness to move to Jason's hometown of Seattle if she fell in love, Raquel was able to steal Jason back for some more alone time where she told him that "something is right, something is good."
Jason then spent some time with Stephanie, a 34-year-old medical marketing representative and single mom from Huntsville, AL, whom he called an "amazing person" after learning that she has been a single mom since her husband was killed in a plane crash three and a half years ago when their daughter was only 10 weeks old.
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Jason then met with Lauren, who quizzed him on his knowledge of the American government system. When Jason left for a moment to get her a birthday gift, Lauren hoped it would be the "first impression rose" but was disappointed when it was just a small makeshift birthday cake.
"I don't need the 'first impression rose.' I'm fine with it," she said later. "Although I am competitive, and I wanted it."
The bachelorettes and Jason were then surprised once again by Chris, who announced a twist in the show that would require each girl to write down the name of another girl. Whoever received the most votes, Chris told them, "will be leaving us tonight."
"Maybe you don't think she's right for Jason, maybe you just don't like her," Chris told the girls. "Whatever your reason, put the name inside the ballot box. Good luck."
"I felt the whole room tense up," Lisa, a 27-year-old public relations associate from Boise, ID, said following the announcement. "It all started to settle in that this is a competition, everyone started thinking about who really doesn't match with Jason."
After learning of the twist, Jason seemed to have mixed feeling about it.
"I don't feel great that they get to vote somebody off the party, but the opinion of the women is really important to me," Jason said.
While the girls deliberated, many were put off by the personality of Megan, a 25-year-old lacrosse coach and single mom from Sewickley, PA, as well as the amount of attention she was getting from Jason as they both discussed their children together alone.
"There's definitely a connection with Megan," Jason said. "She's got a little boy, I've got a little Ty. To be away from the most important thing in your life, I can really relate to that."
Prior to reconvening to learn who the girls had voted for, Jason took the opportunity of another private meeting with Nikki to present her with the "first impression rose," which she gladly accepted.
"I definitely feel like I'm a princess in the middle of a fairytale story for sure," Nikki said after being presented with the rose. "I mean, this is above and beyond anything I expected, and he's gorgeous."
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Jason then met with the rest of the girls and Chris, who revealed that while Jackie and Erica had received the third and second most votes from the other girls respectively, that Megan had received the most votes "by far."
However, Chris then revealed -- to the girls' surprise -- that instead of being eliminated, Megan would automatically receive a one of the fourteen remaining roses that Jason was going to be presenting at the upcoming Rose Ceremony.
"A lot of people did vote for Megan, but now we have to live with her, whoever gets roses tonight," Lauren said following the revelation of the twist.
"I received a rose for I don't even know what," a surprised Megan said through tears following the presentation of her rose. "I have no idea if he wants me to stay or not. It's really weird being around the girls right now. I walked in here and all of the girls acted like they were my best friends. I'm just not used to it."
However unbeknownst to Megan and the rest of the women, Jason later told Chris that Megan would have received a rose from him anyways.
"Her and I have a huge connection because of our sons... I would have given her a rose anyways," Jason told Chris during a pre-Rose Ceremony discussion in Jason's private deliberation room.
But despite his comments about Megan, Jason also insisted that already having a child didn't give any of the bachelorettes an advantage in the competition for his heart.
"I expected that there would be some single parents, but it doesn't doesn't matter to me either way," Jason told Chris. "If there's a connection [then] there's a connection, and if there's kids involved [then] the more the merrier."
Jason and the bachelorettes then gathered for The Bachelor season's first Rose Ceremony. After telling the girls that he understood how difficult it was to wonder whether or not they would be receiving a rose, he added that the ceremony was no easier on his end and reiterated how much fun he had at the party.
"I'm the luckiest guy alive," Jason told the bachelorettes.
In addition to Megan and Nikki, the 13 other bachelorettes who received roses from Jason were Lauren; Kari; Naomi; Natalie, a 27-year-old human resources associate from Morton, IL; Molly, Raquel, Stephanie, Melissa, a 25-year-old sales representative from Dallas, TX; Jillian; Shannon; Lisa; Sharon; and Erica.
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The Bachelor's next thirteenth season episode will air on Monday, January 12 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
(Photo credit ABC/Craig Sjodin) About The Author: John Bracchitta
