Bachelor talk: I click, you click, we click

A lot of drama has been promised for this week, so of course I was ready at 6 AM this morning to watch episode 8. As every week, the episode starts with the announcement of the 1-on-1 dates. The men have deliberately chosen women with whom they haven't exchanged a word: Rien is going kayaking with Isabel and Paul chose to go snorkeling with Oelinda.

Oelinda is really looking forward to going snorkeling. Unfortunately for Oelinda, it quickly becomes clear that Paula's freedom of choice doesn't matter this week. Roos hijacks the snorkeling date with her ‘me time’ rose that she earned last week. Out of frustration, Oelinda immediately starts crying because she wants to go home right away. Fortunately, the others manage to hold her back. And thank goodness, because gifts need to be bought for the bachelors, which the women will hand over to them during a short 1-on-1 conversation. That is also the moment when the women either receive a rose or not.

But that's tomorrow. Today, Isabel has to go kayaking with Rien, whom she meets sitting on the street among the local stray animals. Rien thought he had arranged a kayak that was too small, giving him an excuse to force unwanted touches. Unfortunately, there turns out to be more than enough space to maintain the distance between him and Isabel. It is also clear that she will not receive a rose after this date. Paul seems unpleasantly surprised when he sees Roos approaching. He is so out of sorts that he gives her three kisses instead of the usual kiss and hug.

Back in the villa, there are again slight forms of aggression. They feel the need to confront Eline again about the unexpected kiss with Paul last week. Because once again: ‘before that date, there was absolutely no click, so how could there have been a kiss on that date?!’ Amber also just wants to let everyone know that saliva stays in your system for a super long time. It remains remarkable that it is apparently unacceptable for the other women that a click can only arise during a date. Any potential clicks are completely analyzed this week anyway. Even during the short conversations that the women have only with one of the bachelors, it is more about other women than about their own click. Fortunately, the women still have a huge click with each other. I can no longer handle the word ‘click’ and wish we could go back to the time when the women still said ‘vibejes’.

What I'm also worried about is our Rien. He is starting to exhibit stranger behavior. After his bonding time with the stray animals, Milan finds him, while she walks towards him in slow motion, now sitting at a table where he is playing with a kind of harp piano like a child. ‘My new instrument,’ he says proudly. I recently gave my one-year-old nephew a xylophone and he gave about the same reaction.

Still, I had hoped for more antics in this episode. It looks like next week everyone wants to take each other aside constantly for even more heavy conversations. By now, it seems everyone shares the mission to make dating as uncomfortable and exhausting as possible.