Bachelor Week 5: Upon Further Review

Josh did a phenomenal job with the recap and I—as your token blogger that doesn’t watch the show live—am here to chime in with my two cents. I’ll be focusing on the important things in life: travel location, food, sponsors, brand, and miscellaneous thoughts that the average bachelor (lowercase b) might not spot.

Travel: Locations this season have been interesting thus far - a tour du mid-20^th century war locations. Korea was an excellent host last week - as the episode faded, a quick tag was thrown in promoting the Korean TourismOrganization (Can we get them a website redesign?) and the episode was filled with snapshots of Korean food, marketplaces, and the finest of Korean Malls. This week’s episode had a lot to live up to. There was no mention of Vietnam’s Tourism agency, but let’s dive into a bit on their behalf.

Vietnam has a long and storied past dating back to ancient history that involves some of the earliest cultures, specifically in the early agriculture. So well done, Bachelor producers, incorporating agriculture into this episode as nine of our 11 favorite bachelorettes helped prepare their farm-to-table meal... Even though Cassandra extolled that she wished “America had places like this.”

In other news… EatLocal, Y’all.  

Regardless… Vietnam did a solid job hosting. With over 2,000 miles of coastline (I suppose that one cites Google who in turn cites Wikipedia for things of this nature?), that’s pretty much all we saw of Vietnam. As mentioned above, agriculture is a huge aspect of Vietnamese culture. After watching this episode, you’d assume the only things bigger are their coastline and luminaries. I appreciated the abundance of lanterns, but it felt like overkill. The coastline was gorgeous and the locals seemed wonderful. Tra Que Village was interesting to see, but I would've loved to get more of a feel for what Vietnam as a country entails.

And a quick mention -- I’m glad they've painted both Korea and Vietnam as more than war-torn nations, but it might have been good to at least give a nod to that.

Up next week? New Zealand.

Beverage Analysis: There was more literal fruit in these cocktail drinks than there was drama this week. And there was a lot of drama. Andi’s (presumably) appletini was the shining example. 

And at this stage of the season, I’m comfortable going out on a limb here and saying that I believe Juan Pablo’s drink of choice is a gin and tonic. Twice in this episode we see him sipping on a clear mixed drink with a lime. He just doesn't seem like a vodka soda guy to me…

Sponsors: The Bachelor does a pretty impressive job of scrubbing episodes of any logos or sponsor agreements that are not clearly paid or high-value trade. The list ranges from tourism organizations, Neil Lane engagement rings, Jared’s Marriage Mondays and that doesn't even begin to cover hotel accommodations or food and beverage arrangements. This section of Upon Further Review will try to point out and detail the more obvious sponsorship deals and lend an eye to the under-the-radar brands that sneak into the show to strike the metaphorical Bachelor goldmine.

I’ll steer clear of most fashion as that’s far from my expertise: If there’s a logo, I’ll bring it up but those latest Gucci heels? Read about it in your favorite fashion magazine.

This week’s Brand & Sponsor Winners:

• Go Pro—These guys just win.  Their cameras have been everywhere providing high resolution, on the go action shots. From biking to boating, from rappelling to rickshawing… Go Pros are everywhere on this show. They don’t need advertising because their product is so strong and universally known.

• UnderArmour—Did you catch it? Clare’s late night visit to JP allowed for this brand to sneak into the broadcast.  JP was rocking a gray long sleeve shirt with the logo shining on his sleeve. If only they had encouraged JP to protect this house suite and not let Clare visit.

• Full Moon Town Restaurant—For a place that got—without question—the best airtime of the entire episode (2 separate shots of their restaurants front sign along with their hours that they’re open), I was shocked to find that they are literally ranked #181 out of 362 on Tripadvisor.com for restaurants in Hoi An. That’s right… it is in the 50^th percentile of restaurants in their city. To give you an idea of a similarly ranked restaurant in the city of Saint Louis? This Dairy Queen is in the 50^th percentile.

• Converse Shoes—Already breaking my “only if there is a logo” rule, but Nikki rocked some Chuck Taylors as she descended into Hell. Good to know these shoes are great footwear for rappelling.

This week’s Brand & Sponsor Losers

• Clare’s Jewelry- Literally anything associated with Clare (regardless of spelling) is a sinking ship. And there were lots of boats and ships to sink this week in Vietnam.

• Hell Cave—What had the potential to be a romantic rappel into the abyss of Hell Cave was quickly revealed to be nothing more than a kitschy cave with decor similar to your Aunt Sophia’s living room.

That, my friends, is what I’ve seen upon further review. Josh and I will be back with updated Power Rankings later this week. 

Questions? Comments? Sound off below!