Bachelor Canada Season 3 - Chris Leroux - Media SM - *Sleuthing Spoilers* - #2

mercieme wrote:

Aunties_Love wrote:

mercieme wrote:No need to disrespect posters when we don't agree with what they are saying, just a reminder that this is the forum rule.. thanks.

I am not disrespecting.  I have provided proof that the post that HEA made is from the past in Nov 2016, therefore likely has nothing to do with the show at all.

The poster used a post from another user IG different from the one you are referencing as Nov 2016 and it was posted October 2017.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BagKxGylwDp/?taken-by=oldsames

Regardless none of us are related to these contestants and it should be Team BFF first where folks should be allowed to express themselves instead of being interrogated or challenged for posting opinions....jmho.

BlackHalo wrote:So Lynd *claims* she is moving to Aus in Jan and Mikaela might be moving out of her old place in Jan as well. Whether these moves will be happening with Chris or not, they seem anxious to move on from this chapter in their lives. Good for them. 6 months is much to long a wait. JMO.

So you think brothers are the toughest critics when it comes to Bachelor hometown dates?

Step aside Desiree’s bro, move over JoJo’s siblings: meet the Terrible Twosome of Lake Cowichan, B.C.

Lyndsey’s sisters Kelsey and Katryna gave Chris Leroux a grilling like I don’t think I’ve seen on a hometown before. They not only asked him tough questions, they mocked him . . . to his face. They also forbade him to take Lyndsey to the fantasy suite.

Like what the hell? Talk about a couple of overstepping buzzkills.

Lyndsey’s father was almost as bad, sneeringly telling Chris he was glad to meet him face to face, since knowing what he looked like would come in handy if “I have to hunt you down and beat you like a mule.”

Chris would have been well within his rights to run like hell after the hometown date from hell. (Please read all the way to the bottom of this recap for a response from Katryna to what aired on Wednesday night.)

The inquisition was quite a comedown from a charming and emotional visit to Lyndsey’s grandfather’s farm - one of the sweetest, most genuine things we’ve seen all season - during which Chris admitted on camera that he loved Lyndsey.

But could love withstand a family like hers?

It was an open question up until Chris gave his final two roses to Lyndsey and Mikaela, leaving Catie open-mouthed with shock and infuriated.

Here’s the thing: Catie always looked like a great match for Chris on paper. But it turns out part of the problem was on paper.

A year before meeting Chris, Catie had journalled about her ideal partner and it turns out that imaginary person had a lot in common with Chris. She’d even named her dream husband “Soulmate Chris” after a medium’s prediction that was the name of the man she’d marry.

But Catie was so focused on making the prediction come true that she forgot to pay attention to the real man in front of her; a point that was emphasized when instead of the chill Catie she promised to show Chris in her hometown she continued to be the hyper Catie who wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise.

It’s too bad too, because her family was the most welcoming of the three that Chris met.

Read on for highlights.

Date No. 1 with Mikaela in Winnipeg: He wasn’t quite a match for Lyndsey’s Grandpa D, but Mikaela introduced Chris to a friendly horse named Checkers at the stables where she spent time growing up. Riding was important to her as a bullied, overweight kid, she explained: “You don’t have to look a certain way to be successful at horseback riding.”

They chit-chatted about the idea of getting engaged and Mikaela said if she ended up with Chris she wanted it to be because “I’m the girl of your dreams.” She also told Chris she loved him and he responded with a big smooch. But given what Kaitlyn Bristowe said on the after-show about people kissing on The Bachelor when they have nothing to say, maybe that wasn’t such a positive response.

It was time to meet the family and Chris was nervous about talking to both Mikaela’s father and stepfather. They turned out to be pushovers, however, at least compared to Lyndsey’s pop. Dad Clive, an accountant, fired some questions at Chris about whether he’d finished university and if he’d saved any of his baseball money. But he was reassured that Chris looked him in the eye and wasn’t “dancing” when he answered questions. And stepdad Michael agreed that if Mikaela was happy with Chris that was good enough for him.

With mom Catherine and sister Jade also on board, Chris was home-free and claimed his feelings had grown for Mikaela to the point “I can see myself spending the rest of my life with her.”

Date No. 2 with Catie in Toronto: Catie was brimming with excitement when she met Chris in a downtown coffee shop, showed him her journal and told him about the medium, and how “mind-blowing” and “magical” it was she might end up with the man she had dreamed up on the page. Those weren’t the words Chris used: he mentioned “out there,” “crazy,” “a little bit intimidating” and “scary.”

“She believes in fate and a lot of things that I don’t believe in, and that’s who she is and that’s what I love about her,” said Chris, “but I question, are we compatible for the long term?”

Uh oh.

Still, Catie’s dad John was so welcoming, supportive and “mellow,” in Chris’s words, that Chris speculated maybe he could deal with Catie’s high energy in the long term if her dad had managed it all those years.

Mom Cathy was just thrilled to see Catie in love again and with a guy named Chris! Despite her misgivings that two other women were still in the running, she was reassured by Catie’s gut feeling that Chris was the one for her.

If these things were decided based on whose family one bonded with the most, Catie would have been the one for Chris hands down. “You guys remind me exactly of my own family,” Chris told them. “So right away I have an immediate love for you.”

Date No. 3 with Lyndsey in B.C.: Lyndsey brought Chris to her grandfather’s farm in Duncan, where the man himself – 91 years young – regaled Chris with funny stories and good advice: “Be tolerant of each other, be yourself and appreciate each other,” Grandpa D told them.

Then Chris and Lyndsey spent some alone time in a special spot: the clearing where her grandfather had said goodbye to her grandmother just before she died, sitting beside her, stroking her hair and telling her how much he adored her.

“That was the moment I was, ‘That’s what I want’ . . . someone who’s gonna love you until your very last moment,” said Lyndsey.

That may seem a little macabre, but Chris seemed genuinely touched that Lyndsey had brought him there.

“Your grandfather’s one of the best humans I’ve ever met,” Chris told her.

And when Lyndsey told Chris she loved him, he confessed in voice-over that he loved her too. “I have loved her for so long, but I’ve been putting those feelings aside because I’ve had my guard up,” he said. “I can truly see myself with Lyndsey forever.”

How romantic, how idyllic, and then Lyndsey had to ruin it by taking Chris to Lake Cowichan and introducing him to her father, mother and sisters.

The trouble started early with pointed questions about Chris’s age relative to Lyndsey’s and the other women he was still wooing. Then her dad Rod told Chris not to use the word “love” in front of him. “Like c’mon man, you don’t love someone that fast. To me, it’s not real love.”

Up until then, Chris had been planning to ask Rod for permission to propose to Lyndsey, but that plan was aborted fast. Chris tried being polite and respectful, thanking Rod for having Chris in his home and getting to know him a little bit.

“It’s a lot nicer now that I seen your face,” responded Rod. “If I have to hunt you down and beat you like a mule it’s a necessity, know what I mean?”

Mom Lilian, meanwhile was discouraging Lyndsey’s feelings for Chris by objecting to their 9-1/2-year age gap, wondering if Chris would agree to live on the West Coast, and whether he’d force Lyndsey to stop travelling and settle down too soon.

Those were the same concerns expressed by her sisters, who didn’t bother with the pretence of being polite to Chris.

“I’m in love with Vancouver Island,” Chris told them.

“How many times have you thrown that word (around) in the last four weeks?” snarked Cruella, er, I mean Kelsey.

And on the grilling went: why had Chris become the Bachelor; how could he seriously expect any of the women to really know him; was he ready to leave Toronto for Vancouver; was he ready to start hiking and camping; were the other women more “age appropriate”; what kind of job was he planning to get now that he’d retired from baseball?

The questions themselves weren’t shocking, but they were delivered with condescending smirks and obvious disdain. When the sisters laughed they were definitely laughing at Chris, not with him.

“It’s just hard seeing her head over heels for someone and I’m just like, he’s got feelings for other girls, he’s got nine years on you, never camped, never hiked; are you really that suitable?” asked Katryna.

The pièce de resistance was Kelsey telling Chris that when it came time for the fantasy suite date, “maybe don’t offer Lyndsey the card.”

“Walk away!” shouted Katryna.

“It’s just disgusting,” added Kelsey.

Well, a) it’s not disgusting to Lyndsey and b) fantasy suite dates aren’t just about sex and c) a 23-year-old woman can make up her own damn mind about who she wants to spend her time with and where.

The visit left both Chris and Lyndsey unsettled, and Chris speculating in voice-over that he might have to part ways with Lyndsey if her family didn’t welcome him into their home.

The rose ceremony: The main questions to be answered going in were whether the hostility of Lyndsey’s family was enough to make Chris rethink his “love” for her and whether the open-heartedness of Catie’s family was enough to give her an edge over Mikaela. The answers were no and no.

Chris gave the first rose to Mikaela. When he gave the second to Lyndsey, Catie’s mouth fell wide open in shock and she was still wide-eyed with surprise as she hugged Mikaela and Lyndsey goodbye. The tears finally came when she was alone with Chris and again in the limo.

“There’s just something missing and I can’t pinpoint it,” he told her by way of vague explanation.

“My reality right now is that Chris and I don’t have a future together. Like, my heart wants it not to be over, but it is,” said Catie.

Next week it’s off to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico where the final two will meet Chris’s family.

You can watch Wednesday at 9 p.m. on W Network.

And you can email me at dyeo@thestar.ca, tweet me @realityeo or visit my Facebook page.

Addendum: Lyndsey’s sister Katryna has reached out to the Star since the recap was posted saying she wanted to lighten my view of her family and that some of the comments hurt. We all know shows like The Bachelor are heavily produced and Katryna says scenes of her family with Chris were edited to make the encounter seem worse than it was. For instance, “When Kelsey calls the fantasy suite ‘disgusting’ - that was a clip from a different conversation where she pointed to a spider on the table and said ‘that’s disgusting.’ Also, when I yell at Chris to ‘walk away’ that was taken from another part of our conversation, where he was clearly uncomfortable, so I thought I’d lighten the mood by telling him about a crow I saw on YouTube that could talk, and it would say “walka walka walka . . . walk away.” . . . My dad had an awesome convo with Chris about hockey and his baseball career, and later took him for a tour of the lake on our boat. We joked around with him, played with the dog, ate a BBQ and had a really good time. They had over 10 hours of footage, and just copy-pasted little bits together to make it look like something it wasn’t.”

I’m not altering my original recap because I wrote it based on what I saw on TV. I cannot rewrite it based on footage that I didn’t see and conversations that I didn’t hear, but I wanted to give Katryna a chance to defend her family.

Sharleen Joynt—FLARE columnist and former Bachelor contestant
Nov 30, 2017

Sharleen Joynt's The Bachelor Canada Episode 8 Review

I’d been struggling to understand just why or how Catie fell as hard as she did this season. Her conversations with Chris have more often than not felt one-sided, like she was the one steering, and it’s not like he’d been contributing to the extent you’d think she’d require. Their chemistry was okay, I guess, but I never really thought it jumped out of the screen the way it sometimes can. How did this 29-year-old urbanite (in other words, not so young or sheltered enough for naiveté to be to blame) who is both a lawyer and plenty in touch with her emotions, fall so hard for a guy she barely knew? She was SO SURE, and that level of confidence, particularly in The Bachelor environment (where one should know not to be too trusting), just never really added up—until now. “Soulmate Chris” provided a ton of intel into Catie’s story this season. She didn’t fall in love with Chris as a person, but the concept of him. And she’d fallen in love with that concept of him two years before she ever met him. Chris Leroux had nothing to do with this. This is precisely why I don’t really believe in psychics and mediums. Who’s to say their predictions don’t become reality through our making them our reality? It’s far more likely that we create a narrative to support and produce a desired outcome than it is that that outcome just happens to us. I have a lot of friends who believe in this stuff and I am happy to agree to disagree, but this is my two cents on the topic, since Catie has been such a textbook example.

Despite all the tough love I’ve been giving Catie, I have loved having her on this season. There is no denying what epic television she is. When Chris called Lyndsey’s name at that Rose Ceremony and her jaw dropped in disbelief, my eyes were like saucers, glued to the screen, wondering what she would say or do next. She doesn’t seem to have any censor, even with her expressions, and it makes for really good, true reality TV. How many women in her position have wanted to drop their jaws at that moment but kept their shock and anger contained? Catie just lets that emotion flag fly and I for one have enjoyed every second of it.

I have to talk about Lyndsey’s family, namely her sisters. Her father was no more difficult than some of the more skeptical fathers we’ve seen on this show, and I do generally think fathers have a bit more of a place to feel protective of their daughters and wary of young men in Chris’ position. Lyndsey’s sisters, however, took things to the next level. It’s a shame when family members, as opposed to just enjoying the Hometown experience for what it is, take it on themselves to “see through” the whole experience when, frankly, they don’t know what they’re talking about. You can’t have an informed opinion on this particular emotional journey when you aren’t a part of it. Also, while I understand deeming it all fake and feeling protective of their sister, there’s a difference between being discerning and being a straight-up censored. Watching Lyndsey’s sisters, it felt like they thought they’d come across smart and savvy and seeing through the show’s smoke and mirrors, but they really just come across as trying way too hard and downright rude. I have a hard time believing they’d be as nasty to a man Lyndsey brought home on her own (whether or not he was 33), nor do I think they’d have the guts to behave this way if they didn’t have each other. It felt very much like a pack mentality to me, like they were enabling each other. Their interrogation about Chris’ work situation was especially painful. The guy is doing alright, so let him catch a breath and figure his own poop out after a 13-year career, okay? Geez.

My predictions for the finale are as follows…

1. Mikaela, 27: I’m not sure why this still isn’t the popular opinion but I am steadfast in my belief that Mikaela will go to the end. If Mikaela’s relationship with Chris were on a graph, it’d be steadily climbing. Maybe a little dip here and there, but the incline is clear. The way Chris describes Mikaela and being with her is more focused on her and how happy she makes him (he told her mother that she “blows his mind”), and less about how attracted to her he is, à la Lyndsey (though he does indeed seem to be plenty attracted to Mikaela, too). I just feel a bit more substance in the conversations between these two, at least from what we’ve been shown, and I’ve never forgotten her Night One limo exit and the momentous music that played during their first conversation. I can admit this is a VERY tight race, possibly the tightest ever (!!), but I have to pick one woman and that woman is Mikaela.

Going home next week…

2. Lyndsey, 23: If this relationship were on a graph, it’d be a lot more up and down. There were a lot of BIG SIGNS with Lyndsey this week but I’m very suspicious of them. First, they showed Chris saying he loves Lyndsey. I wrote in my notes: Why are they showing this? Also, Chris mentioned wanting to ask Lyndsey’s dad for his permission to propose to her, but again, why show that and not the same conversation regarding either of the other girls’ parents? The edit is designed to equalize and make us wonder who it is, so why allow all the signs to point so freely to Lyndsey? It just seems suspect, like it’s too obvious. (When we “Celebrity” Draft Leaders had to submit our final picks after only Episode 5, Jasmine asked me why I didn’t put Lyndsey. My answer: “It’s too obvious.”) Truthfully, these are the main reasons I have Lyndsey in second. I actually see tons of chemistry between her and Chris, and I don’t think her age or her awful Hometown would make or break her “winning.” It’s super tight between her and Mikaela, but my vote here is for the less flashy, less obvious love story. I may well be wrong and kicking myself later.

Watch The Bachelor Canada Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. EST on W Network. Then, head on over to FLARE.com/themorningafter for Sharleen Joynt’s always on-point recaps.

Russ Martin
November 30, 2017

Hometowns are finally here! It’s time for Chris to meet the parents...or face the firing squad, depending on which top three family he’s with. It’s hard to understate how important Hometowns are. One of these three crews could be the family Chris spends all his future holidays with!

With that in mind, let's get right to it…

First, we head to the Paris of the prairies, Winnipeg. But before we meet Mikaela’s parents, Chris has to meet Checkers, one of the horses at the stables where she grew up riding. (Yes, Mikaela’s a Horse Girl.)



Right away, Mikaela gets a kiss hello. The kiss count starts super early this week! (Kiss Count: 1)



Mikaela talks a lot about how into Chris she is, but he talks about he’s not sure he knows her very well. It’s not very encouraging...but they at least make out a lot?

When it comes time to meet her parents, Mikaela reveals Chris will be meeting two (!) dads – both her birth father, Clive, and her step dad Michael. At this point, Chris is sweating bullets.

Mikaela’s adorable little brother Luke starts off the grilling, but it’s Mikaela’s dad who really puts him through the ringer, pressing him on everything from his post-baseball career aspirations to whether he finished university. Chris is caught pretty off-guard (pal, you knew this was coming!) and flustered by the barrage of questions.



Eventually, after monitoring him for shifty eye movements for what felt like forever, Chris passes Clive’s test. The grilling ends with a seriously sweet seal of approval: “If Mikaela comes home with a ring on her finger and I look her in the eyes and know she’s truly happy, that’s good enough for me.”

Nothing like dad love, right?

With the first hometown in the bag, it’s on to Toronto! When he arrives, Chris is hoping to see a laid-back version of Catie in her home environment. All season long, Catie’s been promising Chris she has a chill side, but he has yet to see it (and, TBH, the audience hasn’t seen it either). This is her last chance to prove she can move at at least a slightly slower pace.

He meets her in a coffee shop where, fingers crossed, she got decaf. As soon as he sits down, Catie tells Chris she loves him. His reaction is...not great.



But then he grabs her and kisses her! (Kiss Count: 2)



But, unfortunately for Catie, Chris thinks she’s just as hyped up and intense as ever, if not more so than usual. He can’t get a word in edgewise. This is *not* “chill” Catie! YOU are not chill, honey. And you for sure shouldn’t have had a coffee.

Then things start to get weird. Really, really weird. Catie pulls out a notebook and explains to Chris she wrote pages and pages about her ideal partner. According to the journal, Catie’s “soul mate” is tall, blond and athletic, which is *very* specific and, TBH, a little superficial compared to the kinds of things people usually journal about.

Here’s the kicker: she gave a name to her theoretical soul mate and it was – yep – Chris.



Chris’ reaction is, verbatim: “That’s insane.”

Catie just keeps digging this whole manifested soul mate thing deeper and deeper.



This all makes Chris suuuuuuuuper uncomfortable, and understandably so. But it’s hard to get a reading on his feelings for Catie. He keeps talking about how intense she is, but then he goes and says she’s cute and brings out the best in him. It’s confusing.

Their coffee date’s B-A-N-A-N-A-S, but the visit with her family actually goes really well. Catie’s parents are, somehow, super chill. They're soft and gentle and sweet!

It’s shocking how relaxed they are compared to Catie. Like, did she hire these people to trick Chris into thinking she’s super chill? Did she write in her magic journal that she wanted two very chill parents to introduce to Soul Mate Chris, her manifested destiny boyfriend?

Chris says they remind him exactly of his own family and he has an immediate love for them. Love! Coffee was a bust, but it’s easy to see Chris fitting in with Catie’s family and that’s a major win. When he leaves, it’s hugs all around.



From Toronto, we head all the way west to Duncan, the “town of totems” on Vancouver Island. Chris meets Lyndsey on six acres of farmland owned by her grandfather that are stunningly beautiful.

She gets a super serious kiss hello from Chris. (Kiss Count: 3. Hometowns are three for three in terms of kissing, what else did you expect?)



After introducing him to her super cute 91-year-old grandad, Lyndsey sits Chris down for a picnic at a very special site – the spot her grandfather said goodbye to her grandmother after months in the hospital and a lifetime of love. The gesture is not lost on Chris, who is taken aback with Lyndsey’s thoughtfulness.

“That’s what I want: someone who’s going to love you until your very last moment,” Lyndsey tells him. Then she tells him she loves him and he admits in an interview he loves her too. (!!!!!)



Then he announces he wants to ask Lyndsey’s dad for permission to propose to her!!!!

It’s without a doubt the most successful Hometown, at least until they show up at Lyndsey’s family home.

Listen, there’s no way of putting this nicely. Her family are pretty much monsters to Chris. They haaaaaate that he’s from Toronto and when they hear he’s never camped and has only been on one hike in his life they’re like:



Then his age comes up. Chris makes them guess how old he is, which is just, like, honey, no. When they find out he’s 33, his sister’s reaction says it all.



Chris literally says it's the most awkward situation he's been in in his life. But things get even worse once he has to face Lyndsey’s dad and sisters without her. They go way, way beyond love-led protection for their family member. They’re straight up nasty to Chris. Her dad makes a comment about “shooting him like a mule” then her sisters are somehow even MORE rude than him.

One of them actually asks him if he has more “age appropriate” options in his final three. Then when he says he’s not sure what he’s going to do for a job now that he’s retired from baseball she laughs in his face.

Then she asks him not to offer Lyndsey the Fantasy Suite card. They’re pretty much just like: walk away, Chris. WALK AWAY!



And, LBR, on that point, they’re 100% right. Chris should RUN away from this family. It is NOT one he wants to be a part of.

Chris is, without a doubt, thrilled to leave BC and head back to his own turf in Toronto for the rose ceremony. Not that things get any easier there. All three ladies show up looking gorgeous (even Lyndsey, who is visibly upset about her family’s smear campaign).

Now, without further ado, his first rose goes to (duh!) Mikaela. Then……….. LYNDSEY!

Catie! Is! Shocked!



Flabbergasted. She has so many question but Chris has no answers for her. "There's just something missing and I can't pinpoint it," he tells her.

She's infuriated and confused. It’s basically a repeat of when she ended up on the two-on-one date with Kait. As was the case all season, Catie’s simply unable to see the signs Chris has long had serious doubts about her. Even in the car, once it’s all over, she can’t let it go.



Yikes! Nevermind that messiness, though. This is cause for celebration for Mikaela and Lyndsey. Final two!! And we’re headed back to warm weather for the final stretch. See y’all in the Mayan Riviera next week!

Missed the episode last night? Watch it online here.

Tune in to The Bachelor Canada Wednesdays at 9 E/P followed by The Bachelor Canada After Show at 10:30 E/P!

BlackHalo wrote:Mikaela and Sharleen have formed a friendship by now. I'm curious if Sharleen knows the ending.