Mancode on Bachelorette : Men Tell All Special

MANCODE. So what exactly is Mancode? Is it something related to Mankinis, Manties and Manning Up?

The answers are all on The Men Tell All Special of The Bachelorette. (too complicated and Man-specific to explain one by one.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2-hour special (mostly because I’m an optimistic (read non-cynical) viewer.  I think it could have been done in an hour after you minus out all the video montages (the unnecessary ones) and the whole segment with last season’s Bachelor Jason Mesnick (the guy who dumped the girl he chose on the show for the one he dumped for her initially – confused not? Doesn’t matter, cos we’re here for Jillian and HER guys – btw Jason is the guy who dumped Jillian on his show and thats how she ended up being The Bachelorette! )

Jillian and her 30 boys

The Men Tell All Special(like the Women Tell All version for The Bachelor) usually yields loads of catfights and bitchy comments and arrows shooting left right and centre.

This season, all the negative energy was focused on a few key people and a few key dramatic moments eg Angry Dave vs Should-Be-Gay-Juan. And Jake’s perfect-ness (not perfection, thats different). And Tanner P.’s obsession with feet.

Check out this clip if you can’t remember how grossed out you were the FIRST time you saw it.

Maybe its just me, or maybe I’m a prude, but just the way he went on and on about licking and sucking and tweezing feet…ugh, uncomfortable very!

What else did we get to see … here’s what I noticed…

1. Everyone seems to have gotten a spray tan (Jillian included)

2. A number of the guys have grown out beards (notably Angry Dave and Jesse the winemaker <– both are cuter w the goatee!)

3. The audience is mainly made up of women, split into like 3 or 4 sections with one token MAN planted in the middle of each section! (either gay or dragged there by their wives) (or planted by producers!)

4. Missing in action are : Kiptyn and Ed (obviously duh! Final 2), Reid (sure got conspiracy here despite Chris saying he has ‘prior engagements’) and Wes (scared shitless to be bombarded).

Actually its  a good thing Wes didn’t turn up, from the amount of booing the mere mention of his name got, I really don’t think he would want to be sat on the hotseat in front of THAT unforgiving crowd.

We also get to see outtakes and funny moments that didn’t make it on the show. My favourite is the clip of Reid trying to Hula dance in Hawaii. If you all thought Kiptyn was bad at the Flamenco…OMG Reid looked like he was humping an invisible tree. Even the hula dancers looked embarrassed for him!

I love it when producers put together the UBER BITCH trailer, where they showcase all the guys bitching about each other to camera.  I swear, men can be cattier than women!  And once the montage ended, you could see some of the men who weren’t featured in the video breathe a big sigh of relief! “Aaah thank God, i didn’t violate the mancode by bitchin about my buddies!”

So Target #1 – Jake and his perfect-ness.

I recall from previous episodes someone called Jake ‘creepy’ cos he was so ‘perfect’.  He’s the all-American good guy, good-looking, athletic, smart, accomplished, good manners, didn’t back-stab, didn’t swear, a real stand-up guy…..so what’s wrong with him? Everyone thought his perfect-ness was a facade, but apparently he’s just being himself.  Are there really such sweet, innocent people like that in the world?

The women didn’t seem to mind, the minute he took a seat in the hotseat, it was cat-calling, woot woot-ing and loads of excited, happy claps (you know the one that looks like butterfly wings fluttering cos you’re so excited your hands are moving so fast and you have a crazed grin plastered your face).

Target #2 – Juan (i like to call him Should-Be-Gay-Juan)

All the other guys are jocks. Juan is not. There’s the problem. Seriously, he’s got a ‘quality’ about him. My gaydar bleeps whenever he speaks. But thats just me.

Biggest target of the night – Wes.

And he wasn’t even there to defend himself. The consensus was that he was there to sell his music. Some of the guys backed him up, saying that he did have feelings for Jillian as the show progressed. But then, the producers ran a video on him, and he came out looking like a major lying schemer again.  I wonder if the truth about him will ever come out. Or whether creative editing will prevail.

All in all, a nice special in the lead up to the big finale.

Clincher at the end, when they show clips of the finale (about to happen in less then 12 hours on American TV – aaargh have to wait til Wednesday to watch it!!), there’s a short clip of Reid with a ring at the end — has he come back to fight for Jillian’s heart?? Here’s the trailer for the finale….SO EXCITING!!

Here’s my take….

1. Reid comes back to propose and says all the things Jillian needed him to say.

2. Jill pics Reid.  There have been troubling rumours that Ed Swiderski is the one with the girlfriend on the side – and maybe Jill will find out on the finale!

3. Kiptyn will be the next Bachelor.

Alternate ending…Jill picks Ed, later finds out re girlfriend situation and does a Mesnick (as in Jason) — Dumps Ed on the After the Final Rose Special and asks Reid to take her back instead. 🙂

See..I have it all figured out…what do YOU think? 🙂

xoxo, S.

ps. if you wanna know more about what WASN’T aired, check out this LINK.