(Toronto Star) Bachelor Canada’s Shanti told us not once but twice that she’s used to being around A-listers.
I can’t vouch for that, but there is one A-list I’m confident Shanti would be welcome on: that of Bachelor villains.
The former model and real estate student combined new-age bafflegab, narcissism, paranoia and an outmoded view of gender roles to deliver a verbal smackdown to her fellow competitors in the season’s second episode.
As far as I can tell, Shanti was annoyed the other women weren’t doing their share of the cooking and cleaning at the house they all shared in Costa Rica, but that got conflated into a grand conspiracy by insecure and “incapable little human beings” to bring Shanti down.
Witness this beauty of a speech by Shanti: “This is supposed to be an organic, genuine journey, but there’s a sincere lack of mindfulness, consciousness and decency in this group. People are taking advantage of my kindness and of my heart. Even though I look young, glowing, fertile, beautiful I am still suffering. I feel like people are sabotaging my journey and I think most of them are doing it intentionally to slow me down from getting to the end.”
Uh, sure. Never mind making it to the end; Shanti didn’t even get to the end of the episode.
As entertaining as it would have been TV-wise to have another week of Shanti, Bachelor Chris Leroux did the smart thing and sent her packing.
But never fear: there’s still another snake in the Costa Rican paradise and it looks like Brittany M will ramp up her villainy next week.
Read on for highlights of Wednesday’s show.
First one-on-one date: The winner of the coveted first individual date with Chris was Lyndsey, a Vancouver publicist who Chris said was the kind of “laid-back surfer type” he liked. But before they could seal their mutual attraction with a rose and a kiss, there was an age difference to be dealt with. Chris said he was bothered that Lyndsey was only 23 to his 33, but she assured him she was plenty mature: she moved away to New York at 18 and had been on the verge of marrying a previous boyfriend . . . well, until she found out he was hooking up on Tinder while she was on a trip. Reassured, Chris gave Lyndsey the first smooch of the season.
Shanti has her say: Shanti called a group meeting to discuss the way people were behaving in the house, but it wasn’t a meeting so much as a lecture and a baffling one at that. Shanti told the other women people flock to her “because they see things in me that they admire and there’s a respectful way of admiring someone, and it’s that level of mindfulness that’s not in your head and in your heart when you manoeuvre that makes you come off as a parasite, and not as someone that is admiring and honouring someone.”
Say what?
Bottom line: Shanti was tired of cooking and cleaning for the other women. And “honestly, do you think Chris would want to marry a girl that can’t cook or clean? He’s a man of quality; he wants a real woman. If you want to act like a spoiled brat go for it, but he’ll probably find out about how you’re behaving. Some of you guys are literally making me physically sick, that’s how much stress you’re putting on me.”
Straight shooter Jessie protested that the women were not making Shanti sick but just living their lives the way they would at home “and if you don’t like that, that’s your problem.”
Brittany M, who initially appeared to be anti-Shanti, buddied up to her in the bathroom later, suggesting Shanti tattle to Chris about the other women’s behaviour.
Group Date No. 1: Brittany W, Catie, Lisa, April, Meghan and Mikaela went to the beach with Chris, put on silly costumes and posed for photos with him. The most relevant developments: Chris found Meghan hot despite her 1800s bathing suit and found Mikaela hot despite the bun she wore in her hair with her 1950s suit; Lisa alienated him a little by insisting on wearing a mermaid tail with her bikini, which led to Chris physically dropping her (not on purpose . . . I think); and Chris kissed Catie in front of all the other women.
But Mikaela got Catie back that evening when she smooched Chris knowing that Catie was watching. Catie’s chance at a second kiss got ruined by Lisa interrupting. And Meghan got a kiss of her own. However, the date rose went to Catie, disgruntling both Mikaela and Meghan.
Group Date No. 2: Brittany M, Dee, Jessie, Kait, Stacy, Lara, Ashley and Shanti were supposed to do something sporty with Chris at the beach, but it was too hot so they hung around the ladies’ house instead.
Shanti wasted little time telling Chris there were a lot of rotten apples in the group, not to mention dishonesty and two-faced behaviour, and they were throwing Shanti under the bus because they were jealous of her.
Chris questioned the other women about the mood in the house and Shanti stalked off when Brittany M told him, “The majority are having the best time because that’s what we choose to create.”
“I’m starting to realize that the issue might be with Shanti; she’s full of negativity,” Chris said. Ya think?
Things got even more dramatic when Shanti blabbed to Chris that Dee had a child, which drove Dee to tears.
Still, Chris was looking for a drama-free evening when he took the women to a beach club, but once more Shanti separated herself from the group: this time because Brittany M said Dee deserved to get the date rose, which Shanti called rude.
Chris gave Shanti one more shot to talk about something besides the other women.
“Do you not feel like our time together is too important to talk about who cleans, who cooks?” he asked.
“I honestly feel like there are people that are envious and jealous. Like there’s no need to be that petty with anyone ever if they are adults,” replied Shanti.
That was one snipe too far. “I’ve spent a total of 30 minutes with you and I’m tired of hearing about other people. Your stress level is bringing my stress level way too high,” Chris said. “And that’s not somebody that I want to be around, to be honest, so I’m asking very kindly if we can part ways now.”
And Shanti was gone, complaining about the “literally inhumane type of treatment” she had suffered, no doubt ready to add many names to her “kill list.”
Chris didn’t give out the group date rose and went straight to the rose ceremony the next day without a cocktail party – which was good news to Brittany M, who enjoyed “the fear in the room.”
With Lyndsey and Catie already safe, and Shanti gone, there were 11 roses to hand out and one woman on the chopping block. That person was nurse Ashley, who took it in stride.
Chris and his lucky 13 are staying on in Costa Rica, where the women apparently figure out that Brittany M is not to be trusted.
You can watch Wednesday at 9 p.m. on W Network.
