Week two of The Bachelor brought intense competition as 18 remaining women fought for Grant Ellis’s attention through high-energy group dates and emotional one-on-one moments. From basketball shots to singing performances, connections deepened and tensions grew higher.

First Group Date: Basketball Showdown

During the first group date of the season, Beverly Ortega, Sarafiena Watkins, Alli Jo Hinkes, Natalie Philips, Parisa Shifteh, Vicky Nyamuswa, Chloie Costello, Zoe McGrady, Juliana Pasquarosa and Allyshia Gupta were challenged to a fast-pace basketball game to impress the former basketball player. 

Things got tense when McGrady, who launched a T-shirt cannon with her face on it last week, interrupted the conversation to steal Ellis away for a moment alone.

The women played a five-on-five game hoping their skills would shine in front of Ellis. The purple team won the matchup with an 18-2 score, and Costello stole the show by sinking a buzzer-beater basket and earning MVP from Ellis. 

At the postgame cocktail party, tensions escalated to an all-out confrontation as the women confronted McGrady about stealing Ellis during the competition. After a few conversations, Ellis handed the group date rose to Philips.

One-on-one with Alexe Godin:

Alexe Godin and Ellis went on the first one-on-one date since she got the first impression rose in the previous episode. The duo met at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles for a day full of electric animal scooters, a fashion show, a broken bed, ice cream sundaes and other mischief.

The date shifted as the pair settled down for a picnic with a bottle of champagne as they shared details of their pasts and hopes for the future. 

Ellis offered her a rose at the end of their night.

Second Group Date:

For the second group date, the women met Ellis at The Bellwether where they were surprised by Mario singing “Let Me Love You.”

 Litia Garr, Rose Sombke, Ella Del Rosario, Carolina Quixano, Bailey Brown, Dina Lupancu and Rebekah Garrett stepped onto the stage for a music-themed group date, where they faced a unique challenge — writing and performing an original song for Ellis in front of a live audience.

Quixano impressed Ellis the most, earning the win and a private moment with him as Mario performed. However, when it came time to hand out the group date rose, Ellis chose Fanene, recognizing their deepening connection.

Elimination:

At the second rose ceremony, Ellis gave out 11 roses to the remaining contestants and sent four home women: Gupta, Del Rosario, Garrett and Nyamuswa.

Review

The first week of dates can often be a swing and a miss, but this season was off to a good start. Aside from a few awkward singing moments, each of the dates went well and showed Ellis’ and the women’s personalities in a lighthearted manner.

Starting with the basketball group date was extremely fitting for Ellis’ character, as basketball is a very important part of his life. The kids who were brought in added an extra bit of fun, as well as an opportunity for the women on the date to show off more of their maternal side. After all, it is common for the women and the lead to start talking about kids right off the bat.

However, one person did throw a wrench in the otherwise perfect group date. McGrady, during a time in which each girl had a chance to practice shooting, took Ellis to the roof instead for some alone time with him. 

Normally, this does end up happening during a group date, but doing it during the first one was a little overbearing. Plus, she had the entire night portion to speak with him alone — and she took that opportunity and ran.

McGrady and Hinkes already have some bad blood between them after McGrady asked to steal Ellis from Hinkes after already speaking to him alone during the basketball date and during the night portion. It’s looking like McGrady is going to spend her time ruffling as many feathers as possible.

The one-on-one with Godin was nothing short of adorable — it was a chance for both her and Ellis to let their guards down and have fun with each other. This kind of one-on-one in which they can simply have fun seems to be a lot more genuine than some of the other one-on-ones in past seasons.

Unsurprisingly, there was a piano situated perfectly in the middle of the mall that Ellis and Godin just happened to find. Ellis went on to sing an original, and, while Godin thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a large source of secondhand embarrassment in this episode. This may end up being a recurring theme throughout the season, as Ellis also took to the microphone in the next group date.

The second group date of the week was entertaining but seemed a lot less personal than the first. In a performance-based group date in this franchise, there is always one contestant who thinks they will outshine the rest due to their incomparable creativity and mesmerizing voice. This season’s was Taylor — and, to no one’s surprise, she did not do great.

If a contestant is bragging about their abilities in a certain group date, it usually ends up being the most cringe or just the overall worst one of the day, and this was no different. 

Quixano definitely deserved to win the performance challenge, and while her and Ellis’ dance was cute, the subsequent making out in front of all the girls seemed to be a little much. But alas, this is “The Bachelor.”

At the end of the episode, Ellis sent home four women, three of which were not all that surprising. Gupta and Ellis, on the other hand, seemed to have a really strong spark, leading viewers to believe something happened off-camera that caused him to send her home.

Overall, this season has started off with a bang, with drama already coming in hot. Based on the season preview, it seems the drama is only going to get hotter.