We packed our bags, left the rain forest in Costa Rica for the beautiful CuisinArt resort on the island of Anguilla (pronounced like vanilla). Once the girls figured out where this island was they were extremely excited. I flew in on the same flight with the ladies and it didn’t take long for our cover to be blown. Tourists were quickly snapping pictures of the ladies in the St. Martin airport. Anguilla is a short boat ride away from St. Martin, and the women loved the speedboat cruise across the crystal blue ocean to our island getaway. Like in Costa Rica, we once again had the entire resort to ourselves. It makes it so much easier when the cast and crew don’t have to worry about who’s watching what we’re up to. Once the ladies got settled in their private villa, the first one-on-one date was set between Brad and Emily. There are not a lot of helicopters around this island so we had to bring one in from a different island which also means a different country. Apparently it got held up in customs, so the date was delayed. That bit where Brad and Emily sat on the bench and had a glass of champagne wasn’t planned. It was quickly improvised once we realized their transportation wasn’t coming any time soon. READ FULL STORY »

The viewers have spoken and the women’s ages are back. This should let you know that we do try to listen to our fans and when we can give them what they want. The ladies were extremely excited to head to Costa Rica even though most of them had no idea exactly where it was, and most thought it was an island. That changed on the long plane ride south as all the girls read up on the country and quickly became experts on all things Costa Rica. We stayed at the beautiful exclusive Spring Resort deep in the Arenal region of the country. It was a long two to three hour ride inland from the airport. As you saw it was literally at the foot of an active volcano. Not sure what our fascination is with volcanoes the last couple seasons, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. When I say this volcano is active I mean very active. It actually erupted several times while we were there. You can hear rocks falling down the mountain and if you’re lucky at night you can see lava shooting and spilling out. The resort was completely shut down for us much to the dismay of several tourists. One day a couple of us were on a tour bus returning from a zip line trip with a few other American tourists. When we pulled up to the Spring Resort the tourists wondered how we could be staying here when they were told it was closed for the week. I sat in the back of the bus with my hat and shades on, they had no idea who we were or why we were there. The girls loved the resort and the suite but were quickly sent into a tailspin when the first date card was delivered for Chantal. READ FULL STORY »

Hey ladies, have some cheese with all that whining. This week you might have noticed that the ladies got just a bit emotional. One interesting side effect of Brad’s therapy and newfound honesty is every girl he’s with feels like she’s the only girl in the world. That’s a good thing — unless you’re one of 30 women dating the same guy. With each girl feeling so special and feeling so much emotion, things are bound to boil over. Before we deal with the drama, we have to deal with the great mystery this season, Michelle’s black eye. Here’s what we know: Everybody went to bed after the rose ceremony. I returned to the house early the next morning to wake the girls up and send them on their dates. Michelle woke up, looked in the mirror and bam, black eye. The truth is nobody has any idea whatsoever how Michelle got that black eye. I don’t think its possible to get a “stress black eye” as she said, and I don’t think she beat herself up. I’ve mentioned in the past that we don’t have cameras rolling 24/7, and we don’t have secret cameras in the girls’ bedroom. Much like the Bermuda triangle, Hugh Hefner’s upcoming wedding and the Kardashians’ popularity, some things just can’t be explained. It was pretty amusing to see Michelle milk it all week using frozen peas, corn and popsicles to try to keep the swelling down. READ FULL STORY »

I’d like to start this week by talking about another dramatic show that I hosted, The 90^th Annual Miss America Pageant. It was an honor — as a TV host, there are a few jobs out there that you always look forward to checking off your bucket list, and that is one of them. My thanks to the folks at Miss America and ABC for making it a great weekend. While I’m thanking people I want to thank one of my favorite people in this business, Ellen DeGeneres. She has always been such a huge supporter of our show. I have no idea how many times I’ve been on her show over the last nine years, but I love each and every visit with her, and I enjoyed being back on last week. Now, I’ll return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

The episode started with me walking in to talk to the girls the morning after the rose ceremony. You have to understand that rose ceremonies go late, so often times only a few hours have passed since I just saw them and the drama of the night before ended. In this case it was a rough night. Raichel and Melissa really stirred up the house and the girls really felt Michelle only got a rose because it was her 30th birthday. Not sure if you heard, but last week was her 30th birthday. READ FULL STORY »

Let the blood begin to flow. No not between Raichel and Melissa — we’ll deal with their battle later. I’m talking about National Blood Donor month. We here at The Bachelor are very happy to be partnering up with the American Red Cross to shine an entertaining light on a very serious topic. Last Saturday, Brad, a host of former contestants, and myself were extremely proud to host a blood drive here in L.A. This is the first of several we’re going to host across the country. For more info on these blood drives and how you can help, go to our web site. Now let’s get back to the show. This week as promised I didn’t watch with my family and friends, so don’t worry — you wont be digging into the archives for your Best of Eddie Money album. I checked, and there really is a Best of Eddie Money album. Who knew? The first thing we did this week was move the girls into the mansion. There’s a lot more to this than you get to see. Once I meet them on the driveway and move the women in, they run around the house checking everything out. One highlight you didn’t get to see during the move was Sarah P. diving into the pool with her clothes on. Madison followed close behind. They got dried off before I called them inside for the date card talk. READ FULL STORY »