The Bachelor Canada Recap of Week 8 - The Final Rose Ceremony OR That's the Way We Do It in Canada, Baby!

Well, well, well. A girl in a white dress. That simple white dress that has been shown time and time again, beginning with the season preview at the end of Episode 1, stirred up the biggest commotion among spoilers and speculators. I'll elaborate on this a little bit later...but first let's get to the juicy stuff, shall we?

Of course, it all begins with Brad reviewing his "journey" and his experiences along the way with both Whitney and Bianka. A word of warning...this stuff is all pretty must scripted, so don't pay much attention to it. The producers are trying to keep the drama going for the viewer as long as they can. Naturally, we are going to hear things like Brad saying he has developed feelings for both girls and he has a difficult decision to make.But guess what? He decided this long ago.

Brad meets up with Whitney at Falcon Golf in his hometown of Hudson, Quebec. But first Brad has to have a little sit down with Whitney to see where her head is at. Brad, that ship set sail long ago. And by ship, I mean space ship. There was a lot of mumbling and incomplete sentences, and all I could get out of it was Whitney saying something about a relationship being about talking and working things out. Girl, you've only known this guy for a little more than a month, during which time you've had limited access to each other, and in front of a camera no less. If you have to talk to work out problems at this stage of the game, the only place it's going to go is down the crapper. Then they go play a bit of golf so that Falcon Golf can get the most out of their sponsorship dollars. Hey they must have missed out a lot of revenue to close down the golf course for at least half of the day. Low and behold, they come upon a table, chairs and chilled wine. Then more talk. But by now even the most avid Whitney supporter is realizing that Brad is just beating a dead horse.

If you remember back to the first episode, Whitney's bio showed her as an avid boxer. Well yesterday, Tyler Harcott sent out an interesting tweet, something along the lines of..(Mad Max) Thunderdome...two girls enter, one girl leaves. That didn't really refer to the final rose ceremony. It was all about Whitney meeting Brad's sister Ashley.

Round 1: The two are introduced. Right off the bat, Ashley gives a little look of disdain.
Round 2: Out on the patio. Ashley throws a sucker punch. She asks Whitney the typical questions, to which Whitney can't even open her mouth to answer. Not even that mumble thing she does. Brad tries to answer, but the more he tries, the more he's starting to sound like Whitney.
Round 3: Brad's Mom pulls Whitney into the kitchen, followed by Ashley. Ashley gives her the knock out punch. Sorry, I can't elaborate, because by now, I have abandoned my note taking completely. Something about telling Whitney that she's closed off and letting Brad do all her talking for her. I am in Ashley's world now, hypnotized and totally engulfed in the master's techniques. Wow, she's a genius. She had Whitney figured out - Sigmund Freud would have been a fan. It was great - one of the best parts of the season.

Okay, look, I know this was mega-edited and we are only shown a small portion of the meet the parents, but even so, there is something not quite right going on here. This just isn't the same girl who was bashing all the other girls in the house. 

Next day, Brad meets up with Bianka and the first thing they do is go for a tour of Hudson. He brings her to a hot dog joint that he loves. Apparently, ever since the group date in Mexico, Brad has been telling Bianka about his favourite hot dogs. Ahem. Let's just say, Bianka really likes hot dogs.

Then comes the moment of truth. Bianka and Ashley. Ashley starts in immediately with the questions. "Is this really you, or is this what you think we want to hear". Ashley was probably expecting Bianka to be Whitney 2.0. This time, however, Bianka reassures Ashley that she is there for the right reasons. I think Ashley was just impressed that Bianka could form complete sentences. Anyway, Bianka leaves a good lasting impression with the family. Just as we all expected.

Before the final dates in Barbados, Brad gets his family's opinions on the girls. As if he needed them. Ashley told him that he wasn't himself with Whitney and his Dad told him that this is all about Brad. Brad gets a bit upset and realizes that he's not the same person around Whitney as he is with Bianka. Oh oh.

In Barbados, Brad starts in with the mellow. "It's poetic here. It's what you write a book about". Okay. The last date with Bianka is playing polo at the Apes Hill Polo Club. Brad says he is an athletic guy, and he needs a wife who is too. Bianka gives it a good try and the two seem to have a lot of fun. Brad and Whitney's last date is on a boat. What happened to that bit about needing a wife who's athletic? Oh wait, Whitney IS climbing the ladder to the upper deck. We are subjected to a close zoom in to her behind. That's the way to show your athletic side, Whitney! But wait...Brad has to have another sit down talk with Whitney. I think he is a glutton for punishment. This time however, things just go from bad to worse. I could tell that from the tone of the mumbling. Oh, and the facial expressions. The thing was going south fast. All aboard the next train (or in this case boat) to the tip of South America. It was one of those things that you didn't want to watch, but you couldn't not watch. Like the Hindenburg crashing. Oh, the humanity! Jump Brad, jump. You'll be okay if you can just make it to shore. It pretty much looks like its game over for Whitney.

The next day, Brad heads out the door and goes over to see Whitney. Along the way we hear a voice over about his relationship with her: "I don't want to have a conflict with someone who can't even express herself....She's just hard to be around....I don't want to drag someone on longer than they have to be here for".  

Whitney lets him in, and just as Whitney says "I need to talk to you", Brad says, "No, me first". That was apparently enough to send Whitney to the Twilight Zone. Or is it The Outer Limits? Whitney walks over to the bathroom doorway.
Brad continues, "I know after yesterday that you're an amazing person, but we're just not meant for each other".
Then Whitney just closes the door on him. Gently. And that's the really odd thing - she didn't slam it, didn't even give it a good push. She closed it like someone would do at night so as not to wake anyone up. It's like she thinks she's hiding. Like she's thinking, "He can't see me". Damn peculiar. Then, after a very short time-out,  she opens it up and says, "I want to respect you and you have to respect me. You can't say hurtful things to me". Then she walks out of her cabin and goes down the path.
Brad says, "Oh my God". He really doesn't know what she is talking about. Just like us. Hurtful? What? Gotta give the guy credit. He goes off after her. Then she says "The way that you're acting is not fair to me". She goes back into her suite, turns around, and says, "I want you to, ...please,... like,... that's it". Well, that was it. Brad walks away from that train wreck. Have you ever heard of a more appropriate use of the term, "dodging a bullet"? Brad tells us "It's not that Whitney's not the right girl for me. I feel that she's not ready for anyone right now".

So, we have seen this scenario play out a few times now, where the lead lets the F2 (the runner up) go the day before the final rose ceremony. Emily Maynard did thi with Arie Luyendyk Jr, and Ali Fedotowsky with Chris Lambton. It's not just done out of respect for the one you are letting go, but it is also a sign for the one you have chosen. I definitely think that this is the case here. He is actually telling Bianka that hey, this isn't a last minute thing I decided at the podium - the show requires that I bring two finalists this far.

The day of the final rose ceremony, Brad picks out the ring. It reminds him of the way Bianka lights up the room. Then the time comes. Tyler greets Brad then says, "Let's do it" and Brad walks to the end of the runway. Flashback to Bianka getting ready. And there is that white dress.

There were three shots of this dress shown in previews throughout the season. The first was a zoom in of the dress being zipped up at the side, the second was from the upper thigh down to the shoes getting out of a car, and the third was from the hips down taken while walking a path. I think it was just after the group date in Mexico that I first identified Bianka as the one wearing that dress - just based on her body shape...in particular, her slender hips. Oh, I really wanted to believe at that point, that girl was Laura Bateman or Kara Henderson. I really wasn't liking Bianka back then. I think I was seeing the whole Kris Humphries/Kim Kardashian connection as a signal that Bianka was just in it for personal publicity. Now, I gotta say, I really do respect her. There was so much speculation out there about that dress. Screencaps were meticulously reviewed. The problem was it looked like different material in each shot. Some believed it meant there were two dresses and two girls. But the shoes were the same. Add to that...there were no teaser shots of a second girl. Trust me, if there was a second girl still in the game at this point, the producers would have given us teaser shots. No way they wouldn't hype that. There could only be one conclusion: Bianka was going to be the last girl standing.

Tyler is there to greet her and says, "Look at you". How sweet. This is Bianka like we've never seen her before, gorgeous and graceful. And this is Tyler as we've never seen him before either, gorgeous and graceful. I am SO kidding.

With Brad crying and Bianka smiling from ear to ear, I could just tell, there was no big surprise between the two of them. She knew...he knew...she knew that he knew...he knew that she knew. So sappy I know. And gotta say, as much as I slam this show, I was so sucked into this. My eyes are going to start doing that leaky thing. He proposes and she says yes. She calls him Baby and he calls her Bea. I wonder how many times they had to edit out the two of them using these pet names for each other? I think it's a lot. Then we hear Bryan Adams singing "Heaven" over a montage of Brad and Bianka's "journey" together. All I can think is...Hell ya, that's how Canadians do it! Take that you big fake-o Emily and Jef-with-one-f! 

Next week is the After the Final Rose episode where we get to hear more mumbling and crying from Whitney, and I will also give my own recap of the season. I wonder if they are going to bring up a possible Canadian Bachelorette?