There's Something A Little Strange About This Season Of "The Bachelor" Australia

We need to talk about the lack of talking.

This season of The Bachelor is going just swell. We've already been introduced to some great characters like Keira.

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I assume there are other women in the house, I wouldn't know.

But it also seems like this season has been omitting a large portion of Richie's main job: getting to know the women.

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I mean, in previous seasons of The Bachelor, and in Sam Frost's go at The Bachelorette, we were always seeing the solo dates as a time to get to know the contestants. These moments, plus the times at the cocktail parties, were the few real chances the Bachelor or Bachelorette had to get to know the contestants better, and for the audience to get to know and love these characters too!

So WTF is happening with Richie? We're basically never seeing what he's talking about on his dates.

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Remember Richie's recent date with Faith in Episode 4? No? That's because literally nothing happened!!!

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It was a James Bond-themed date, and Richie wore a tux on a speedboat ("Is this a yacht?" Faith asked). They were served a martini, then it cut to them having a swim. That's basically it.

And on the second solo date of the episode, Richie and Keira did a waltz almost in complete silence with barely a conversation between them.

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Do they even like each other??? WE MAY NEVER KNOW.

Even his chats with the white rose holder, "As A Mum" Alex, are more about using the ~white rose~ than it actually is anything to do with her as a human being (as a mum).

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Here, Richie is probably saying, "Yeah cheers wow, you look fantastic, cheers, awesome, cool bananas," while making a mental list of his favourite types of rope.

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"You got your cotton rope, your sure knot poly rope, you got polyethylene ski braid..."

Here Richie probably just energetically shouted, "Yeah fantastic!" as Megan sat in complete silence, hoping he'd mention the ocean again.

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"Yeah, cheers, terrific," Richie probably repeated quietly as Rachael told him how difficult it is that everyone calls her Rachel instead of Rachael. "Yeah, cheers, fantastic," he weeps into his pillow at night.

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"Cool bananas!" Richie probably exclaims three times into his lapel microphone, signalling to an unseen producer that he's forgotten the name of the woman sitting directly in front of him. The two fall into a deafening silence, reconsidering their life choices leading up to this very moment. "Cool bananas!" Richie imagines being etched on his lonely grave.

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It seems like this season, there's a bigger focus on the drama in the house (Keira vs As A Mum Alex, Keira vs Eliza, Keira vs Batman vs Superman) rather than actually watching relationships blossom.

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"Maybe we don't NEED to see their private moments," you might consider saying. Which would be true, if both Richie and the women on the show hadn't signed up to a show that literally demands exploiting those private moments.

Let's just hope we start to actually find out more about the women and their compatibility with Richie, rather than just waiting for another feud.

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Because at the moment, I'm with Keira.