Originally aired on Monday, 04/09/2007

Episode Rating: **(2 stars out of 5)

Episode Overview: From mechanical bull-riding to a mini-triathlon, it's an active couple of first group dates for The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman.

Episode Highlights:

• Andy Baldwin breaks the group into two for the group dates.
• Some girls struggle to stand out from the crowd.
• Stephanie Tipper, the first girl to receive a rose last week, continues to make the connection with Andy.

ABC has its droning mantra for this season of The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman (“Andy Baldwin: He’s the perfect guy!”) and I have mine: “Andy Baldwin: He’s Bobby Brady all grown up!” Seriously. I can’t stop thinking it. It’s the teeth.

The ladies who made it through the first elimination are eagerly awaiting details on the next steps. Chris Harrison tells the women that there will be both group and individual dates coming up. Stephanie Tipper, having received the very first rose, is guaranteed an automatic individual date. However, she must receive a rose on that date, before the final ceremony, or be sent home.

The other ladies will have to make do with a group date, and the first batch is dispatched to try to break away from their fellow competitors and win Andy’s attention. The girls in this first group are Bevin Powers, Nicole "Eyebrows" Clary, Tessa "Muffin," Stephanie W., Amanda and Alexis Young. The date’s theme is “Love on the Sunset Strip” and the group piles into a stretch limo for their night on the town.

First stop, mechanical bull riding. Oh my. This is going to be a long evening for me. For Andy, on the other hand, watching the girls on the bull – especially when the thing is set on…um…“jiggle” – probably could have gone on forever. Most of the girls are thrown off pretty quickly, but Stephanie from Kansas, who is a gymnast, stays on the whole time, which impresses Andy, and he says she’s the standout of the evening so far. Tessa Muffin, on the other hand, concedes that while there might be a sexy way to ride a mechanical bull, she hasn’t mastered it, so she resorts to playfully faking an injury to get his attention.

Next, he takes the women to a suite where they are provided with evening gowns to change into. He says in interview that he likes a tomboy but he also likes to see them clean up nice too. After they dress, they all head up to the roof for drinks.

He and Nicole Eyebrows step aside for some private time, and she dances with him a bit. This, of course, sends the other girls into a flurry of panic. When they are not casting concerned glances towards the two, they are talking about strategy and whether or not they will kiss. Alexis mentions that she is not much into kissing on the first date, and then privately worries that her lack of aggressiveness will hinder her.

She has the chance to talk things out with Andy. She tells him that she was home-schooled and is very conservative. He replies that he is conservative as well, but his world travels have made him more open-minded.

As he talks with Alexis and the other women, Bevin becomes increasingly concerned that she hasn’t had any one-on-one time with him yet, and it isn’t going to happen right at this moment because he has an announcement to make. He says that so far, this has been a “very classy evening with the most beautiful women in the world.” Right: because nothing says class like jiggling on a mechanical bull. Princess Di and Jackie Onassis used to do that all the time.

And the evening is only going to get classier because the ladies are all going to put on their bikinis and get into the hot tub. If this date becomes any more refined, we’ll have to move The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman to PBS.

After the ladies change, and Andy removes his shirt, everyone gets into the hot tub. I am feeling very conflicted: in interview, Andy seems like a decent guy, maybe a little dullsville, maybe a little Bobby Brady (I warned you; I’m not going to stop), but decent. But every time he gets around the women, he turns into Grabby Hands/Smoove Playa and the whole thing creeps me out. He’s not inappropriately Grabby Hands, the hands seem to stay in the right place. But he’s just all rubbin’ up on so many of the ladies, and making these inane comments. Oh, I just figured it out: most of the time he talks to these women like he learned to speak from adult movies. You know (or, then again, maybe like Alexis, you wouldn’t know), like that awkward, stilted, vaguely-yet-unsuccessfully double entendre clunky way that adult film stars speak. That’s Andy’s making-time-with-the-ladies mode and it’s seriously skeeving me out.

But I guess it works because the Ladies Love Dr. Andy. Bevin finally gets her alone time when he takes her over to the pool. More touchy feely.

It’s time for a Quality Alone Time, and he selects…Tiffany Warren! Right, who? Even she’s all, “What? Me?” He says he picked her because she seemed shy. Okay, actually that’s sort of cool, like giving the shy girl a chance to come out of her shell. But then he takes her to a lookout point, turns on the Grabby Hands and attempts to get all Rico Suave with her. I am totally creepified watching this, so I can imagine how awkward it felt for her. He says later that he felt awkward because he had to make all the conversation, but in her defense, if her shyness elicited his behavior, I can’t blame her for being hesitant to actively try to make a connection. Who knows what he would have attempted?

And, mercifully, this classy evening comes to a classy end.

The next day, it’s the other women’s turns for a group date. Andy brings them all to another pool, which has some bikes and a small running area set up around it. Some of the girls are apprehensive about the athletic date ahead of them.

Tina "Pressure Cooker," on the other hand, is apprehensive just all over the place about everything. She’s feeling insecure about her athleticism compared to the other women, so she steals Andy away at the pre-event lunch. The two take a moment by themselves to talk about their shared vocation: medicine. They seem to connect well on this topic.

But it’s time for the business of the day: a mini-triathlon that the girls must participate in. Susan and Erin Parker, the cute little bubbly blondes who have become friends, are reluctant to get their hair wet, so they walk the swimming portion of the race. Kate Brockhouse finishes that part first and is off to the bikes. Danielle Imwalle finishes the biking first and begins the running portion, but Amber Alch, who is currently in training for a marathon, pulls ahead and wins the race. And Andy’s attention. He is impressed, and decides to take her on the one-on-one date. They seem to have a good time and connect.

Back at the house, Stephanie Tipper prepares for her date, and as she does that, I’m so sad that I wasted the nickname “Eyebrows” on Nicole, because really, it should totally be Stephanie’s. She’s a cute girl, but those brows…she needs a plucking intervention. They look like they’re both sliding in opposite directions off her forehead. She asks the other girls for help picking a dress, and is, in general, feeling a little cocky about her date with Andy.

And possibly with good reason. She and Andy flirt all over the boat, spend time in the hot tub, light-heartedly talk about a potential wedding. She gets her rose, so she is safe from elimination. They also kiss, although she keeps this detail to herself when she returns to the house.

Later, the girls and Andy all meet up again at the house. He makes the rounds. Tina Pressure Cooker talks again about feeling insecure about her appeal to him. Peyton talks about working for the sororities. Stephanie Tipper makes a ham-handed and really quite rude attempt to get Alexis to admit she is a virgin.

Tessa Muffin and he get some alone time and end up giving each other foot massages. She says she thinks it all seems rather innocent, but when the other girls enter the room unexpectedly, she feels embarrassed. She has a little meltdown later, realizing that she might not have the stamina to be in a situation where she is watching fourteen other girls date the same guy.

Well, if she sticks around, at least the number will get smaller: tonight Andy must cut three girls. At the Rose Ceremony, he gives out roses to all the women except Tiffany, Alexis and Susan, just saying he didn’t feel like they were making the connection.

So who will be in his favor next week on The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman? Will Stephanie Tipper continue to capture his attention? Will I continue to make endless references to Bobby Brady and be mildly creeped out? Come right back here to BuddyTV to find out.

 -Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist

(Images courtesy of ABC)