Cupid's Pulse Article: Bachelorette 9, Episode 3: Dangerous Dodgeball DateCupid's Pulse Article: Bachelorette 9, Episode 3: Dangerous Dodgeball Date

By Jared Sais

They called it right in the trailers when they said “drama” was about to go down on last night’s episode of ‘The Bachelorette‘! There were dangerous games of dodgeball and one mad ex-girlfriend who came out of the woodwork.

Desiree has quite a cast of men vying for her attention. All of these guys were flexing and puffing their chests out, showing nonverbal portrayals of dominance.
Guys usually do this when they see a girl they like; men will take up more space to show how big and strong they are to impress the girl in question. It’s right out of the rules of animal kingdom, and not much different than gorillas beating their chests.

Related Link: Bachelorette 9, Episode 1: The Animal Kingdom

Brooks

When Brooks injured himself while playing dodgeball he held Des’s hand and she did a comforting rub both on his hand and back. The tone and pitch of her voice changed and you could tell that she really cared. She also toasted Brooks while all the other guys were surrounding her. He remained on her mind and at the end of the night, the kiss between them was full of romance and passion.

Body Language of Chris and Des

There was a lot of leaning in happening with Chris and Des and the two weren’t shy about caressing each other. This is one of the easiest ways to identify if someone likes you or not. They also rested their heads on one other which is a big tell of how comfortable they feel together. I am very comfortable with moving Chris into my top 5.  Although I am not sure I would put him over Brooks. As of right now, I am still predicting a Brooks win and Chris in 2nd place.

Brian’s Ex-Girlfriend

During the whole Brian’s ex-girlfriend fiasco I started asking myself if Des was truly upset?  I have to say it was a bit staged and I am sure she got the news before going on camera. Des had responses that appeared forced and she did more acting than naturally caring about what was happening. Des also had pinched lips which is a tell-tale sign that she was angry about the situation, but I don’t think she was all that into Brian anyway. She acted angry but my guess is that she was probably feeling more awkward.

Tears were not real from Brian’s ex-girlfriend and though she was screaming a lot I didn’t see much anger. I think Brian was guilty of something but not everything. Did Brian sleep with his ex before he left for the show? Yes, but they truly could have been broken up before the show started. You could actually see Brian’s ex-girlfriend smile as she got back in the limo. I think she was purposely trying to get Brian kicked off the show. I also want to point out her facial expressions didn’t even show 50% sadness nor anger. When trying to portray sadness the inner corners of her eyebrows barely rose up and though her voice seemed sad there were no tears or dimples in her chin. As for anger, she was good at screaming but other than that she only had a hint of glaring eyes, which are a telltale for anger. There were a lot of facial expressions that were lacking, maybe she had Botox before coming on the show. The full story was not told and I know Brian was telling the truth about his feelings not being there for his ex-girlfriend.

Casey

I think Casey and Des are better friends than lovers. I didn’t really see crazy romance. Not to mention that although they shared a crazy experience together, their date never really did heat up due to the Hurricane that was taking form when they were on top of the roof.

Related Link: Bachelorette 9, Episode 2: Quote Me Now

The one-on-one with Juan
Who Juan? Juan Pablo won. Well he won the contest but I didn’t see any nonverbal cues that told me they were so romantically crazy about each other. Their date was cute but not steamy. Des never dropped her hand full of popcorn as they kissed. Either their kiss was not the kiss of a soulmate or that popcorn was unbelievably amazing.

On to Bryden

Des stated that he is “reserved” and “doesn’t make the first move.” Bryden reserved? Doesn’t make the first move? Hmmmm hmmmmm please tell me more about how he’s in this to win Des’s heart. This guy is definitely seeing someone at home or is not feeling Des. When he stated, “When we kiss it’s awesome,” he closes his eyes and actually shakes his head no. This tells me it’s not as awesome as he wants to portray. He also does a shoulder shrug which is usually a nonverbal tell of a lie.

Ben and his evolving game

Ben took the words right from my post that I wrote last week. I stated he would have to stop playing the single dad card and play a different game to show he’s a bachelor and fun, just as he did this week. I guess I know just as much about the game of dating, as I know about reading people’s body language, micro expressions, and lie deception.

So lets recap the big news of this week. Chris will definitely be in the top 5, I have him going number two overall, maybe number three if Drew picks up his game. So far three guys made it into my top 5: Brooks, Chris, and Drew. With two spots left we will see within the next week or two who fills the full list of top 5 bachelors.

Let me know your thoughts on what men you like so far and who you think will be Desiree’s future husband.