Spoilers ahead for the April 20 episode of The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart.
The second week of The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart was even more musical than the first, but it also struck some familiar chords to another series in Bachelor Nation. In fact, from almost the very beginning, I felt more like I was watching a musical episode of Bachelor in Paradise than what I expected based on the first episode.
Now, I wouldn't blame anybody at Bachelor Nation for trying to emulate the popular and bonkers Bachelor in Paradise with a new show, but after this second week, I'm already prepared to say that Listen to Your Heard needs to stop trying to be Bachelor in Paradise.
As if Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart wasn't dramatic enough with the first round of contestants looking for love and/or a music career, the show brought in a few new ladies once the gents had the chance to distribute the roses. That in and of itself was a pure Bachelor in Paradise move, but it turns out that one of the new ladies was ready to bring the drama.
Newcomer Natascha Bessez is friends with Trevor Holmes' ex-girlfriend, and she had some stories to tell about him! Trevor apparently cheated on and lied to his ex, which Natascha was revealed to the house while Trevor was busy out on a date with Jamie Gabrielle, who confided in him that every guy she'd ever dated cheated on her. Ouch!
Natascha confronted Trevor once he and Jamie got back to the house, and there was plenty of crying, explaining, and judging as the story spread about what Natascha knew about Trevor. He copped to emotionally cheating on his ex, and Jamie didn't give up on him after they had a conversation, although I personally wonder if she would have had a different attitude if she had a rose to distribute rather than hoping to receive one herself.
From the moment that Natascha walked in and revealed she knew Trevor from before this latest installment in Bachelor Nation, I was flashing back to the Blake Horstmann drama surrounding several of the Bachelor in Paradise ladies and Stagecoach. Natascha knowing Trevor's story ahead of Listen to Your Heart isn't nearly as dramatic as StagecoachGate, and I'm guessing we won't get a reveal that another one of the women is connected to Trevor.
I'll even admit that the situation has some similarities to the drama surrounding Peter Weber, Victoria Fuller, and Victoria's former friend who dropped some truths -- or "truths" -- on Peter. Still, the ensemble nature of Listen to Your Heart and what had to be manufactured drama with somebody who just so happened to be Trevor's ex scream Bachelor in Paradise to me, and it doesn't work on Listen to Your Heart for more reasons than just the music.
Bachelor in Paradise is arguably so entertaining because it brings some of the most infamous former Bachelor and Bachelorette hopefuls together in one insane, dramatic, spit-swapping season of television. Bachelor Nation fans have every reason to be invested in the people involved.
The Blake drama with Hannah Godwin, Caelynn Miller-Keyes, and Kristina Schulman was interesting because we already knew all of these contestants and all of their strengths and weaknesses. Our jaws had every reason to drop with every reveal of what happened at Stagecoach. The same kind of drama just doesn't work on Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart.
I don't know the Listen to Your Heart contestants, and the series isn't going to run for long enough for them to get really interesting to me. The Bachelor in Paradise format of bringing in newcomers and manufacturing drama just doesn't work the same way for Listen to Your Heart.
The full season of Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart has already finished filming, so if anything changes, it'll be because the show made some decisions to go in a less Paradise direction. Even if the show does manage to add some extra episodes, as Chris Harrison suggested, nothing new in the Bachelor mansion will be filmed. This is likely the only Bachelor content fans will get for a while, so hopefully Listen to Your Heart will prove that it's worth watching sooner rather than later.
New episodes of The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart air Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The latest Bachelor Nation series only received an order for six episodes, so be sure to check out our 2020 spring premiere schedule and 2020 summer premiere guide to find your viewing options in the not-too-distant future.
