Hamilton’s Blake Moynes makes it to ‘The Bachelorette’ final
Could Hamilton be getting twigged up as a love nest for The Bachelorette" and her newly anointed beau?
Or will local TV suitor Blake Moynes, in his quest for love, have to graze other pastures than the current season of the hit show? Monday (Aug. 9) night will tell, but if she had to bet, fan Andrea Mitchell thinks Blake is going to emerge victorious though she's not sure how much he and Katie have to build on.
Blake, who is from Hamilton, made a bit of The Bachelorette" history by talking himself back on to the show partway through this season (Episode 3) after having competed - and lost - in the previous season; an unprecedented move.
Not only did he manage to convince the right people to let him join the hunt for Katie Thurston, but he actually excelled and is one of the two final bachelors still in contention for her favour. The consensus going into Monday's season 17 finale seems to be that he has an edge over rival Justin but it also might fall out that Katie chooses not to choose either of them and walk away single. A bachelorette's prerogative.
Andrea thinks Blake, who works in wildlife management, will win because of something she picked up on in the Men Tell All" episode that aired halfway through the season. The Men Tell All" episode, a standard feature of the show, gives viewers a tease of the future. It visits contestants (eliminated as of the airing time of the Men Tell All" episode) and the bachelorette after the show's tapings have all been finished and the outcome is known, to them. They talk about their experiences.
In that episode Katie says how happy she is," Andrea explains, adding that Katie says it with an enthusiasm you wouldn't expect if she hadn't chosen someone.
Twitter as always has lots to say about the matter. Some have observed that Blake seems to fall too hard and too fast. Within minutes of meeting Katie he was declaring his undying love. He'd done more or less the same in the previous season, first with Clare Crawley and then again with Tayshia Adams. (Season 16 also had a novelty - Clare chose so quickly, that they brought in another bachelorette, Tayshia, to keep the season going, so Blake was rebuffed twice that season - he made it to Week 8.)
Others on Twitter like Blake's forthright and almost aggressively direct approach.
Andrea, who is a university computer science student, says she likes him but is a bit suspicious. Even his sister said, on the Home Town episode, Why is Katie special to you? (They'd spent so little time together) You keep doing this (plunging in too fast) and it doesn't work out.'"
Andrea notes that players on The Bachelorette," even from season to season, seem to be in contact. Blake and Katie kind of knew of each other. He decided he really liked her and he'd messaged her to see if he could get on the show (even after several episodes had been completed).
As with all seasons, the men come under scrutiny about their motives for being on the show.
I think Blake probably really likes Katie but how could you not." She is a charismatic bachelorette. But is he taking it seriously enough?" The question of motives was prominent early in the season with some serious skulduggery going on; after that Katie was really favouring contestant Greg but then he left the show, saying he felt she hadn't done enough to show her commitment, in what was billed as the show's most heartbreaking" departure ever, leaving the field open again.
One way that Blake and Katie truly seem to click is physically, says Andrea. Blake is forceful that way, and Katie has also said she is sex positive."
She also told him in one episode that if she were to choose him she'd be open to moving to Canada.
Other than physically, Andrea says she didn't really see a spark. They don't have that much in common." But, she still thinks Blake will get chosen. She says her friend, who thinks Katie will probably choose neither, was impressed that Blake listened and empathized when Katie told him she'd been sexually assaulted at one point in her life.
Blake seemed to be the most respectful and least manipulative, Andrea's friend said.
In any case Andrea and millions of other will be watching Monday (ABC, Citytv, 8 p.m.) to see how Hamilton's own hopeful makes out, this time, during the final rose ceremony."
Jeff Mahoney is a Hamilton-based reporter and columnist covering culture and lifestyle stories, commentary and humour for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jmahoney@thespec.com