The Bachelor franchise thrives on its contestants’ personalities and their in-fighting, and this season of The Bachelorette does not disappoint. While Lucas and Blake exited the show with some epically silly verbal sparring, Rachel learned the Medusan nature of feuds in this world, with Lee and Eric quickly stepping up to bring more drama to her “journey.”
This week, your A.V. Club and Onion Inc. Bachelorette fans place bets on the odds of Eric getting that group-date rose revoked, in addition to our usual roster of weekly will-they/won’t-they odds. Our Vegas-style odds are provided by Benjamin Lee Eckstein, Bachelor/Bachelorette fan and a nationally syndicated odds maker and owner of America’s Line, a betting odds website. Each week, he gives us the odds on what will happen in next week’s episode of Bachelorette, along with his rationale behind the odds.
What will the Tickle Monster bring out next?
2-1 Fuzzy handcuffs
3-1 Sex toy
5-1 Whip
6-1 Giant barbeque gloves
10-1 No.1 foam hand
The oddsmaker says: “The tickle guy is such an idiot.”
The A.V. Club says: “His props are gimmicks. We doubt he’d bring on anything quite so risqué as a sex toy or whip, but we definitely see a No. 1 foam hand as a possibility.”
3-1 Lee wears a Confederate-flag tie to the rose ceremony
The oddsmaker says: “The ‘Next week on The Bachelorette’ and the history of our country leads me to believe we may be reaching a confrontation. And like the clip said, when a black man is loud and a Southern guy is on the receiving end of that, it can get racial.”
The A.V. Club says: “Lee certainly seems like his issues with Eric are more racial than anything.”
Eric gets the rose revoked
Yes 2-1
No 10-1
The oddsmaker says: “He’s part of this dramatic feud. It’s too much, and Rachel isn’t into the drama.”
The A.V. Club says: “This could go a lot of ways.”
6-5 Lee is eliminated
The oddsmaker says: “He has a Napoleon complex. Short guys with raised hair usually do.”
The A.V. Club says: “If there’s one context we would agree the Napoleon complex is a real thing, it’d be in this one: All these souped-up gym rats ooze insecurity. More importantly, Rachel demonstrated by eliminating Blake and Whaboom last week that she will get rid of the drama during the rose ceremonies.”
7-5 Eric goes home (assuming his group-date rose is not revoked)
The oddsmaker says: “Even if his rose isn’t revoked, Rachel might still not want him around if he’s raising the drama.”
The A.V. Club says: “Rachel is very classy and we don’t think she’ll revoke the rose, but yeah, she might just plan on eliminating him during the next rose ceremony instead.”
9-5 Iggy is eliminated
The oddsmaker says: “He’s just trying to creep in and throw poison darts at everyone else while doing nothing to foster a real relationship with Rachel. It doesn’t seem like she wants to grab him like some of the other guys.”
The A.V. Club says: “Inserting himself into this feud seems very stupid, though we understand that since he didn’t get any face time with Rachel this week, he’d want to make a big impression.”
3-1 Jonathan (“Tickle Monster”) is eliminated
The oddsmaker says: “You know my feelings on him. He’s too old to be a tickle monster.”
The A.V. Club says: “Rachel seems to weirdly like him. We don’t think he’s a contender by a long shot, but we wouldn’t be surprised if she kept him around.”
5-1 Kenny is eliminated
The oddsmaker says: “He’s too nice. Sometimes they can be too nice, and I don’t think that’s what Rachel is looking for.”
The A.V. Club says: “There are enough doofuses around for Rachel to get rid of before she eliminates the wrestler with a heart of gold.”
8-1 the field
The oddsmaker says: “Still a lot of schmoes here.”
The A.V. Club says: “Right you are. Unless they’re part of a feud or have been on a one-on-one, it’s still hard to remember all their names. Surely some of these more forgettable dudes will leave this week.”
Next one-on-one:
3-1 Dean
5-1 Alex
The bets
Caity PenzeyMoog ($350 in the bank): $200 on the field; $50 on Eric keeping the group-date rose; $20 on Iggy’s elimination; $30 on Lee’s elimination. “Time to excise more drama, Rachel.”
Alex McLevy ($480 in the bank): $10 on Lee wearing the tie; $50 on Eric having the rose revoked; $40 Eric DOESN’T have the rose revoked; $50 on the field; $30 Dean gets the one-on-one. “I just don’t know how this Eric thing is going to play out, so I’m covering my bases.”
Meg Brett ($130 in the bank): $20 Eric gets to keep his rose; $30 that racist piece of shit Lee is sent home; $10 on the field.
Julia Nelson ($220 in the bank): $40 Eric keeps his rose; $20 Lee is eliminated; $10 Dean gets the one-on-one.
Stephanie Potakis ($220 in the bank): $5 Jonathan tickles with Giant BBQ gloves; $5 Lee gets eliminated; $10 Jonathan gets eliminated; $10 to the one-on-one with Dean; $10 on the field. “Jonathan still creeps me out.”
Cameron Lowe ($440 in the bank): $50 on Iggy’s elimination; $30 on Lee’s elimination; $20 on Eric keeping the rose; $50 on the field; $40 for Dean getting the one-on-one. “I want to see Lee leave. It seems like he is deceitful enough to get away with his shit behavior, so I imagine it’ll take a few episodes for him to fall. I hate you, Lee.”
Lauren Welke ($70 in the bank): $10 on Eric getting his rose revoked; $10 on Iggy getting the boot; a solid five-spot on Dean getting the one-on-one. “Lee is a crazy racist who HAS TO GO and he definitely will, but I doubt she confronts him this week. Iggy makes me want to vomit on him and kick him in the nards simultaneously.”