‘The Bachelor’ Recap: Alayah Benavidez Returns Amid Chase Rice Appearance

By Haley Kluge

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – SPOILER ALERT:
Do not read if you have not yet watched the fourth episode of Season 24 of “The Bachelor.”

After weeks of being cooped up in mansion, Peter Weber’s contestants were finally released to their first travel destination: Cleveland, Ohio.

The first week’s one-on-one went to Victoria Fuller, and she and Weber spent the majority of the day in Sandusky, Ohio’s Cedar Point theme park. There two had the destination to themselves, where they ran into musician Chase Rice, with whom Fuller had a prior relationship.

After discovering that she was on the date with pilot Pete, Rice pulled her to the side and expressed that she should just tell her current conquest the truth.

And she did.

“So, Chase and I used to date,” Fuller shared with Weber.

“Like the singer Chase?” he responded. “The guy that was doing the concert? Wait, what? No. The guy that was singing? I talked to him!”

Despite the uncomfortable situation, Fuller ultimately walked away with the rose and safety from elimination, though.

Next, the 13 women headed to the Cleveland Browns’ football stadium where they meet wide receiver Josh Cribbs and cornerback Hanford Dixon before fighting in the “Bachelor Bowl.” While the date was already set up for competition, the women became even more frustrated when Weber focused the majority of his attention on Victoria Paul, who had excused herself from the game.

Tensions boiled over at the post-date cocktail party, where former contestant Alayah Benavidez returned to ask Weber to reconsider his decision on her and not let the words of the other girls discount her from the competition.

“I’m here to freaking set the record straight about what was said about me,” she told Weber.

While Benavidez cleared her good name, she wasted no time tarnishing Victoria Paul. Benavidez — who returned to her everyday life after her elimination (including the use of her cell phone and internet) — discovered the relationship between Fuller and Rice, and used the group date as an opportunity to share her own intel with the women as well as tell Weber about her friendship with Victoria Paul.

“I’m obviously being lied to by someone,” Weber said. “Because what you’re telling me is completely opposite from what she’s telling me.”

Benavidez’s insight on their relationship and her bold decision to return was enough for Weber, who rewarded her with the group date rose. The women, all visibly upset, left.

Once Benavidez had secured a spot back as a contestant, she was confronted by Fuller, who was vocally upset about the fact that Benavidez shared details of Fuller’s date with Weber and her previous relationship with Rice.

“You’re manipulative!” she told Benavidez. “I have some very choice words to say to Peter, and he’s going to f—ing know who you are as a person. So good luck, honey!”

The two finished their standoff in the hotel and was followed by Kelsey Weier’s first one-on-one. The two participated in (potentially the world’s slowest) Cleveland Soap Box Derby race where she revealed very personal information about her parents divorce. She claimed she came home to a letter from her father and his wedding ring on the table and didn’t see him for 12 years after the incident. Weber then shared his utmost respect for single mothers. He also expressed the struggles his mother and grandmother faced when immigrating to the United States from Cuba.

They finished the night on a river cruise and with a firework show, comparing stories of the day. Weier received the last date rose of the week.

The next day, the Benavidez drama came to a head when the rest of the women, upset that Weber allowed her back inside the competition, come together to snipe at Weber.

“I’m sorry Peter, but I’ve never felt so under-recognized by somebody. And for us who busted our ass out there on the football field and literally have the physical bruises to show, and then for you to come to the cocktail party and ignore us, half of us, who didn’t get time, and then walk in hand-in-hand with Alayah, it was like the biggest slap in the face. Like, I couldn’t even look at you,” Deandra Kanu said.

At this point, Benavidez seemed to regret her decision to come back. Weber asked her about the Fuller and Rice situation, and she responded with, “I’ve been nothing but freaking honest with you, Peter.”

But Weber was worried that the rest of the women would leave the show. “I feel like they’re so very disappointed in me, and I get it. I don’t blame them,” he said, contemplating if he’d keep Benavidez in the competition.

But that decision is left hanging until the next new episode.

“The Bachelor” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.