The Bachelorette 5 Winner

Having sent Reid Rosenthal home in The Bachelorette Season 5 Episode 9, Jillian is now left with two bachelors to choose from out of the 30 she started with: Ed Swiderski, who already dumped her once so he could make sure his job was safe, and Kiptyn Locke, who she feels is out of her league.

This week they go to the big island of Hawaii, and the two remaining guys will be meeting Jillian’s family.

Ed’s and Jillian’s concern is getting over Ed’s inability to perform in the fantasy suite. Ed tells his story so far to her parents. While he realizes that they may not look at him leaving favorably, he hopes they’ll realize that that Ed (from a couple weeks ago) was a different Ed. Jillian’s mom has about 66 questions for Ed, and she will be reading every one of them. He plans to have three kids, and he hopes that honesty and love will keep them together. Jillian’s not afraid of a proposal and actually is looking forward to it. Next up is the father, who gives his blessing for them to get married. When she’s done with this, she’s picturing Ed as her fiance. Then there’s that whole second guy thing.

Kiptyn’s next. They may well need to get a room, again. Kiptyn has a work hard, play hard philosophy. He works to live, then heads down to the beach in his free time. When he’s done talking with the whole family, here comes mama with the list and a lot of black ink. He wants to have children, although he doesn’t know how many yet, and he agrees with Jillian’s philosophy about marrying your best friend. Jillian’s mom thinks he’s more like Jillian. Grandma finds him to be very nice. The other woman there, who I’m just going to guess is Jillian’s sister, likes his gentle personality and how he’s not a workaholic. Her father wants to know whether he’s in love with Jillian. Unlike Ed, who has already told Jillian he loves her, Kiptyn does not answer yes, but does say he’s getting there a lot quicker than he thought. During this conversation, though, he realizes he is in love.

Now that she’s done bringing both guys home, what does her family think? The sister found Ed to be more work oriented, similar to Jillian, whereas Kiptyn has a unique love of people and life, also similar to Jillian. Mom was drawn more to Kiptyn’s energy but felt that both guys are there for the right reasons. While Ed told her father he loved her and asked for permission to get married, Kiptyn did not. Time for some girl talk. The overnight date with Kiptyn was full of passion. The overnight date with Ed was… disappointing.

For their final date, Jillian and Ed are heading to a chopper, which will take them to see some eruptions. They land at an out of the way waterfall in the middle of the rain forest arranged by some adventure company that I’m assuming was supposed to get a plug, if only I could tell how to spell it based on the pronunciation (something Hawaiian). He would never do it again. Leave her, that is. The chemistry seems to be a lot better than it was on their prior date, which leaves a question about how things will go when they get a room. It’s still there when they turn out the lights, which completes the puzzle to how he feels about her.

Kiptyn realizes that Jillian needs to know that he can see a future with her and will propose if given the opportunity. She loves Kiptyn, and she thinks he loves her. She thinks he’s the best catch she’s ever met, if only she knew how he felt. They get in a speedboat, much less romantic than the helicopter, but their destination is a private beach in the middle of nowhere, which presumably may well be clothing optional, except that’s a whole nother TV show, probably on Fox. That night, Kiptyn tells Jillian that, while he may be slower than some people in this process, he is now there and would like to get married. He thinks she should come and live with him. It’s a good thing that Jillian is willing to move because it doesn’t appear either guy is ready to do so themselves.

Kiptyn gets out of the first limo. He finally uses the L word. Based on Jillian’s reaction, it becomes clear he’s not the one. She’s fallen in love with someone else. This is the first time he’s ever had his heart broken, as he’s normally the dumper rather than the dumpee.

Now that that’s over, it’s time for Ed to get out of his limo. Or is it? Nope, in the season of twists in which people just keep on coming back after they’ve been voted off the island (it’s like the season where Survivor had a ghost tribe), next up is Reid, hoping to beg for a second chance. He had to pull a million strings to be here (oh, as if the producers aren’t just eating this up). He plans to use the L word for the first time, too, and then he’s going to propose to her, whether she wants him to or not. Dude, you’d better hurry up, because Ed’s on his way there as you speak. He came back to tell Jillian that he’s an idiot, and something about loving her. She sent him packing because he was so unsure. So, like, does he know what’s going on there right now? Regardless, he gets down on his knee and proposes. He gets an “I don’t know.” Well, that beats a no.

Considering she’d already decided to get married to Ed, it would be difficult to justify not doing so at this late stage in the game. Granted, Jason did it to Melissa after he got bored of her in 6 weeks, but that’s another discussion altogether. Because she already made her mind up before, Jillian must also say goodbye to Reid. Again.

Okay, so is Wes coming back again, or can we get on with the real proposal? The door opens, and this time Ed steps out. We know now he’s The Bachelorette 5 winner, assuming he wants the title. We can assume he does, but wouldn’t it just suck if he decided he wasn’t interested? Not wanting to pull a Mesnick (or a Rosenthal), before going any further, Ed would like to hear that Jillian loves him, which she does. Now that he knows that, Ed proposes, and Jillian accepts.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Bachelorette 5 episode 12, which airs Tuesday at 10/9c on ABC.