15 men against five women: At the start of the first bisexual “Bachelorette” season, many questions remain unanswered.
“I already have some experience getting closer to men and women in front of cameras,” explains Stella Stegmann (27) in the opening double episode of “The Bachelorette” (26 August on RTL+then one episode a week on Mondays). “But this time I’m not going to let some machine tell me what to do and what not to do.” The 27-year-old is referring to the Netflix show “Too Hot to Handle: Germany”. The first bisexual “Bachelorette” was already a candidate there. But touching and kissing were forbidden and were sanctioned by an electronic voice.
Now there’s no stopping them. In the scenes that are meant to whet your appetite for the season, there’s plenty of kissing – with both sexes. 15 men and five women are fighting for the favor of the Munich woman, who works as a model and fitness trainer and, as an influencer, talks about supposedly taboo topics like sex. The women know what to expect, the men (of course) don’t.
Size doesn’t matter
Let’s start with the unsuspecting men. Three of them arrive on jet skis and in suits on the Thai beach. There, the first one-on-one dates await. There’s Erik (30), who likes to weld sculptures. Martin (35), Hyrox world champion from Augsburg (“Does that mean anything to you?”). And finally Brian (24, “like Bryan, only Brian”, pronounced German).
There are no detailed introductions of the applicants for the majority of the candidates this season. The voices of the participants’ relatives can only be heard briefly from off-screen.
Stella has to weed out the three men right from the start. There are only two roses available for three men. The 1.95 meter tall giant Martin gets the first rose of the season, the second goes to Erik. Since he is smaller than the approximately 1.80 meter tall “Bachelorette”, he was afraid that he would literally come up short. But Brian gets it, his mouth shaking with excitement. Stella found that “cute”, but not cute enough.
“Bratwurst with something on the box”
Later in the opening episode, Stella drives through the streets in a typical local tuk tuk and picks up the next four men. First, Markus (32) from Swabia, whom her handball player friend Mimi Kraus (40) describes as a “bratwurst with something on the box”. Then Lukasz (29), who already took part in the Polish version of “Love Island”, is waiting in a spa. With success, but apparently it didn’t last long.
Afterwards, Stella meets the fully tattooed Jan (34) for coffee and cake. And finally, Devin (28) is waiting with his guitar. The amateur songwriter immediately gives a serenade that not only pleases the “Bachelorette” but also his competitors. But here too, there are fewer roses than men. Lukasz goes away empty-handed.
Parallel to the tuk-tuk tour, four other guys move into the villa, without a rose pre-selection: soldier Bennett (27), the blond-haired, cheerful Fabian (33), the “quiet and loud” train driver Smith (23) and the self-confident Musty (30), who is the only one to introduce himself from off-screen. Neither the four nor the viewers know what happens to them.
The men discover a cordoned-off area in the villa with five beds. Smith expresses his suspicion that five women are coming. However, he thinks of five “Bachelorettes”. Confused, the guys go to bed.
Stella has to trust her three senses
The next morning, the “Bachelorette” is also in the dark. Blindfolded, she approaches the next group of men. She has to choose three out of four men by smelling, touching and hearing. Max (33) smells the best, Ferry (29) feels the best – probably also because the musician and wannabe rap star is doing dance moves. He is convincing at “down-getting” (Ferry himself).
Peter (36) and Aaron (31) have to recite or fill in a gap text. Aaron convinces Stella more. Peter comes away empty-handed in all three disciplines. The senior relay team member had panted too much when hugging Stella. Peter goes home without being able to prove himself through his character.
So the men are complete. Now it’s the women’s turn. They drive past the villa on quad bikes to their beach date with Stella. The guys speculate about what the female creatures are all about. But the possibility that their “Bachelorette” could be bisexual is beyond their imagination.
Women recharge Stella’s “social battery”
The women speak to Stella on the beach one by one. First up is Emma (21), who plays the guitar and works in a rock bar. Luna (33) might know Stella from Vienna. The “Bachelorette” once attended a “sex positive” party there – and Luna organizes it in the Austrian capital. Stella scores points with Luna with her smell and her shoulders(!). The “Bachelorette” “bonds” with Akousa (21), known as Ako, about modeling creativity. Ako wants to be a rapper.
Leila (27) is nervous about Stella’s “incredibly beautiful” face. Leila is interested in “holistic health” and throws around terms like “social battery” as if they were scientifically defined technical terms. Aysun (24) works as a paramedic and bartender, so she can “make drinks and give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation” for Stella. Aysun is the only one of the women who describes herself as purely lesbian; the others do not want to rule out the possibility that a man might “knock her off her feet” (Leila).
Stella seems more in her element with the women than with the men. She also admits that she was most looking forward to getting to know the women. There is no clash of the sexes at the beginning, but it forms the cliffhanger for the next episode. Aysun is a bit pessimistic about the prospect of living in a villa with “heterosexual cis men”.