by David McAlpine

Last week on The Bachelorette, the remaining guys followed Jillian to Vancouver, Canada for several adventurous dates. Tension filled the house after rumors of girlfriends reached Jillian (via Tanner), and rivals Juan and David were both sent packing.

This week, everyone packs up and moves again to neighboring Whistler, where a huge hotel suite awaits everyone. Jillian tosses a date card on the table and scurries out before any of the guys can get a chance to read what's inside. With 2 one-on-ones at stake, all the guys want the quality time with Jillian, but Michael is the lucky recipient for the first solitary date. Michael is excited, because he has only been on huge group dates, but he is also nervous because he wants to show Jillian another side of him.

None of the guys can stop talking about how much they don't like Wes and that they don't trust him. Michael packs his bags and heads out with Jillian to the mountains, where they get to zip-line over a canyon. Michael thinks this is the perfect date, because he can still be funny and goofy, but there will be a chance to be serious later. Jillian almost doesn't go through with it, but she finally jumps and lets go of that awful squeal that plagues the ears of the millions of avid watchers. Michael follows, and Jillian says she appreciates how funny and playful Michael is. I mean, he is four years younger than her, so I'd hope he would at least make her laugh.

Jillian gets serious over dinner, asking Michael about how responsible he thinks he is and where he sees himself in 5 or 10 years (as if a 25 year old can answer that honestly). I mean, don't get me wrong, I like Michael, but the age difference is too much for me. Since they're in a wine cellar, and this is The Bachelorette, Jillian and Michael do some wine tasting and have some quality champagne.

While the two mingle, Edward, Jake, Wes, Robbie, Kiptyn, Tanner, Reid and Mark all learn they'll be headed on the group date, leaving Jesse to go on the second one-on-one date. The girlfriend thing comes up again, and it's made pretty clear that Tanner is probably faking the whole thing.

Jillian asks Michael why he came on the show, and he replies that he broke up with a girl 8 months prior and hadn't dated since. Really, 8 whole months? Is he turning 25 and a half soon, too? He's just making it harder for me to overcome the age difference. Michael says he quickly fell in love with the idea of dating Jillian (clever choice of words), and Jillian reciprocates with a rose, telling him she hopes she gets to learn more about him.

For the group date, everyone gets to go snowmobiling, and Jillian hopes to find who isn't here for the right reasons. Robbie gets to ride with Jillian on her snowmobile (insert sexual comment about grabbing onto her waist), while the other guys follow. The two go off for some private time, where she fantasizes about bringing her family on vacations like this. Wes cuts in and starts talking to Jillian, telling her he has feelings for her. He also lets her know he has a CD coming out soon, but he's not there for the exposure. Wes, then to the camera, says that the exposure will help him, but he doesn't want Jillian to worry about it. Nice.

Nighttime comes and they all go to (where else?) the local bar, which is an ice bar. Jillian slides down the bar and right into the arms of guys, as if she didn't try to do it, but kind of did at the same time. Oh, drunk people. Her and Kiptyn trail off for some quality time and they share a smooch and some mutual feelings. Then more kissing, because that's what Jillian and Kiptyn do.

Back at the hotel, Jesse gets his date card, and he and Michael wonder about what he'll be doing on his date. Meanwhile, Reid and Jillian share some time together and Reid asks Jillian if she actually heard that someone had a girlfriend. He jokes that everyone has girlfriends (and makes it clear that he's pretty drunk, too), then Jillian goes in search of Ed, who has been fairly quiet. Apparently, Ed had a conference call with his boss (even though we've been told they don't have access to phones on the show), and he basically gave him an ultimatum: come back to work or stay on the show and get fired. Jillian says she'd be upset if Ed left, but she'd understand. Then who does she give the rose to? Ed, telling him there's no pressure. Right, Jillian, telling a man who you've shown some lukewarm interest in that you want him to be here and lose his job is no pressure.

Jillian and Jesse jet off to a glacier on their date, where they share some playtime in the snow. They gush about how great the place is, how great each other are, and how much fun they're having. They even draw (vomit buckets ready?)..."J+J" in the snow. They watch their initials fade away as they leave in the plane and head off to dinner.

Jillian gets serious with Jesse, too, asking him lots of questions about his ex. Jesse insists that he's only been in love once, but Jillian still wonders if he is ready to commit now (and yet she's ready to trust a 25 year old to commit...). Jillian asks Jesse about where he seems himself at 35 and he talks about having a house and kids, but he also says he's concerned about moving to Vancouver to be with Jillian. But, of course, he's "open to exploring" where the romance goes. At this point, they just make lots of drunk grins and compliments. So, of course, they hit the hot tub! More alcohol-fueled gushing follows, then Jillian gives Jesse a rose, saying she wants to get to know him more to see if he's husband material.

Cue Ed who, from the look on his face and the endless ABC promos run this week, we can easily guess does not have good news for Jillian. He tells her that he's become really attached to her, but he would be letting at least 6 or 7 people down if he didn't go back to his job. Jillian "understands," but starts crying anyway, saying that she hopes he doesn't let work get in the way of finding that one person he's crazy about. Though she's all smiles, she's not so nice to the camera, flinging backhands like, "I wish he would have thought about it before he came here." Sounds like someone is bitter. While she "reflects," she wonders if more men will leave.

Jillian sits down with Chris, the host, and does her usual talk-it-out session about who she wants to keep. She claims Ed was one of the frontrunners, though I think it's more that she wants what she can't have. She tells Chris she doesn't think she'll fall for a guy with a girlfriend, which I guess is her reasoning that she's going to stop trying to smoke out the perpetrator. She focuses on Jake, who she thinks is still too perfect, while she wants to get to know Mark more. She also really likes Wes (much to the mystery of America) and she's still hurt about Ed and not knowing what would have happened if he stayed. She decides to skip the cocktail party and go right into the rose ceremony.

Since Ed already left and Michael and Jesse already have roses, Jillian has six roses for seven men, meaning one more is leaving. The first rose goes to Reid, followed by Kiptyn, Robby, Jake, Tanner...then Wes. Mark, the wallflower, is sent packing without much drama, and he seems surprisingly disappointed. Apparently he's been cheated on four times and he needed more time to break down his barriers, which Jillian didn't do. I genuinely feel bad for the guy, especially with Wes still in the competition.

Tune in next week as one one-on-one date goes south, and Wes' true intentions become a little more clear on the next episode of The Bachelorette, Monday at 8/7c on ABC.

(Image courtesy of ABC)

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