Matt James can do a lot of things. He can skydive (as we've recently learned). He can semi-navigate contestant drama. He can crush a personal record on an Alex Toussaint Peloton ride. One thing he can't do, though? Pick out flowers. Because as we learned during this week's episode, Matt James brought the same flowers to meet the Bachelor parents.
During the hometown episode (a.k.a., Nemacolin Resort family visits), Matt James met Michelle, Rachael, Bri, and Serena's families. While most of them went relatively smoothly (minus the fact that one may have been preluded by a concussion and one resulted in a self-eviction), there was one glaring faux pas. Matt brought almost the exact same autumnal looking bouquet to every. single. family. date.
From my understanding, the Nemacolin Resort has everything: zip-lining, ATVs, hot air balloons, a shooting range, safaris, horse riding... the list goes on. One thing it apparently doesn't have, though, is a gift shop with a decent flower selection.
Take a look at Matt's flower selection for Michelle's hometown.
For Michelle's parents, Matt brought a bouquet of red, orange, and yellow flowers, wrapped up in red tissue paper and cellophane (which I'm sure as guests in a hotel, Michelle's — near perfect — parents will appreciate having to discard). They're basic, and also seasonally appropriate. I can't blame the guy for this selection. That is, until I see what he brought for Rachael's family.
Well, well, well, what do we have here? An autumnal bouquet... again. This time, it appears that Matt skipped the the red tissue paper for a more direct approach. Waste not, want not, Matt.
While the flowers are definitely (a little bit) different, I've got to dock Matt some points on originality. Hometowns are notoriously boring. Bring a little excitement to the table. And I mean literally to the table, where these flowers are sure to be placed and forgotten about until they start to rot.
Matt switched it up ever-so-slightly when it came to the bouquet for Bri's family, adding some white into the mix. (Say it with me in the Meryl Streep voice: Groundbreaking.) But overall, they're exactly the same. Same cellophane, some tissue paper... This is a bouquet you buy at the front of a grocery store when you're already running late to a dinner party, but you don't want to show up empty handed.
Here's where things get wild. When Matt met Serena's family, he didn't bring a bouquet. He brought a vase. A little vase full of little flowers. THE EXACT SAME FLOWERS. Just because you present them in a different vehicle, Matt, doesn't excuse the fact that there is no originality here. I want my Bachelor to be thinking outside the box. I want a succulent. I want a bottle of wine. I want a sourdough starter. Something that shows me we're thinking beyond the gift shop. (I actually would have been fine if he had gotten them each a license plate keychain with their name on it.)
There's a very memorable movie scene that every millennial girl knows. In The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Lizzie wears the same dress she wore to the spring dance to her graduation, and Kate (her bully turned friend) remembers it and SCREAMS at her "Lizzie McGuire, you are an outfit repeater." With that same energy, I am here to proclaim that Matt James is a flower repeater. (But he's not a turtleneck repeater, and for that I am grateful.)
Images: ABC