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"Okay, so we were not prepared for that. We consider ourselves used to The Bachelor franchise by now, so excuse us if we&amp;#039;re not always expecting &amp;quot;the most dramatic&amp;quot; [insert word here] to live up to that description. On this occasion, though, it did, and we felt almost emotionally drained and in need of chocolate by the end of the episode. We can&amp;#039;t blame Chris Harrison, who warned us right at the start about a &amp;quot;shocking conclusion&amp;quot; at the end of the instalment... Here&amp;#039;s what went down in Antigua!  Looking back over the season... and at the guys The instalment begins nicely enough, with Desiree on a boat in Antigua looking back over her season and talking about her &amp;quot;crazy journey&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;fairytale&amp;quot; and her &amp;quot;special and romantic dates&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;amazing moments&amp;quot; and, of course, the &amp;quot;rough times&amp;quot; as well.  Then she has time to look over her three remaining guys, and while she raves about Chris (&amp;quot;We connect on all different levels and we do have all the ingredients needed to make a really great relationship&amp;quot;; &amp;quot;I could trust Chris with my heart, I think he would definitely protect it&amp;quot;) and Drew (&amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s so passionate and romantic and we really do have an emotional connection&amp;quot;; &amp;quot;We really would have a deep connection and a deep relationship full of love&amp;quot;), you can tell it&amp;#039;s really Brooks she&amp;#039;s into. And you don&amp;#039;t need to be much of an expert to know this, because she pretty much lays it out on the table: &amp;quot;My feelings for Brooks are set apart from the other guys, because when I&amp;#039;m with Brooks, I do see my future.&amp;quot; Plus, she&amp;#039;s already told us (if not him) that she loves him. Will this week&amp;#039;s dates change her mind?  Dating Drew Drew&amp;#039;s the lucky guy to get the first date with Desiree this week, and he&amp;#039;s feeling excited because of their great hometown. It&amp;#039;s the first time both he and Des have been in the Caribbean, so they spend the day driving around and exploring. It&amp;#039;s all very cute, complete with Drew stopping the car to kiss Des and the pair taking a selfie together. It can&amp;#039;t hurt that Antigua is absolutely beautiful, either! During all this, Desiree raves about Drew being sweet and his family and how honest and loyal he is. Oh, and how hot he is, too. The couple end up at a little festival in Shirley Heights, where they buy things together and go limbo dancing and generally have fun. &amp;quot;I feel like this is what it would be like if we were married,&amp;quot; Drew admits, while Desiree loves seeing all of his great qualities. Then it&amp;#039;s time for a picnic in a gorgeous setting, where they share their thoughts about the very successful hometown date and Drew is so smitten that he vows to make sure that Desiree knows he&amp;#039;s ready to pop the question. Even a storm doesn&amp;#039;t deter the pair, who smooch under umbrellas but decide against an alfresco dinner. Instead, they go straight to the fantasy suite to take shelter, and Des doesn&amp;#039;t mess around, giving Drew the card almost immediately. He&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;ecstatic&amp;quot; about all this, saying he&amp;#039;d never give up an opportunity to spend time with Des, so that&amp;#039;s settled, then! Sweetly, he says he&amp;#039;s looking forward to saying &amp;quot;good morning&amp;quot; to her when he wakes up next to her, though I&amp;#039;m sure that&amp;#039;s not all he&amp;#039;s excited about.  But before the cameras slip away, Drew says he&amp;#039;s looking for the person that he&amp;#039;ll spend the rest of his life with, and Des agrees - adding that she really needs someone who can communicate well (i.e. the opposite of her ex.) Drew insists that he&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;completely comfortable&amp;quot; with his feelings, and the pair talk about their future (&amp;quot;It looks good!&amp;quot; Desiree says.) Drew says if he had a ring picked out he&amp;#039;d go down on one knee right now! Soon enough, the pair head into the bedroom where Drew again tells Desiree that he loves her and the pair begin to kiss. But after Drew tells us that he can see himself growing old with Des, it&amp;#039;s time for the duo to have some alone time. &amp;quot;Alright, guys, time to leave,&amp;quot; Drew grins at the cameras. Saucy. (I swear you can then hear him say: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s hot in here.&amp;quot; Nice.)  Brooks has some questions Brooks has been open - at least to us - about his doubts around his feelings for Desiree before. But they&amp;#039;re becoming even more pressing now that he&amp;#039;s had his hometown date, so he decides to go and visit his mom and his sister before flying out to Antigua. &amp;quot;I keep wondering why is it I&amp;#039;m not at the stage yet to say to Des that I love her?&amp;quot; he explains.  His mom and sister are super sweet, and when Brooks admits that the hometown made him reassess everything and that the idea of proposing to Desiree makes him &amp;quot;really uncomfortable&amp;quot;, they insist that he can not pop the question if he feels that way. &amp;quot;I want to be further down the road than that, I want to be in love,&amp;quot; Brooks sighs, adding that there are a lot of things he loves about Des. He seems genuinely cut up about the whole thing and I can&amp;#039;t help but feel for him - Drew said earlier that he&amp;#039;d met Desiree nine weeks ago, and that&amp;#039;s a very short time to fall in love with someone. Anyway, Brooks acknowledges that a tough conversation now is better than one later, and his mom and sister vow that they&amp;#039;ll stick by him whatever he decides (though perhaps going on and on about how &amp;quot;darling&amp;quot; Desiree is isn&amp;#039;t entirely helpful.) So he asks how he should approach this very difficult conversation, and they advise him to be &amp;quot;honest&amp;quot; and remember that it&amp;#039;s the best for both of them. This doesn&amp;#039;t sound very hopeful!  Chris hits the Caribbean Back in Antigua, though, Chris is the next guy to get a date with Desiree. He&amp;#039;s excited about their &amp;quot;really strong connection&amp;quot;, while Desiree says she loves hanging out with him, so they should have fun. Even though Chris is scared of heights and they&amp;#039;re getting a helicopter! He gets over that though with the beautiful scenery (and the beautiful woman he&amp;#039;s with) and when they land on the island of Barbuda for a picnic on the beach, things get even sweeter as they have a cute conversation about the hometown date. Also, a bit more sensual, when they kiss on the beach as the waves wash over them! Desiree thinks Chris would make the &amp;quot;perfect husband&amp;quot;, while Chris feels &amp;quot;alive&amp;quot; around Desiree and vows to be there for her in the good times and the bad times. That evening, at dinner, the pair have the difficult &amp;#039;future&amp;#039; conversation, as Chris admits that he has a good career opportunity in Seattle and could see him and Des raising a family in a &amp;quot;cute little house right on the water&amp;quot; there. But would Desiree be willing to move? She does seem a little reluctant, speaking about how she sees California as her home, but eventually gets out that she would be willing to do anything to make love work. Chris is thrilled by the answer, saying he&amp;#039;s even more in love with Desiree after this night, and the pair&amp;#039;s conversation continues to be cute as the pair reminisce on their time together (such as at the dodgeball date.) Desiree&amp;#039;s feeling good about the date and knows she wants to spend more time with Chris, so she hands him over the fantasy suite card - which Chris is more than happy to accept (though he adds that he wants to &amp;quot;watch the stars&amp;quot; and make sure there are &amp;quot;no expectations&amp;quot;, which is very gentlemanly.) He actually uses the beginning of their time together to read Desiree yet another poem (I&amp;#039;m still not on board, but hey, whatever works for them) and Desiree tells us that she thinks Chris is &amp;quot;perfect&amp;quot; for her &amp;quot;in so many ways&amp;quot;. The pair end kissing in the pool... before the cameras have to go away and leave them alone!  Brooks seeks counsel from Chris Harrison At this point, we see Desiree getting hugely excited about seeing Brooks again (talking about how she&amp;#039;s falling in love with him and her &amp;quot;deep feelings&amp;quot; and any number of things that make our hearts squeeze a little in anguish), and he has indeed arrived in Antigua. But before he sees Desiree, he asks Chris Harrison for a chat so he can talk through his concerns. There are so many things Desiree has that he wants; she&amp;#039;s perfect on paper; his head says this is it... so why doesn&amp;#039;t he feel it? Anyway, Brooks is going through emotional hell, so he tells Chris Harrison that he doesn&amp;#039;t feel ready to propose, because he&amp;#039;s just not there yet. Chris wants to know whether Brooks just isn&amp;#039;t sure, or whether he&amp;#039;s not in love with Des, but Brooks doesn&amp;#039;t even know. But Brooks does say that he doesn&amp;#039;t think his feelings will change; he thinks he would know by this point, and he doesn&amp;#039;t feel like he&amp;#039;ll &amp;quot;regret&amp;quot; leaving the process. &amp;quot;I feel like I&amp;#039;ve come to a conclusion where I don&amp;#039;t think Des is the love of my life,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s what&amp;#039;s so difficult.&amp;quot; Chris Harrison wants to know what exactly Brooks is looking for in love, and he speaks about &amp;quot;vulnerability&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;pain&amp;quot;, though he struggles to describe it. And he also denies Chris&amp;#039;s fears that he&amp;#039;s scared of commitment, pointing out that he was ready to tie the knot before - just not this time. He admits that he wishes Desiree was the one, but he just doesn&amp;#039;t think that she is. Looking close to crying, he acknowledges that there will be &amp;quot;tears and heartache&amp;quot; and that he&amp;#039;ll be the cause of it - plus, the last thing he wants to do is hurt Desiree. Still, Chris says he&amp;#039;s going to have to bite the bullet and speak to Desiree, advising him to be as honest as he has been here - in other words, make sure she knows how &amp;quot;conflicted&amp;quot; he feels. &amp;quot;I wish you the best,&amp;quot; Chris concludes. This is not going to end well.  The Break-Up. Have tissues ready. So here we go - the moment that we knew was coming. It&amp;#039;s made even worse by a) the fact that Desiree is speaking about how excited she is about seeing Brooks, their date, and how she&amp;#039;d say yes if he proposed, and b) by her grin when she sees him coming down the beach (we&amp;#039;ve just heard him tell us that it&amp;#039;s rare you have to break up with somebody you feel so strongly about.) Mind you, Desiree realises almost immediately that there&amp;#039;s something wrong, and the pair go to have a sit-down talk. The conversation is kind of hard to decipher amid all the mumbling and the sobs (oh God), but you can pinpoint the moment when Desiree realises that Brooks is breaking up with her and as her face falls it&amp;#039;s hard to keep it together. It does take Brooks a while to get it all out - and even then it&amp;#039;s kind of incoherent - but I suppose it&amp;#039;s hard for him to explain that he does like her but just not enough, or whatever he is feeling. He admits that he kind of &amp;quot;loses&amp;quot; their thing when they&amp;#039;re not together, while Des admits she never does. Eventually, Des just can&amp;#039;t keep it together and begins to cry - and you can tell she wasn&amp;#039;t expecting it, because her leg is still draped over his. Desiree can&amp;#039;t look at Brooks, who can&amp;#039;t help but repeat the word &amp;quot;sorry&amp;quot; and try to hug her (though she doesn&amp;#039;t entirely want him to - there&amp;#039;s a lot of wavery hands as you can tell she isn&amp;#039;t quite sure whether to reciprocate the hugs or not.) She does want to know why Brooks has chosen this moment to tell her, though, and he explains that he just didn&amp;#039;t know until this point. Desiree breaks down again, crying into her knees and admitting: &amp;quot;I loved you. I do.&amp;quot; You can see the pain on Brooks&amp;#039;s face at this point as he asks why she didn&amp;#039;t tell him earlier and she explains: &amp;quot;I couldn&amp;#039;t&amp;quot; - which seems like an admission that the leads can&amp;#039;t reveal their feelings to their contestants. &amp;quot;You can say anything you want,&amp;quot; Brooks sighs, devastated. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re breaking my heart,&amp;quot; Des tells him, and it&amp;#039;s just awful.  We get the reprieve of a commercial break, but then it&amp;#039;s straight back into the agony, as Des says she knows what it&amp;#039;s like to be crazy in love - but not what it&amp;#039;s like for that to be reciprocated. She refuses one of Brooks&amp;#039;s hugs at this point, saying it just &amp;quot;sucks&amp;quot; that she was hopeful of love and has now had her heart broken. Brooks is like a lost puppy, desperate to make her feel better but with no way to do it. For her part, as he tries to explain, Desiree admits she just doesn&amp;#039;t want to talk about it any more. In private, Brooks is in tears as he tells us that he had no idea Desiree felt this strongly about him - and now he&amp;#039;s been left &amp;quot;questioning&amp;quot; himself. But we see him in the woods with Desiree, reluctant to finally say goodbye. &amp;quot;I wanted you to meet my family,&amp;quot; Desiree says, breaking our hearts again. And then, Brooks asks what she&amp;#039;s going to do now, because he didn&amp;#039;t know how conflicted she was about her three final guys. There&amp;#039;s almost a flash of anger from Des at this point as she says: &amp;quot;Do you want to know why I was conflicted through this whole thing? It&amp;#039;s that I didn&amp;#039;t want to share my heart. I wanted to give it to you... and when I was going on dates, I wanted to go on dates with you.&amp;quot; Suitably chastened, Brooks says he&amp;#039;ll &amp;quot;shut up&amp;quot; because he&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;not helping&amp;quot; (&amp;quot;No, not at all,&amp;quot; Desiree fires back), but we&amp;#039;re basically too busy sobbing at this point to notice. It&amp;#039;s hard to take sides in this one - this isn&amp;#039;t any easier on Brooks than it is on Desiree (and clearly he does have feelings for her, even if it&amp;#039;s not enough for him to go the full way). Eventually, the pair hug and say goodbye, as Brooks admits that he doesn&amp;#039;t know what to say and adds that he doesn&amp;#039;t want to leave her. You can hear their hearts pounding on the microphones, just to add to the intensity. Eventually, Desiree tells Brooks to stop saying &amp;quot;sorry&amp;quot; (&amp;quot;Okay... sorry,&amp;quot; Brooks replies), and then leaves him to sit at the end of the pier, sobbing to herself. Meanwhile, Brooks breaks down in the woods, crying that this is the &amp;quot;f**king worst day of his life&amp;quot; and that he can&amp;#039;t make it better. This is pure, unpretty emotion, and Brooks says he didn&amp;#039;t realise this would be so hard.  In the limo, he says he hopes Desiree finds love with Drew or Chris because he wants her to be happy (&amp;quot;she&amp;#039;s amazing&amp;quot;), but it doesn&amp;#039;t look like Desiree is feeling that way: &amp;quot;It breaks my heart knowing that I have two amazing, unreal guys who do want to love me - who do love me - but I just... I just can&amp;#039;t love them as much as I know I have to give. And that&amp;#039;s not what they deserve. Honestly, for me, it&amp;#039;s over.&amp;quot; But it isn&amp;#039;t - we have the second part of the finale next week, and who knows what could happen? For now, you&amp;#039;ll have to excuse us while we go and down a huge tub of ice cream...  The Bachelorette concludes next Monday (August 5) on ABC. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-bachelorette/news/a502343/the-bachelorette-finale-part-one-recap-brooks-and-a-broken-heart/>