<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"We&amp;#039;re getting down to the wire on The Bachelorette - next week is the hometown dates, so this trip to Madeira is all-important! There are three one-on-ones and a two-on-one to look forward to (which has the only rose, but won&amp;#039;t send someone packing.) So after the guys and Des have all raved about how beautiful Madeira is, it&amp;#039;s time to get down to business. Well, almost time. First, Desiree has a chance to catch up with some girlfriends for advice - and it&amp;#039;s only Catherine, Jackie and Lesley from The Bachelor! It&amp;#039;s so much fun seeing these women again, and they seem genuinely close (I&amp;#039;m particularly pleased to see the ace Lesley - who points out that she got sent home at this stage of The Bachelor!)  They have a lot of fun discussing the men, using binoculars to spy on them at the pool, and getting a bit, er, explicit in their discussions. &amp;quot;They&amp;#039;re all going to be great lovers,&amp;quot; Des decides. &amp;quot;All of them.&amp;quot; Goodness. Anyway, Desiree is feeling much better after chatting with her girls, so bring on the first one-on-one date...  Brooks breaks through the clouds Brooks is the first lucky guy to get a one-on-one date - and it&amp;#039;s been a while since he&amp;#039;s had one of those! He&amp;#039;s keen to figure out whether the couple could have a relationship together (but if he listens to Drew, he shouldn&amp;#039;t worry so much - Drew admits he&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;perturbed&amp;quot; because Brooks clearly has a connection with Des.) Anyway, Brooks and Desiree jump in a car and drive along the gorgeous cliffs (seriously, you could watch The Bachelor just for the travel porn.) I was convinced that Brooks and Des had bucket loads of chemistry throughout this season, but it seems much more up in the air here - Brooks admits that he&amp;#039;s trying to figure out where there relationship is. That all seems to go away for a little bit when the pair drive through the clouds and sit on top of a gorgeous mountain. Brooks admits that something like this allows you to put everything into perspective, and admits that being with Desiree is easy. Des actually admits to us that she&amp;#039;s falling in love with Brooks, and there&amp;#039;s a lot of pun-talk about how they both feel &amp;quot;on cloud nine&amp;quot;. Honestly. Anyway, they both rave about being amongst the clouds on this mountain top - &amp;quot;We didn&amp;#039;t just break through the clouds, we really had a breakthrough in our relationship,&amp;quot; Des gasps, describing it as a &amp;quot;fairytale&amp;quot; and saying: &amp;quot;Picture the best dream you&amp;#039;ve ever had, times that by ten and then live in it - that&amp;#039;s where I am.&amp;quot; So she seems pleased. But how will dinner go? Desiree is basically in love with Brooks, but he still seems a little reticent. They use race-related words to describe how they&amp;#039;re feeling, and Brooks admits he&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;jogging&amp;quot;. Which isn&amp;#039;t exactly at the finish line, is it? Desiree says she&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;running&amp;quot;, and Brooks tells us he&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;a little bit behind in [his] emotional process&amp;quot;. Seriously, if he breaks Desiree&amp;#039;s heart I&amp;#039;m just going to have to beat him up.  Still, Brooks does get emotional speaking about his family and explains it&amp;#039;s important that his partners are accepted by them. And he suggests that the only way he&amp;#039;ll know if he can feel more is by introducing Des to his relatives. Honestly, it&amp;#039;s the first time I haven&amp;#039;t really felt things flow with Brooks so easily, but Desiree seems completely oblivious to his concerns. The night ends with the duo watching some beautiful fireworks (and Desiree&amp;#039;s impression of them is frankly adorable.) I guess we&amp;#039;ll just have to see how this plays out, but Desiree is smitten at this point.  Chris has something big to say... Chris is the next lucky guy to get a one-on-one, and fistbumps in excitement, so you know he&amp;#039;s into it. He&amp;#039;s desperate to get a hometown date, but will his boat trip and deserted island date do the trick? He certainly seems to think that &amp;quot;chilling boat style and drinking some vino&amp;quot; will help... And to be fair, Desiree certainly has at least a physical attraction to Chris and his short shorts. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s pretty legit and it&amp;#039;s real, it&amp;#039;s hot,&amp;quot; Chris admits. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s passion.&amp;quot; Sounds like cold showers are needed all round. Things continue to go well on the island, as they have a beautiful walk and begin to open up to each other about their personalities over a picnic. And Chris has an idea too - he wants to write a poem with Desiree and then send it into the sea in a bottle. I am so over all of this poetry, but Desiree does seem totally into it, so I can&amp;#039;t complain too much, I guess. And the &amp;#039;message in a bottle&amp;#039; idea is cute, and their kiss on the rocks after throwing it into the sea is super romantic. in fact, after all this, Chris decides that today will be the day that he tells Des he loves her... So to dinner at a winery, where Chris plans to say the big three words and is feeling super nervous, fidgety and, er, sweaty. Lovely. First, the pair chat about their dreams of children and Chris&amp;#039;s family, until finally Chris reveals that there&amp;#039;s something he wants to share with Des. You got it - it&amp;#039;s another poem! But this one ends with: &amp;quot;I love you.&amp;quot; Desiree seems genuinely taken aback, in a good way - she looks a bit teary and kisses Chris, telling him the poem was beautiful. She admits later she wasn&amp;#039;t expecting it, but she&amp;#039;s thrilled, too. &amp;quot;You melted my heart, in a good way,&amp;quot; she confesses. The pair finish their date in some gardens, hugging and kissing. I think Chris might be sticking around for hometowns, somehow...  Michael finally bags a one-on-one Michael&amp;#039;s getting the final one-on-one date this week - and he&amp;#039;s thrilled, because he&amp;#039;s never had one before (less thrilled: Zak and Drew, who realise they&amp;#039;ll be sharing a two-on-one). To be honest, it seems like Desiree has the least connection with Michael, but will he be able to change that on their stroll around Funchal? They check out some artwork, joke about Des having pollen on her nose and share some disgusting-looking fruit - all date staples, obviously.  They stop on a bench for some lunch and Michael admits that some &amp;quot;little signs&amp;quot; have made him feel like he&amp;#039;s supposed to be here and to have met Desiree (for her part, she calls him the &amp;quot;sweetest person ever&amp;quot;.) Michael seems to be having a great time - admitting that it feels like Des is his girlfriend - and they even go tobogganing down a hill which looks like so much fun (obviously I could do without the metaphors comparing it to love, but whatever.) Still, Desiree is keen to see whether Michael has a vulnerable side, so at dinner they have a heart to heart. Michael opens up about how much he owes his mother and his difficult relationship with his father, who left when Michael was young and refused to contribute to the medical bills for his diabetes. He&amp;#039;s really positive about it all, though, saying he doesn&amp;#039;t have any grudges and just thinks of it as a learning experience which will make him a good father.  Desiree&amp;#039;s impressed with his outlook (which is good, to be fair) and continues to learn more about Michael when he opens up about how heartbroken he was when his ex-girlfriend cheated on him. Michael explains that he&amp;#039;s feeling those feelings again with Des, though and goes on about how awesome she is. The couple end the night listening to some musicians and Michael thinks he might end up marrying her after all this. But does Des feel the same way? Will this date have strengthened their bond? We&amp;#039;ll have to wait and see, but I&amp;#039;m not sure yet...  Zak and Drew go head to head Neither Zak nor Drew is too happy about being stuck on the two-on-one date, but they&amp;#039;re just going to have to suck it up! Still, there&amp;#039;s plenty of competition between them, as they&amp;#039;re both hoping to grab the rose and be sure of a hometown visit. They meet Desiree at a go-kart track, and after driving around with her, she challenges the pair of them to race. Obviously, the competition level is pretty intense, but it&amp;#039;s never mean - just good plain fun (though obviously the love metaphors are getting ridiculous, what with all the talk of adrenaline pumping and so on). Still, it doesn&amp;#039;t mean that Drew isn&amp;#039;t seriously pissed when he loses. Since he won, Zak gets the first bit of one-on-one time with Des, and he makes the most of it - producing some pictures he&amp;#039;s drawn of their memories (he&amp;#039;s a good sport, too - his first picture is just his abs, completely headless and bottomless.) The pair have some great time together and Zak says he&amp;#039;s feeling &amp;quot;this crazy intensity of love&amp;quot; - but he holds back on saying those all-important words out of respect to Drew. Um, what? I am totally not sure that Drew&amp;#039;s going to do the same... In fact, Drew admits that he&amp;#039;s going to go all-out to get the two-on-one rose. He has a real heart to heart with Desiree, opening up about his family and, in particular, his sister, who has mental disabilities. Des is really touched by his words, while Drew says he has no reservations about her meeting his family - and says he&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;fallen in love&amp;quot; with her. He admits he&amp;#039;s never had feelings like this and the pair kiss. While Drew&amp;#039;s pleased he&amp;#039;s opened up, he&amp;#039;s also worried about what it means if he doesn&amp;#039;t get the rose now. Except, obviously, he does get it. It does mean that Zak&amp;#039;s left a &amp;quot;little bit shocked&amp;quot; though and worried about his future. Poor Zak.  The Rose Ceremony Everyone&amp;#039;s seriously nervous about the rose ceremony, but before it all goes down, Desiree sits down to talk through her feelings with Chris Harrison. She admits that it&amp;#039;s been hard keeping the relationships separate, but Chris wants to know if she&amp;#039;s worried about breaking hearts. Des admits it&amp;#039;s a &amp;quot;huge burden&amp;quot; and explains that it&amp;#039;s no longer about the qualities in the men - it&amp;#039;s about the relationships. She raves about Drew being the &amp;quot;best looking guy&amp;quot; she&amp;#039;s met and also sincere and kind, but when Chris asks if he&amp;#039;s husband material for her, she&amp;#039;s coy - she says she&amp;#039;s figuring out how she feels about each guy. But she&amp;#039;s not coy about all of the men - in fact, she giggles, blushes and smiles when Chris mentions Brooks and explains that she can be 100% herself with him. And going back to the ridiculous running metaphor, she admits that she&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;hit the finish line&amp;quot;. That&amp;#039;s a pretty shocking confession right there! Even Chris seems taken aback - if &amp;quot;incredibly happy&amp;quot; - and Desiree begins tearing up as she talks about Brooks. She admits that she&amp;#039;s a little scared since Brooks hasn&amp;#039;t professed his love yet, but suggests that he feels how she felt with Sean - it&amp;#039;s tough watching the person you like dating others.   Still, when Chris asks if this is all over, Des insists she&amp;#039;s still open-minded - and can see a life with Chris Not-Harrison, for example, because she&amp;#039;s falling in love with him. &amp;quot;Wow, that&amp;#039;s complicated,&amp;quot; Chris quips. But that&amp;#039;s enough of that - there are some very nervous men waiting, so it&amp;#039;s time for Des to make a decision. She tells the men what she told Mr Harrison - that it&amp;#039;s about the relationships now, not the qualities. Here we go... Drew&amp;#039;s safe, and he&amp;#039;s joined by Brooks, Chris and Zak. That means Michael&amp;#039;s the one to go home! I&amp;#039;ve not always been a big fan of Michael - in his altercations with Ben and James, say - but he&amp;#039;s so classy in his exit, telling Des that she has to do what&amp;#039;s best for her. He admits he was ready to commit to her but he&amp;#039;s so kind at the same time, saying that he appreciates her doing this before the hometowns and adding that he has nothing but respect for her - &amp;quot;No girl will be able to match up to you, quite frankly.&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s so sweet that I almost forgive him calling his mom from the back of the limo to admit his heartbreak (okay, so I kind of melted at that, too.)  Michael&amp;#039;s really crushed, and it is sad to see him hurt, but who&amp;#039;ll be saying goodbye after the hometowns? We&amp;#039;ll have to wait and find out... The Bachelorette airs Mondays on ABC. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-bachelorette/news/a496819/the-bachelorette-week-seven-recap-desirees-love-declaration/>