One thing we have learned this season: if you want to go on The Bachelor you need to start your scarf collection NOW. Even Nick’s sister got the memo. Scarves are in.

Who got kicked off: Marcus our aviator man was sent home, which means Josh, Nick, and Chris are headed for Fantasy Suite dates.

Nick – Software Salesman

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Nick wanted to show Andi around his hometown where he grew up. He took her to the Lakefront Brewery, and did a little polka dancing. Nick has a very large family. They each had their own photo framed on the wall. They took up two walls. I liked Andi’s talk with one of his many sisters. Nick’s sister asked if he could “unapologetically” be himself around her. She was looking out for her baby brother, because apparently Nick has been engaged before and experienced heartbreak. Nick admitted to his mom he was falling in love with Andi and that he thinks he’s Andi’s favorite. Andi also talked to Bella, Nick’s youngest sister (maybe 10-years-old?). In any case Andi told Bella she loved the mental connection she had with Nick and Bella tried unsuccessfully to pass that information on to Nick. Bella did tell Nick that Andi said she loved him or liked him, which I’m pretty sure Andi just said she thought Nick was amazing, so don’t trust your 10-year-old spy to get valuable inside intelligence. It just doesn’t pan out.

Farmer Chris

Arlington, Iowa

Andi explored the farmland of Iowa with Farmer Chris. Farmer Chris took her on a tractor ride where Andi got a first row seat to plowing the field. She sat on his lap and drove the tractor. While they were sitting in the fields a plane flew by with a banner that read: “Chris loves Andi.” Chris’ mom talked to Andi about her personal experience of going from the city life to the farm life and it put Andi’s mind at ease. Despite what the previews would have you believe, Farmer Chris does not think Andi would be a housewife. Rather he suggested that she could look for work within law in Arlington. The fam and Andi played Sardines (which if you’ve never played this growing up you should definitely gather all of your grown friends and force them into merriment because it is one of my favorite games. It’s like hide-and-go-seek, but better). Farmer Chris went to hide. Andi found him first. What a shocker. Must be difficult to find a man lit up like Christmas by television cameras. They shared in a passionate kiss until Farmer Chris’ fam broke up the party.

Cute Quote of the Night goes to Chris. When he said good-bye to Andi and she hopped into the SUV, he poked his head inside and gave instructions to the driver: “So driver, when you leave, then turn around and come back. Got it?”

josh – Former Pro Baseball Player

Atlanta, GA

Josh took Andi to play a little game of baseball before taking her home to meet his family. Josh said he hadn’t been on the field in 7 years. He told Andi he stopped playing ball because he realized what was important in life. Josh’s family is big on sports. Josh’s younger brother, Aaron, was getting ready to be drafted by the NFL, so naturally that took up a lot of dinner conversation. After dinner, Andi chatted with each of the different family members. Almost everyone brought up the idea of compromise, of making time to watch Aaron’s football games even if Andi and Josh started a life of their own. They’re a close family and like to spend time together. Josh’s mom told Andi that she could tell Josh was in love with Andi. I’m sure it was the reassurance Andi needed. Fun/weird fact: Josh’s mom looks surprisingly like Andi in 30 years. At the end of the date they all played football in the backyard.

Marcus – Aviator man

Dallas, TX

Dark horse Marcus, who hasn’t said two words all season, prefaced Andi’s date with “We’re going to spend a day in my life.” Then he proceeded to strip. It was awesome for the shock value alone. He recreated their first date, which involved him performing a solo strip tease in an aviator costume. This time Andi had a private show. After that Andi met his family. There are just so many things wrong with all of what I just wrote, but we’re going to press on. Marcus’ family was welcoming. It seemed to go well. Sometimes I tune out when Marcus comes on screen and they may have happened with his family. He told Andi he loved her.

Bonus Commentary: The best part about this episode was that as I was watching we had storm warnings here on the East Coast pop up on the screen, and bursts of beep, beep, beep would happen. It always seemed to happen right when Andi was being introduced to the men’s families, which was awesome. Are they cursing? Are they not? Which one of Nick’s bajillion sisters just swore? Or was that Andi? It was just like Jimmy Kimmel’s Unnecessary Censorship bits. Really spiced things up.

Before the Rose Ceremony

Before the rose ceremony, things took a somber turn. This was the moment the group found out that Eric Hill had been killed in a paragliding accident. It was incredibly sad. Chris Harrison called everyone together, sat them down, and broke the news. You could feel the raw emotion and gravity of the news weighing heavy on everyone, cast and crew. Marcus took a moment outside. Andi followed. When they returned, the film crew put down their cameras and everyone went around to console each other. The Twittersphere lit up with #livelikeeric.

Rose Ceremony

The rose ceremony took place a short 24 hours following the news. Emotions were still high. As Andi was about to hand out the roses, she began to cry and walked out of the room. She told Chris how she could picture where Eric had stood and it was just all so difficult. After composing herself, Andi made it through the rose ceremony. In what was a surprise turn of events, Marcus was sent home and Farmer Chris was kept around. I had Josh and Nick pegged as the final two, but Chris snuck in there. I guess that’s what I get for calling Marcus the dark horse. I doomed him.

Rough night for Marcus. He lost a friend and his girl in one fell swoop. Andi told him he had done nothing wrong, and that she didn’t want to keep him longer knowing he was in love with her when she just wasn’t quite there. Next week are Fantasy Suite dates.