The Bachelorette Episode 6 Recap: Desiree Breaks Down Over James' Betrayal

On episode six of the Bachelorette, Desiree is devastated to learn that James is only on the show to become the next Bachelor

All's fair in love and war, and this week's episode of The Bachelorette has a little bit of both. After last week's fight between Ben and Michael, and then the drama surrounding James' conversation with Mikey -- in which he supposedly bragged about his plans to become the next Bachelor -- tensions are simmering among the remaining eight contestants. And it doesn't take long for them to boil over.

The episode kicks off with Des and the guys arriving in Barcelona for the second international stop on their romantic whirlwind. "I love everything about this place -- the buildings, the churches," Des gushes. "It's just full of life...It's the perfect place to fall in love."

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Spoken like someone who has no idea what hell is about happen. Drew gets the first one-on-one date card, so the guys send him off to meet Des with a little push and a reminder that someone (meaning him) needs to break the bad news about James. "I don't want to let the tension with James dictate my time with Des today," he says. "If there's time to address the situation with James, we'll get to it."

The date gets off to a strong start, as Drew declares within the first five minutes that he hasn't been able to stop thinking about kissing Des. They share the first of what turns out to be many kisses before heading out for a day of sightseeing, hot chocolate-drinking, and bonding. At one point, over pastries, Drew opens up to Des about his family and, in particular, his dad, who is a recovering alcoholic and also has cancer.

"It feels great knowing that Drew is comfortable and he can share so much with me," Des says. "He wants me to be part of his life."

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Later that night, the two sit down to enjoy a romantic dinner. They're not seated for very long, though, before Drew -- overcome with "crazy" emotions -- pulls Des away into an alley to make out. The crew has to chase the couple down, but neither Des nor Drew seems to notice much once the cameraman catches up to them.

Not surprisingly, Drew gets the date rose. And now that he's safe from elimination, he feels secure enough to tell her about James' conversation with Mikey. Des is understandably devastated -- and more than a little angry.

"I'm very disappointed in James, because I truly believed he was an honest man," she says in a confessional. "What a f--king a--hole."

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The next day, though, Des seems to have had a change of heart. "I'm not going to jump the gun, and I'm not going to go on the attack with James," she says before the group date with him, Brooks, Kasey, Chris, Michael, and Juan Pablo. "I really want to give him the benefit of the doubt."

The guys, for their part, are temporarily distracted from the drama when they meet up with Des at the RCD Espanyol De Barcelona stadium for a game of soccer -- which Juan Pablo has played professionally. "I feel like I'm home," he says with a grin.

"Juan Pablo's very name is directly translated to, 'You have no chance -- and I am going out with Desiree at this moment on the soccer field,'" Brooks quips.

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Juan Pablo's confidence takes a hit, however, when he and the guys are outmatched in a game against Des and her team of professional women soccer players. The guys score two goals in a row, but that's it for them -- the rest of the game is just them watching the ladies kick balls into the net past James, the goalie. "If we don't beat them, we're going to be embarrassed forever," Brooks says, noting that James is "like a little girl in the net."

The final score is 10 to 2, and Brooks, at least, seems confident that James' inability to make a save on the soccer field means he'll also be unable to save himself from elimination that night. He and the guys head off to cocktail hour with Des, where he makes a cheesy but sweet toast to the evening ahead of them. "Cheers to kicking some soccer balls today and to kicking it with Des tonight," Brooks says.

Chris and Des then split off from the group for some one-on-one time in Des' bedroom, where Des reads him a poem she wrote for him on the back of a postcard. "The Chris and Des love scale is rapidly rising," Chris gushes in a confessional afterward.

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Back at the party, the guys are gearing up to confront James about the conversation with Mikey. "If James is a man, right now he will own up and apologize," Kasey says. He and Michael and Chris (now back from his one-on-one time with Des, who has moved on to Brooks) take James aside and ask him to explain what Kasey and Drew heard after last week's group date in Munich. "You said, 'If I can make the final four, I am in a very good position to become the next Bachelor,'" Kasey alleges.

James is temporarily stunned into silence, but he eventually attempts to defend himself. "I don't think I was the one who started that conversation," he says weakly. He then proceeds to deny having said any of the things Kasey says he said, before going on the attack against Michael. "You haven't even been on a one-on-one date yet!" he yells.

"That makes it worse!" Michael yells back. "I haven't even been on a one-on-one date, and I would never make the comments you made on that bus."

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James accuses Michael of being more confrontational ever since the face-off with Ben on last week's disastrous two-on-one date, and though he's maybe not entirely wrong, it's clear he's just trying to deflect attention from himself. "I didn't bring that s--t up," he tells Kasey of the conversation. "Mikey did. What the f--k ever, dude."

Kasey uses his one-on-one time with Des to recap the James drama, after which she decides she isn't going to hand out a date rose that night. She sends everyone but James back to the hotel and then confronts him about about Kasey and Drew's version of events. "The walls are closing in on James, and s--t's about to hit the fan," she says.

"I believe everything. Because they are guys that I fully, fully trust," she tells James, who proceeds to tear up.

"I think that these guys think that we have something...I think they're threatened by me," James says by way of an explanation. "[Becoming the next Bachelor] is not why I'm here. And if you think that, then I should go."

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Des and James both cry, but in the end, she sends him back to the hotel so they can both take time to process the situation. The rest of the guys, who were so sure that James was going to get the boot, are shocked to see him waltz in the door with a snide, "Gentlemen, goodnight."

"I'm gonna stay, and they can watch me walk off into the sunset with her," he says in a confessional later.

The next day, Des and Zak meet up for their one-on-one date at an art studio, where they proceed to sketch each other. Zak's drawing of Des is terrible and hilarious -- Des literally falls on the floor laughing when she sees it. The two of them are having a grand old time when a male model walks in and drops his robe, revealing nothing -- and everything -- underneath. Zak's demeanor instantly changes, but he rolls with it and even strips down to his tightey-whiteys himself.

Dinner that night is in an awesome wine cellar, where Zak tells Des about his family and his love of traveling. They kiss, she gives him the date rose, and then they kiss some more, and Zak is practically floating.

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"I'm absolutely in love with this woman," he gushes. "There's no doubt about it. I don't feel any hesitation...It feels insanely good to be in love, and not just to be in love but to be in love with a woman that is so incredible."

Back at the the hotel, James confronts Drew about what he told Des about what he overheard after the group date. The conversation quickly escalates until both of them are yelling and James walks away in anger. "James is a piece of s--t," Drew sneers.

The next day, Des pulls James away from the group to talk more about the situation in the house. "I'm not here to hurt your feelings," he insists. "I'm not here to fool you. I'm here to fall in love with you."

His platitudes seem to work -- temporarily, at least -- as Des cries and sends him back to the hotel instead of just sending him home. The guys are shocked, again, to see him return, and another yelling match ensues.

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"If James gets a rose tonight, I think the group is going to collectively s--t themselves," Michael says of the situation in the house.

There's no cocktail party this week, so Des gets right down to business at the rose ceremony. Drew and Zak are already safe, but there are only three other roses -- which means three guys are going home. Chris, Brooks, and Michael are the lucky recipients of the remaining buds, so Kasey, Juan Pablo, and James are booked on a flight back to the U.S.

"Nobody will ever know the exact truth," James says as he rides off in the limo. "And that sucks. These guys, I think they felt very threatened by me. I'm a confident person. I had an unbelievable date with her. I got bullied here. I got bullied right out the door."

"People vs. James. Case dismissed," Michael (a lawyer) concludes.

Tell Us: Do you think Des sent the right guys home this week?

The Bachelorette Episode 5 Recap: Ben Calls Date With Desiree and Michael the "Worst of His Life"

In episode five of The Bachelorette, Ben and Michael nearly come to blows on their date with Desiree Hartsock, while James reveals his plans to become the next Bachelor Credit: ABC/Nick Ray

The course of true love never did run smooth. This week's episode of The Bachelorette -- the fifth in Desiree Hartsock's quest for love -- was a bumpy one for the show's romantic heroine and her 11 would-be suitors. One guy had a devastating revelation about his relationship with Des, two other guys nearly came to blows on their date with her, and someone else revealed his intentions toward her to be somewhat less than honorable. There may be a fairy-tale ending still to come, but is there a prince?

The episode opens with the remaining bachelors arriving in Munich, Germany, for the first international stop on their "journey to find love." After a quick briefing with Chris Harrison, they retire to their hotel, where the first of three date cards is delivered to Chris (the contestant, not the host). "In Munich, we can fall in love with each other," the card reads in German.

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Chris sets off to meet Des for a day of sightseeing -- it's her first time in Europe, and she wants to just explore the city and all that it has to offer. Things are going well for them, but trouble is brewing back at the hotel. While they're shopping and eating sausages and trying on traditional German costumes (lederhosen, anyone?), Bryden is having a heart-to-heart with the other nine guys about his feelings -- or lack thereof.

"The longer I'm here, the worse I feel," he says in a confessional. "Des is an amazing girl, and it's not that we don't have a connection...Things just aren't progressing the way they should be. There's something missing."

After talking it over with the guys, Bryden decides he needs to leave. And for some reason, he can't wait even an hour to tell her. He actually tracks her down on her date with Chris to basically ruin whatever fun the two of them are having, which turns out to be dancing to polka music in the middle of a public plaza.

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"This date is perfect. Today is perfect. And I don't think anything could go wrong," Chris says naively, seconds before Bryden shows up.

Bryden apologizes to Chris for interrupting the date and then pulls Des aside to tell her he's just not that into her. (He doesn't use those words exactly, but that's the gist of it.) He lists his reasons for going home, tells her he considers her a friend now, and then sends her back to "enjoy" the rest of her time with Chris, who is understandably confused and worried about what it is Bryden is doing. 

Des, for her part, is sad, annoyed, embarrassed -- and maybe a little heartbroken. "It hurts," she says. "But I'm not going to let Bryden affect my date with Chris. Not at all. I just want to get back to Chris so that I can feel happy again." 

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Chris rises to the occasion, and in that way, Bryden's exit actually turns out to be a good thing for him. Later that night, he and Des bond over a romantic dinner in a real-life castle, and he assures her that, unlike Bryden, he's in this for the long haul. "I'm in a place now where I'd rather be in a relationship. I'm ready to start a family and build a new life," he says. He then proceeds to bring her to tears with a poem he wrote for her on the plane ride over to Germany.

"You showed me what a true man is, especially after what I've had to deal with," she tells him afterward, pinning the rose on his lapel. "I couldn't have asked for a better date."

But wait -- the date's not over yet! After dinner, Chris and Des are treated to a private concert by Matt White. "This is epic. This is a fairy-tale," Chris says in a voiceover as he and Des sway together on the dance floor. "I am slowly but certainly falling in love with Des. And I think it's mutual. She doesn't have to say it. She can say it through her kisses, she can say it through her eyes. I know it's happening. This is real, and this is happening."

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The next day, Des meets Juan Pablo, James, Zak, Brooks, Drew, Mikey, and Kasey for a group date on top of a mountain, where they're given a lesson in yodeling. That's followed by some sledding, which Zak likens to the whole Bachelorette experience. 

"You know, love is like sledding down this hill," he begins. "From the first day, we all pushed off and looked down and said, 'Here we go.'"

The rest of the group date -- which consists of beer and pretzels in a giant igloo -- is relatively uneventful, although it seems as if the guys have found another villain in James. They don't understand what Des sees in him, and they worry he may have ulterior motives for getting close to her. (They're right, but more on that later.) He and Des spend some one-on-one time making out, but in the end, Brooks gets the date rose.

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Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Chris is sitting in awkward silence with Michael and Ben, who are gearing up for their two-on-one date with Des. "I don't even want to look at the f--king guy, let alone spend the day two feet away from him on a date with the girl I like," Michael says of Ben in a confessional. Later, as the two share a silent limo ride on their way to meet Des, he muses in a voiceover: "Today, Ben will be found guilty of fraud and impersonation of a Southern gentleman."

Des has other ideas. She wants to see how Ben and Michael interact with each other in awkward situations -- so she strands them in the middle of a freezing lake in something called a hot tug, which is like a cross between a hot tub and a boat. Unable to escape without risking hypothermia, the guys start to passive-aggressively hash out some of their issues. Michael, attempting to prove that Ben is an "absentee father," grills him about his ex and his kid, prompting the single dad to admit that he hasn't talked to his son since coming to Germany. (He chalks it up to the time difference.)

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Ben is not happy. "What I thought was going to be fine and we were going to be able to be civil...I was totally wrong," Ben says in a confessional. "I don't know how much more of what he's saying I can take."

"This is not good," Des says in a confessional. "Michael is definitely pushing Ben's buttons. I feel so uncomfortable."

Things only get worse from there. Once the trio are back on solid ground, Michael's attacks intensify. During dinner, he presses Ben for answers about why he doesn't get along with the rest of the guys in the house, and why he didn't go to church with everyone on Easter Sunday. Des is visibly uncomfortable, and she says so -- but Michael will not let up. Ben, to his credit, keeps his cool until Michael takes another dig at his parenting abilities, at which point he politely excuses himself from dinner to take a breather (read: pace outside while cursing a lot). 

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"I knew coming into dinner tonight that it was going to be awkward, but I had no idea it was going to blow up so quickly," Des says. "And now I'm conflicted because I don't know what I want to do with the rose. I may want to let both of them go."

After confronting Michael about his aggressive tactics, Des goes outside to check on Ben. She seems to sympathize with him, but she admits later that she has reservations. "I know that there are some things the guys don't like about him," she says. "And for Ben to be the outcast in this wonderful group of guys, that says something."

Des goes back to Michael to find out what exactly he doesn't like about Ben, and he makes his case. It doesn't really seem all that convincing -- especially in light of Michael's own bad behavior on the date -- but it does the trick. Much to everyone's surprise, Des gives the rose to Michael, which means Ben is going home. And he does not take it well.

"You want me to sit here and look unhappy? I'm not," he sneers in the limo. "Tonight will go down in history as the worst date of my life." 

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He then proceeds to taunt the producers about how they "missed out" on having him as the next Bachelor and asks the limo to take him somewhere to get drunk. As the car drives away, he's overheard asking how long he has to wait before he can be seen in public with someone.

The drama is far from over, though. Ben may be gone, but James is still very much a contender for Desiree's heart -- and Kasey and Drew have some new, unsettling information about him. Apparently, they overheard him bragging about his scheme to use the show (and Des) to boost his love life with other women. He thinks he's got a good shot at being the next Bachelor if he makes it to the top four, and he's already imagining all the dates he'll get when he goes back home to Chicago. Kasey and Drew plan to tell Des about this during the pre-rose ceremony cocktail hour, but their plans are foiled when she calls off the party. She already knows which guy she wants to send home -- and it isn't James.

Zak, Kasey, Juan Pablo, Drew, Brooks, Michael, and James are safe for another week, which leaves Mikey the odd man out. But judging by the previews for next week's episode, it looks like he's escaping just in time.