The Bachelorette heads to Auckland, New Zealand in week four, and it’s going to be a game changer for Jenn Tran. How do I know? Well, I visited the production in New Zealand as Jenn went on a rugby group date and a 1:1 date, and also spent a half hour with her during some rare downtime to get an idea of just how she’s feeling and what we haven’t seen play out on the show.
For someone who is almost at the midway point of their journey, Jenn was remarkably centered and not overwhelmed by the travel, the emotions, or the men. (That’s even more surprising given how intense the last cocktail party was before Jenn and the guys left Australia. Says Jesse Palmer: “There’s a lot of guys causing drama in the house, and this group has multiple button pushers: Devin, Thomas, Sam M., and [even] Sam N. Those are the lightning rods so far.”)
But a new setting—and new country—can offer an immediate reset, and for Jenn, arriving in New Zealand was exactly what she needed. “It’s always been a dream of mine to go to Australia and New Zealand,” she told me from her hotel suite in Auckland. “Anytime you think of New Zealand, you think of the beautiful scenery, the nature, and so I’m excited to see more of that.”
Jenn (and the viewers) will get that, but given all the events that will happen this week, she’s going to need to plan a return visit to really see New Zealand’s natural, untouched beauty. Jenn has two 1:1 dates this week, with frontrunners Devin and Sam M. And whenever she’s with them, everything else is just outside noise.
“Early on, she might’ve been a little bit guarded and was playing it safe, but she’s finally putting the walls down,” Palmer tells me. “She’s had a lot of guys already open up to her, and I think she realizes the importance of trying to meet these men halfway. She’s starting to do that. I absolutely think she’s turned the corner. Things felt more surface level in L.A. and Melbourne, but now in New Zealand, there’s going to be some separation, and she’ll dig deeper into her feelings for these guys.”
