It's a true gift that Tenille's anxiety is as bad as mine. She has been nervous since Wednesday when she was interrogated by that FBI agent. During the interrogation, she blurted out that she has a habit of keeping boys at "arm's length" and the FBI agent went and tattled on her to Nick.
Has Nick seen this weakness as a red flag? The possibility only makes her spiral further. She's determined to clarify her behaviour at the cocktail party but before she can find Nick, he corners her. He now has the control and it leaves her overwhelmed.
Nick says there's a divide between them, a barrier. He feels he's being kept at a distance — approximately arm's length, one might say. And his concern is completely understandable. The only thing that should ever be kept at arm's length are snacks.
Tenille does that thing you do in an argument and tries to flip the blame back.
"If you really wanted to be with me you should (think), 'What can I do to make her feel like she can open up or trust me?'" she rebuts.
She's on the defensive and Nick doesn't accept it.
"I'm trying to work out how, in this environment, I can do that. We both got involved in this so we both know our roles," he shoots back.
We're immediately on Nick's side. For weeks, we thought Tenille was meek and timid. When she was bullied to the brink by the mean girls and literally busted through the lattice fence of the mansion to escape, we sympathised. But now we're seeing a different side. She's a high maintenance gal.
It's at this point she starts crapping on about expiry dates and all we can think about is off milk.
"I don't feel great about being here, in the house and with my relationship with Nick. I feel like I've got an expiry date already and I think it's a matter of time before he sends me home," she tells us.
Tears erupt in front of Nick but he refuses to be guilted into saying something he doesn't want to.
Left with no other choice, Tenille runs off and busts through the good lattice fencing again — one week after it was repaired from her previous escape.
The sound of her sobbing echoes around the mansion grounds. We grab a handheld camera and find her among the rubble.
"I think I'm pretty good at reading situations. And I've read what's just happened there and, I know … I understand," she snobs. "But I think I'd rather just keep my dignity intact and maybe just get in the car and go rather than go into that ceremony knowing."
Her glassie eyes look up at Nick and he stares back. It's a bold statement she's made, but she doesn't mean it. This is a test — a set up. The threat of getting in the car is supposed to be met with a plea for her to stay. She wants Nick to grab her by the waist and kiss her.
"Those other girls in there, they don't mean anything," she wants him to say before cancelling the remaining weeks of this competition. "I want you."
But Nick's pleas never come.
"OK, see ya," he basically shrugs.
He lets her walk. There's no room for a sulker in this house. He's been stringing Cass along since day one with absolutely no reward and she's still just thrilled to be involved. That's who we want in this mansion — not high maintenance princesses who don't have the foresight to wear waterproof mascara.
"Can I walk you to the car?" Nick concludes.
As Tenille slides into the back of the waiting Uber, she lets out one final sob in the hope he changes his mind, but it's no use. Nick slams the door mid-sniffle.
This wasn't how this tantrum was supposed to end. She makes the Uber driver do several really slow laps of the block in the hope Nick comes to his senses and runs down the street after her.
But he doesn't. He returns to the mansion and tells the other girls Tenille has crapped off.
Slowly but surely, the dust from the twice-destroyed lattice fence clears.
The Bachelor Australia airs on Bravo every Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:30pm.
