Bachelor Challenge - Day 1

Tuesday, Fall 10 (Apr 15)

I woke up this morning at 5 am to find all the park’s dig sites had respawned, as expected. But I only find one new metal and the rest are duplicate collectibles.

Looks like I need to join the Scientist career at some point.

At 11 am, I’m prompted to travel to the getaway venue an hour early. Like with the Cook-Off, I find a random assortment of sims who shouldn’t be here. Get off my lawn, y’all!
The venue is an 8-bedroom, 5-bathroom villa that Watcher repurposed from a 50x50 six-bedroom family home she’d built in Sulani several years ago. Since I can’t travel to Sulani, StrangerVille is battling a town-wide infectious disease, and the other desirable lots are too small, this villa sits on the 64x64 Chateau Peak lot in Del Sol Valley.

At noon, the Singles (contestants) start trickling in. First to arrive is Valentina Garcia. Our compatibility is amazing, but so is my compatibility with the other 5 contestants. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she currently lives in Mt. Komorebi. Very pretty but I see a red flag: she’s Romantic.

Hyunjin Hwang is a Seoul native who moved in with Juwon’s former housemates in Mt. Komorebi. Luckily for both of us, his looks and personality are nothing like Juwon’s. We are both Music Lover, so we’re sure to have lots to talk about.

Born in Haiti, Vivi (short for Genevieve) grew up in New Orleans but recently moved to stretch her wings, away from her family.  I’ve never met a Mystical sim before. She’s really striking!

Roseanne Park is also from Seoul but met Hyunjin for the first time today though, since they’re both Music Lovers, they might share a few mutual friends.. Hmmm, an Unflirty Genius–she’s going to be difficult to romance, isn’t she? Roseanne lives with Valentina in Sembamachi. By the way, Park is one of South Korea's most common family names; Roseanne is not related to Juwon Park..

At 1 pm, the last two Singles havent’ appeared yet so I phone to invite them here. Since Alejandro arrives immediately, I guess he was already on his way. Celeste (a Staff member) glued herself to his side in the living room, chatting him up, so my first good shot of him is by the pool. Alejandro is a carioca (a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) who now lives in Johnyy Zest’s neighborhood. doo. That smile, that body–what red flag?!

Bernardo Jacobson is very handsome but I slightly resent him for arriving two hours late. Two hours! Do Self-Absorbed sims believe their own time is more valuable than other sims’s time? Raised in an Azorean-Portuguese community in Macronesia, Bernardo is a professional soccer player.

During the “Be Friendly” phase (11am to 5pm), the Romantic Host (me) and the Singles have 3 activities for today: Be Friendly, Be Flirty, and Do Water Activities.
I start out with the same socials with each contestant: Get to Know, Share Some Personality Quirks, Share My Personality Quirks, and Boast about Family. I also do a social related to the Single’s hobbies or interests.
And yes, I’m wearing my new leopard-print speedo. After all, this is a WYSIWYG competition!
(Please don’t tell my mother I said that, though! 🤫🤫🤫)

I already chatted with all three ladies while waiting for Alejandro and Bernardo. No, it's time to get to know Hyunjin. As I want to know how each Single perceives me, I end each convo by asking for their Attraction Level to me. I'm so physically attracted to Alejandro, despite our mutual Attraction is Neutural. On the other hand, I’m Attracted to Hyunjin and he’s Very Attracted to me. Does this make Hyunjin a better (long-term) match?

(Do you see Alejandro, who swam over from the pool to distract me from my chat with Hyunjin?)

Something's wrong with this picture! Why is the Alejandro cooking while Staff member Celeste sits across from him and chats? This getaway doesn’t require as much cleanup as a Cook-Off. I’m going to keep Mele (left Staff) who actually cooks and cleans, but fire Celeste (right) who constantly mingles with the Singles, acting like she’s one of them.

Tae: We have dinner in the dark at the outdoor dining table. Wait, is that unflirty Roseanne flirting with Bernardo? Do the Singles flirt with me as well as with the other Singles? 

Watcher: I checked Roseanne’s relationships and she barely knows Bernardo. Your flirted with her just now, so she was only feeling Very Flirty during a friendly chat with Bernardo.

Tae (to himself): The default activities of the Mix & Mingle phase (8pm to 1 am) had been Be Romantic and Woohoo, but I changed that to Be Romantic and Use Hot Tub. Maybe I’ll add Woohoo back on a later day.

Hyunjin: Vivi, do you see Tae’s thought bubble? I know he’s thinking about me! *grins

Vivi: Oh please! Any fool can see that Tae’s thinking about me!

I decide to do an Insta-Upgrade on the hot tub then get in to skinny-dip. Soon after, I'm joined by Alejandro, Valentina, and Vivi. 

Sadly, our skinny-dipping shocks Roseanne, Hyunjin, and Bernardo, who immediately turn around and head back to the house.

The four of us reluctantly put on our swimsuits so all seven of us can get our soak on together, while enjoying the spectacular nightscape of Del Sol Valley.

Our Mix & Mingle phase ends in five minutes, after which we leave to go sleep in our assigned beds for the Sleep phase (1am-8am). Here are the Day 1 results for our anti-skinnydippers:

*Roseanne: Acquaintance/Lovebirds, Attraction: both Attracted

*Bernardo: Acquaintances, Attraction: both Neutral

*Hyunjin: Acquaintance/Lovebirds, Tae->Hyunjin: Attracted, Hyunjin->Tae: Very Attracted

And here are the Day 1 results for our skinnydippers:

*Vivi: Friend/Romantic Interest, Tae->Vivi: Neutral, Vivi->Tae: Very Attracted

*Alejandro:  Acquaintance/Lovebirds, Attraction: both Neutral (Milestone: Fell in Love *whistles innocently)
*Valentina: Acquaintance/Lovebirds, Attraction: both Neutral

Tae: The Romance Villa’s interior and yard are quite spacious but, thanks to all the sims I met  met through my small business, it was taking too long to locate Singles in my Social panel. That’s why I added all the Singles to one of my existing clubs. Now, I can quickly “Focus Camera On” the Single I’m seeking.

Note that this club is never activated; I only use it to track the Singles’ whereabouts and relationship levels.

Watcher’s Notes:

*I'm calling Tae's getaway a Bachelor's Challenge because there are six contestants vying to win his heart. I'm not interested in recreating the original Bachelor Challenge. I only want to see how I can play around within the getaway mechanics. Ideally, Tae (and me) will have a great time and he'll have new besties/love interests for post-getaway hangouts/dates. *Five of the six contestants are Gallery sims (in alphabetical order): Alejandro Navarro by AlexiaVR

Bernardo Jacobson by bunicap

  Hyunjin Hwang by cbunte01

Chae-Young (Roseanne) Park by eterna4562

Valentina Garcia by SimsByDiane

Vivi Calixte by Shizu9no1 (me)

*Low Friendships: Considering Tae has L10 Charisma, the Friendship levels are very low. The six sims I’d chosen as contestants wouldn’t show up in the Singles/Assign Roles panel until I used MCCC to cheat their friendship with Tae to Acquaintance. There wasn’t time for Tae to visit each contestant to introduce himself, so he lost that initial friendship boost from a Friendly Introduction.

*Share Club Screenshot or Not?: The club shot makes it pretty obvious who will be gone after Day 2's elimination. Though a club screenshot won’t share what sentiments Tae and the Singles feel toward each other, you will know how their relationships are progressing, which might spoil the suspense of the next day’s elimination.
I was thinking you would prefer not to see a club screenshot at the end of each day. Yes or no?