The Bachelor may have returned on Monday night... but what stood out about Peter Weber's first episode as the lead of this franchise was not necessarily The Bachelor himself.
But rather a former Bachelorette.
As loyal fans knew heading into this premiere, thanks to an abundance of The Bachelor spoilers, Hannah Brown made a memorable appearance on the episode.
And, yes, she sure messed with Peter's handsome head.
“I am so excited. I have no idea what’s coming, but I know that my life will never be the same,” said Peter to open the premiere, referencing his time as an ABC suitor and adding:
“Even though I was in love with Hannah and the relationship didn’t work out, I’m taking so much of the relationship with me moving forward."
Viewers were introduced to a select few of the 30 contestants vying for his heart.
Perhaps most noteworthy was Kelley, a 27-year-old attorney from Chicago.
As it turns out, she and Peter had actually met before, by chance, in a hotel lobby in California when she was there for a friend’s wedding and he was there for his 10-year high school reunion.
“It’s hard not to look at that situation and think that wasn’t a major sign being sent to me, like, ‘Hey, you should really do this,'” Kelley said.
Chris Harrison, however, was hung up on a different woman with whom Weber was familiar.
Is he really over Hannah?
“I am,” Peter replied. “I would not be here tonight if I wasn’t ready to put that behind me and move forward.”
Cue the suitor entrances! And many awkward references to Peter having sex with Brown four times inside of a windmill!
One contestant, Kylie, offered him a pack of condoms (weird!), and another, Deandra, showed up with a windmill on her back to ask if he was “ready for round five.” (Also weird!)
And then it happened: Hannah Brown herself emerged from a limo.
“When I heard that you were going to be the Bachelor, I had mixed emotions,” she told Peter, giving him back the pilot wings he had gifted her and adding:
“But when I stood where you are, you said you wanted to find your co-pilot and you gave me something. And I want you to find that person and so I brought these back for you.
"You’re going to be great.”
The other women, naturally, had no clue what was going on, prompting Peter to offer some reassurance inside of the mansion.
"I know some of you may have seen Hannah, she just stopped by. And I fell in love with her, I truly did,” he confessed.
“But she gave me back my wings, that’s what I had given her the first night. It was really cool and I appreciated it.
"If anything, seeing her tonight has just given me more hope moving forward that this could happen again and I can find love."
The cocktail party when got underway, with Peter kissing more women than the typical Bachelor.
He chatted a lot with Kelley, but it was Hannah Anne who earned the coveted First Impression Rose.
"I think there’s room for two Hannahs in my life," Weber quipped.
Then came the first rose ceremony, where eight women -- Avonlea, Eunice, Jade, Jenna, Katrina, Kylie, Maurissa and Megan -- were sent packing.
The following morning, Hannah Ann, Kelley, Deandra, Tammy, Courtney, Shiann, Victoria P., Jasmine and Victoria F. headed out on the first group date.
After a crash course in aviation, they were put to the test with an obstacle course on the tarmac, which Kelley won (even though she cheated in the final round), meaning she got to take a sunset flight down the coast with Weber.
The two totally made out and Kelley then earned a rose of her own.
Up next? An intimate one-on-one date with Madison... who got to go home with Peter and attend his parents' vow renewal ceremony.
“Today was a very special day for me and my family,” he said. “Being able to share that with Madison, I hope that shows her where I get my inspiration from.”
After bonding with Peter's mom and even catching the bouquet at the quasi wedding, Madison also earned a rose.
“I wasn’t expecting to have feelings so soon,” she said, basically reciting a script uttered by someone on every season premiere. “It’s scary, because this is going to be really hard, having to share you."
The next morning, Lauren, Sydney, Payton, Natasha, Alexa, Kelsey, McKenna, Alayah and Savannah headed out on the second group date.
Peter teased that a “very good friend” of his had planned it, but he insisted he had no idea what they would be doing.
Surprise, surprise, this so-called friend turned out to be Hannah Brown.
She sat down with the ladies and... recounted the night she f-cked the man they hoped would be their future husband four times. WTH?!?
“I started wondering, is he just a nice guy?” she said. “And then he proved me wrong. And then he proved me wrong again, and again, and then again in the morning. Yeah, four f-cking times.”
“The more confident you are about who you are and your sexuality, the more confident you can be in a relationship,” Hannah told the contestants.
“So you all are going to share a personal story about sex! It can be a memorable time or just a fantasy that you may have -- and you’re going to do this in front of a live audience.”
This was, like, beyond weird and inappropriate.
And then we got to the conversation all fans had been anticipating, the one where Peter and Hannah sat on a sofa and got it all out.
“I don’t know what I did,” Hannah blurted out about her time on The Bachelorette, admitting her "heart was confused" and full-on sobbing.
“I don’t know what the f-ck I was doing," she added of choosing Jed over Peter.
“You know how you asked Tyler out on the last episode? Did it ever cross your mind to maybe ask me, or … ?” Peter responded. “I haven’t asked you that, and it’s been on my mind for a long time.”
“I’m just being very honest with you -- watching that next episode that night live and then seeing that happen, for me, that was it,” he continued.
“I don’t want to be someone’s third option at all. So then it was just tough, because I found out that you moved 20 minutes from where I live. And all this stuff kept happening. I thought that I was not confused, but now I don’t know.”
Peter was all torn up about what he was hearing and what was happening right in front of him.
“What the f-ck am I doing right now?” he wondered aloud. “I don’t know what I’m doing. What would you ... this is so insane. What would you say if I asked you to come be part of the house?”
Hannah was taken aback by this, but confessed she questioned sending him home all those months ago. She questioned this all the time.
“I mean, I told you — I had no doubts that it was you and Jed. That you were going to meet my family,” she explained.
“I don’t think I wanted to change my mind about Jed. It was comfortable, it was falling back into the same thing. But like, I broke everybody’s heart and my own through this experience.”
As for why Hannah asked out Tyler and didn't consider any rekindling of her romance with Peter?
She said she never heard from Weber and just thought he wanted to be The Bachelor.
“I don’t know what to do right now,” Peter said. “I’m so confused and this is the first week that this whole thing is starting. And I’m obviously not 100 percent where I thought I was.”
He then said the following to a producer in a solo interview:
I can’t help how my heart feels.
look at her, and I just don’t want to stop looking at her, and I want to just kiss her and just … have had all this work out. And it didn’t, and I know it didn’t.
I feel like such a jerk because I have such an awesome group of girls here, expecting to meet someone that was truly ready to have this work for them as well.
AND THAT'S WHERE THE PREMIERE ENDED, PEOPLE
Yes, the tale of Peter and Hannah remains TBD.
What does everyone think of Brown stealing the show? Is the possibility of her and Peter being a couple romantic and intriguing... or horribly unfair to the other suitors and very obviously fake and scripted for ratings?
