Cupid Exclusive!
With The Bachelor final rose ceremony less than a week away, single women are placing their bets on who they think ABC’s two-time Bachelor, Brad Womack, will give that final rose to on March 14.
It’s down to this season’s two fan favorites: soft-spoken southern mother Emily Maynard and sassy, slaphappy divorcee Chantal O’Brien. Based on Womack’s infamous dumping of both DeAnna Papas and Jenni Croft in season 11, many fans wonder if he’ll leave his final two picks heartbroken as well.
While everyone has an opinion, nobody can be sure what will happen. Even Bachelor reality TV spoiler sites like Reality Steve have reported different endings before next week’s season finale. That’s why Cupid’s Pulse took this question to the experts: six rose-loving revelers from past seasons – David Good, Natalie Getz, Tenley Molzahn, Kiptyn Locke, Jesse Kovacs and Elizabeth Kitt.
After all, who better to ask than former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants who appeared not once, but twice (just like Womack) on the Bachelor franchise? Each of them competed last summer for a chance to win $250,000 on ABC’s Bachelor spin-off show, Bachelor Pad – which Chris Harrison officially announced will return this year for a second season during last night’s The Women Tell All episode.
The verdict: None of the former reality stars chose fan favorite Emily Maynard, who 83 percent* of Cupid’s Pulse readers picked as their favorite for Brad in this week’s poll.
Here’s who the former contestants chose and what they had to say about it:
1. Elizabeth Kitt (The Bachelor, season 14): Brad should choose Chantal O’Brien. They really seem to have a connection. Chantal seems really down to earth and open to falling in love. It looks like he feels natural and comfortable with her.
2. David Good (The Bachelorette, season 5): Chantal O’Brien has a great family and a beautiful mother. Her father seemed legit like someone I could hang out with and that’s huge, so I go with her.
As we saw in the hometown episode, Brad met Chantal’s dad, Mike, and the two bonded over past issues with their own father’s and the fact that they’re both self-made men. Compatibility with your partner’s family is a strong sign that your relationship has staying power. Given that Emily’s daughter took a while to warm up to Brad, Chantal scores higher in this category.
However, Cupid believes the most important aspect in a relationship is the compatibility that you have with one another, which is what Kiptyn Locke and Tenley Molzahn found at the end of Bachelor Pad. In fact, they both agreed with Elizabeth and David and said Chantal would be a good pick for Brad.
3. Kiptyn Locke (The Bachelorette, season 5): Who Brad will choose is on him; it’s all about compatibility. Judging by what I’ve seen on TV, I’m liking Chantal O’Brien for him.
4. Tenley Molzahn (The Bachelor, season 14): I adore Emily, like everyone. But I don’t see Brad and Emily together. I see him with a more bold personality like Chantal O’Brien.
Tenley also mentioned that Shawntel N. could have been a possible choice.
5. The next person to pick Chantal was Jesse Kovacs (The Bachelorette, season 5), but Chantal wasn’t Jesse’s only pick; he also favored Michelle Money. “I seem to like the ones who are a little tilted. I just think that would be some entertaining TV,” he said. This was definitely true while Michelle’s reign on the show lasted, but Brad sent Ms. Money packing before hometown dates.
6. Only one person didn’t mention Chantal at all: Natalie Getz (The Bachelor, season 13). She thought Shawntel N. would have been the right choice because she is so “sweet and simple.” Unfortunately, Shawntel’s hometown tour of her family’s funeral parlor wasn’t the type of romantic introduction Brad had in mind when he committed to meeting her family.
What’s more interesting than who they chose is who they didn’t – early front runner Emily! Elizabeth summed this up by saying, “Emily is beautiful and sweet, but she seems very guarded, and I think that scares Brad.”
While Cupid has made it no secret that we are also “Team Emily,” we tend to agree with the others – Chantal is Brad’s best pick. From what we’ve seen on the show, it seems like Brad is never going to be himself with Emily – how can you be comfortable with someone who constantly makes you sweat and stutter?
However, during last night’s Women Tell All episode, Michelle said that after watching this season, she thinks that Brad needs someone like Emily. “She’s soft,” she said. “She’s not me.”
So – is Michelle on the “Money” with this one? Did Brad propose to southern belle Emily in South Africa or did he choose sassy and confident Chantal? Be sure to watch ABC on Monday, March 14 at 8PM/7PM Central Time for season 15’s finale of The Bachelor to find out!
Visit us daily for more in-depth interviews with these six former contestants as they dish about dating, relationships and love after reality TV! We’ll have something Bachelor-related every day until the final rose ceremony!
Percentage as of post publication on March 8, 2011*
