By Jennifer Harrington
The city of San Francisco provided the back-drop for what ended up being one of the most dramatic episodes in recent history of The Bachelor.  Ben and Emily climbed to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, Brittney left before her one-on-one date with the winemaker, Shawntel (the funeral director from Brad Womack’s season) re-surfaced to confess her crush, and one of the ladies fainted at the rose ceremony!  Wow, what an episode.  To help us make sense of the craziness, here are insights from Bachelor experts Jesse and Ann Csincsak.
1. Â We saw Ben’s relationships with several of the women blossom this week. Who do you think that he had the best connection with this week?Â
Jesse: I don’t even think Ben is sure who he likes the most yet!  He just can’t believe he gets to kiss more than one girl at a time!
Ann: He seemed to have a good connection with Emily, his partner in the climb up the Golden Gate Bridge. Â She seems laid-back, despite being a little riled up at the rose ceremony. Â That ceremony definitely did not show anyone in a good light.
2. Â Was Emily’s climb up the Golden Gate Bridge, the most daring date you’ve seen on the show?Â
Jesse: When you apply to be on the show, they make you fill out a packet telling them everything, including things that scare you.  For the past few seasons, they take one of these “fears,”  and make it happen.  This episode was almost a total repeat of what they did to Michelle Money on Brad’s season of the show, and it seems like each season we see a different person facing a fear of heights.
Ann: I am freakishly scared of heights, so that would have been a nightmare for me.  It was a daring date, but not the craziest thing I’ve seen so far.  Personally, I found the rose ceremony to be more suspenseful to watch.
3. Â What do you think was behind Brittney’s decision to leave the show before her one-on-one date with Ben?
Jesse: I think Brittney was tired of being told what to say and do by producers, and realized that you can’t fall in love in a scenario like that.  She made the decision to say “I’m out!”
Ann: I think she thought the necklace was not that cute and split (joke).  In all seriousness, I think she felt that Ben wasn’t into her and she wanted to leave before being asked to leave. Never underestimate the power of a woman’s intuition.
4.  It was shocking to see Shawntel arrive in San Francisco.  What did you think when you saw Shawntel get out of the car, and did you think that it was fair she had a chance to join the cocktail party? Â
Jesse: I think it’s totally fair; all is fair in love and war.  Shawntel is a great down-to-earth person, and he should have kept her around if he liked her, regardless of what the other girls thought.
Ann: Agree to disagree with Jesse.  I get where she was coming from.  She wanted her last chance with Ben before he was potentially engaged, but that’s like interrupting a date and saying “Sorry to interrupt, but I love you and wanted to let you know.”  There’s a better time and place to do that, and if you missed your chance, so be it.  However, with that being said, I think the reaction from the girls was nothing but insecurity all the way around.  They went way overboard and were incredibly nasty to her.  I can’t even imagine sitting on that couch being Shawntel.  I even heard the line “Brad’s dumpster trash.”  Have some class, those types of statements are just unnecessary, no matter how upset you are.
5. Â When you saw Erika fainting/collapsing and Jaclyn crying during the rose ceremony, what was your reaction? Â Did you think their emotions were genuine or simply last-minute attempts to capture a rose?
Jesse: I think they need a Bachelor with a serious backbone, like Dave Good or Wes Hayden. Â The type of man who would tell those girls to hit the road when they pull that nonsense.
Ann: I think their reactions were genuine… genuinely ridiculous.  I think the fainting was from too many cocktails and standing there for an hour during the rose ceremony.  Never lock your legs, every good bridesmaid knows that.  The crying was from embarrassment.  If you watch closely, they show her crying but in the wide pan shots she’s not, I think she cried at the end and they showed it over and over again (gotta love editing)!
6. Â Given the fact that the other girls observed “chemistry” between Ben and Shawntel, were you surprised Ben didn’t offer her a rose?
Jesse: Not at all, I think Ben was afraid.  It’s sad, really.  As the Bachelor, you should be able to call your own shots, but it seems like he’s not.
Ann: Absolutely! Â They obviously had chemistry but she never would have been given a fair chance if she had stayed. Â Everything happens for a reason and I think he made the right decision for him and protecting the relationships he was establishing with the other girls. Â I wish her nothing but the best she is a gorgeous girl who will have no problem finding a good guy.
7. Â Courtney seems to be getting more obvious and vocal about her feelings towards the other girls. Â What do you think it will take for Ben to take notice of Courtney’s problems with the other girls?
Jesse: This is TV.  Of course he won’t see what’s really happening, and that’s what makes it so fun to watch.
Ann: She will do herself in soon enough.  Likely, one of the other girls will tell Ben and then he will start to notice it on his own.  Her “see ya later” to Shawntel was not classy; not to mention her pause during the “will you accept this rose.”  Heidi Klum is a smoking hot model and I guarantee she didn’t stand in front of her husband and pause when he asked if she would go out on a date.  Guys don’t want a girl who plays games and Courtney is going to find that out the hard way.
Be sure to tune in next Monday night for the next installment in Ben’s journey to find love (in Park City, Utah), and while you are watching, send CupisPulse questions about the episode for Jesse and Ann to answer.
