Opinion
ʻThe Bachelorʼ provides intriguing promise
February 24, 2012
This winter, I have done something that I never thought I would ever do: I started watching “The Bachelor” on ABC.
Before now, I was one of those normal people who would say that reality television rots your brain and should not be watched. “The Bachelor,” however, is one of those shows where you just have to keep watching. Now I am hooked on this show that I never truly imagined myself to sit in front of my television set and watch.
This season of “The Bachelor” started in early January with 25 women. Now, towards the end of February, only three women remain: Lindzi, Nicki, and the dreaded Courtney. The bachelor himself is Ben Flajnik, a 28-year-old winemaker from Sonoma, California. He was chosen as this season’s bachelor after his proposal was rejected by Ashley Hebert on “The Bachelorette” finale last summer.
Getting to know who the remaining women are will help in determining who will win in just a few short weeks. My personal favorite remaining woman is Lindzi, a business development manager from Ocala, Florida. Lindzi is definitely an adventurous type, and she is always up for anything Ben has planned on the dates for her. She mentioned earlier in the season that she is a country girl at heart, loves horses, and “isn’t afraid to get a little dirty.”
She impressed Ben right away in the first episode when she rode in on a horse. This earned her the “first impression rose” in the first episode. I want Lindzi to win because she is always very real with everyone and never causes any drama.
Another contestant that I like and would not mind winning is Nicki.
Nicki is a dental hygienist from Hurst, Texas. No one really heard about Nicki; she was mostly in the background picture a lot. She never got involved much in the drama or with the ever popular “I’m falling in love with love with Ben” trend until the last few episodes. I like her personality; she seems to be a very caring and down-to-earth person, and that kind of personality is what should win the show.
This season saw many nice women who came ready for love and not ready to give that up. But like any other season, it came with the dramatic, horrible women that all of America learns to hate. This season, it started out where everyone hated Blakely and how she would always “steal Ben away” from the other girls. But Blakely’s behavior improved as the season went on, and the real problem was and still is Courtney, a model from Scottsdale, Arizona.
The other women detested Courtney and her catty behavior on the show. Emily was the first contestant to let Ben know that Courtney acts different around him than with the other women. She is always talking bad behind all the girls’ backs, and she acts really fake around Ben. I think she is not there to find love; she is there to win and get attention.
Courtney did some outrageous and uncalled for actions: she skinny dipped with Ben in Puerto Rico, she went topless at a village during a group date in Panama, and when Ben went to visit her family, she set up a mock wedding. She only cares about herself and does not deserve to win.
I am still in shock that she beat out some very nice and mature women like Kacie B. and Emily. Kacie B. was my favorite contestant, and I was upset to see her leave; I thought she was going to win the whole thing.
What makes me really angry is that not only Emily, but also Kacie B. and Nicki went to Ben about Courtney’s behavior, and he is not listening! He keeps saying how he likes that Courtney is sticking out from the rest of the group. But she is evil and should have been sent home a long time ago.
I keep joking that if she wins this season, I will hide in my room for the foreseeable future. Funny, yes, but seriously. I will not be happy.
There are only a few weeks left leading up to the big finale. I hope Ben doesn’t reveal, as he has before, that he is an ignorant, sex-hungry idiot. He needs to make the wise choice and end up with the girl who will not break his heart.
I just hope that Lindzi and Nicki can prove to him that they are the better choices and are the ones that deserve to win.
Cristin Dempsey is an English major and music minor from Eagan, Minn. She enjoys writing, playing the flute and swimming. After college she would like to pursue a career as an editor.
Comments
ginger on 25 Feb 2012: I grew up feeling like no one would love me because I wasn't beautiful. I owe this fear partially to movies and shows like the Bachelor. The movies always portrayed the less attractive girls as the slapstick comedian who was cast for the laughs. She was the funny sidekick to the beautiful heroine who finds love in the end, while her very plain Jane friend is overlooked. I could never imagine the plain Jane making love. After all, she didn't have a perfect body. There are only a handful of films like The Truth about Cats and Dogs where this isn't true, although even Jeanine Garaffalo's (sp?) character in that movie was pretty. But just recently I read a very funny and heartwarming novel that helped me to see that true love can come to the plain Janes (and Joe)s of the world. It is called What the Heart Sees by Janice Zick. I found it at the Desert Breeze Publishing.com site. Oops, no spaces. What a breath of fresh air it was. I love, love, loved it. I laughed and cried throughout the book.