Bachelor Ben Flajnik is the laughing stock of America for getting romantically involved with model Courtney Robertson. After dumping several wonderful women on The Bachelor 2012 season so he could have more sex with the leggy brunette, he’s not only made himself look like he was disingenuous with the show’s production staff about the kind of relationship he was looking for, he appears to have tricked several the women who came on the show with their hearts open to the prospect of finding love with him.
On March 5th, 2012 the Women’s Tell-All episode aired on ABC. The Bachelor 2012 show host Chris Harrison did his dead-level best to keep his own comments about the affair between Ben Flajnik and his mistress Courtney Robertson neutral, but it was clear that he was struggling to keep his mouth shut both to an about Ben. You could hear the tension in his voice when he questioned the women of the house about how they treated one another, but he was visibly not enchanted with the testimony of Robertson. The entire atmosphere of the house seemed to be poisoned by the woman who proclaimed herself “winning” all season.
This year’s show has been the most troubling season since the show first aired. Clearly, the producers kept cameras rolling thinking that the scandals and sensationalism would sell like crazy — but they goofed. Ratings have been flat, viewers are outraged, and people who have watched the show for years swear that if Ben proposes on camera to the worst contestant that has ever been cast on any season they will never watch the show again. It’s been a PR nightmare from start to finish — for the show, for the wine maker bachelor, and the venom Courtney put out on camera between seducing Ben and primping while getting ready to go on cam has even become an embarrassment for her family and alleged friends. [We know she has family but her claim that she’s got friends in real life is dubious.]
As one previous show fan named Debbie says, “What a waste of a Bachelor. He should have just gone to Vehas [sic] and found a showgirl/arm candy to pump his sorry ego. I find this so pathetic. Like the Miss America swimsuit pageant. All looks and no substance! Ben deserves whatever misery Courtney brings his way. I hope they end up despising each other. Wouldn’t it be kismet if he ended up begging Lindzi back? To all of the ladies on the final episodes; he isn’t good enough for ANY of you!! Do not feel sad! You all are worth so much more than his shallow mentality. My heart breaks for all who suffered thru Ben!”
Harrison noted they were doing something unusual for the Women’s Tell-All. He gave the troublemaker an opportunity to defend herself and apologize to the other women — as well as gave all the girls in the house to come clean about what was really happening between the women who were living together in the house on the various trips throughout the season. And, he let Ben talk to the girls to hear more from them.
Here’s the recap — including what Ben and Courtney each had to say to the various women. But be forewarned — if you were expecting closure or for Ben or Courtney to show real remorse to those they hurt the most with their shenanigans, it didn’t happen. Ben showed no empathy for the women he dumped or anything any of the women went through because of Courtney’s wicked tongue and antics.
- Jamie the shy and awkward super-slut wannabe was so embarrassed watching her awkward footage of trying to coach Ben on how to romance her on cam, we felt a little bad watching. But, what did the girl expect? The only thing producers could have done better was to pan more tot he shocked faces of people in the audience. We felt sorry for her parents because she clearly had no idea what it means to court a man.
- Blakely really kicked it up a notch on night one, letting people know she was there to meet Ben — not make friends. Rachel was really offended, as was Jen. Samantha bragged that she made great friends with the other girls and claimed Blakely was a bully, but the waitress says she wished she had not had her guard up as much as she did. However, she said when she was in the moment, her priorities were to meet and fall in love with Ben. Claiming she could only be herself, she only did what she could. Samantha does not care what anyone says, she thinks Blakely was mean — but the other girls say it was she that was annoying and simply won’t shut up. Calling out Samantha for being a barking Chihuahua, it was clear which girl was the bigger dog. We mean that in the most complimentary sense, though — Blakely might be Alpha, but we think she was truly there to play for love and did so with her whole heart.
- Shawntel got blasted by the girls when she tried to crash the season and the women were really upset when she again crashed the women’s tell-all. She claimed Ben was everything she wanted in a love partner. When she found out he was the Bachelor, she called Chris Harrison and asked to be brought on the show to meet up with and marry Ben. The women who were already there and playing the game were as horrible to her as any one woman could be to another. They called her Brad’s dumpster trash, insulted her saying she was much uglier in person, and they scared Ben so bad he sent her home. What a mistake that turned out to be for him, as his remaining women were Courtney and Lindzi in the final season. Shawntel the Funeral Director is still torn up emotionally by how they treated her. She’s mortified by how they treated her and the horrible things that they said behind her back. Before the show she did not have body issues — now she is worried that people think she is ugly, a bitch, or has wide hips. Shame on the producers for hiring contestants who would act with such bitterness. Stuck in an impossible situation all the way around, Elyse was the first girl to offer a half-assed apology. Rachel said she feels a little guilty but blames Shawntel; Emily said there was a right way and a wrong way to approach the situation and thinks Shawntel approached the girls the wrong way by coming in to take Ben; Jaclyn said she was a bitch and defended herself; Erika said she was ugly, had big thighs, and was white trash. Emily defended her and said anyone who sees her knows she is stunning. We agree — but disagree that because she was prettier than anyone in the house that the other ladies should have viciously attacked Shawntel’s looks, figure, or personal character. Shame on them! We would not wish those kinds of women as girlfriends or wives on anybody.
- Emily got filleted on the show by Courtney and Ben. She was a really pretty girl, had a good demeanor, and truly cared about what was going to happen to Ben in the future. She hates seeing people misled she says, and was the only one to tell Ben the truth about Courtney. Broken-hearted that Ben did not listen and let her go home thinking she had done something wrong, Emily got the sympathy of all nice girls in the world. She said once she said something about Courtney, Ben saw her as an antagonist from that point on and it killed their connection. At the same time, she says she would never want to end up with someone who would fall for what happened with Courtney. Ben only seemed to be interested in sex while Emily was only interested in a genuine relationship. To that end, she knows Ben was a bad match for her. When she told him her concerns, he told her to tread lightly and warned her that she did not know him as well as she thought she did. Emily put it nicely when she said that a man who she would want to be involved with would have told her thanks for coming to him with her concerns, that he respected her opinion and appreciated her willingness to confide in him. Emily said if Ben ended up with Courtney (like we all know he did thanks to spoilers), its his bed and he’ll have to lie in it. Which, when you think about how much Courtney lied and lies to him is actually a great description about what the future with the megalomaniac model will be — a fitting end!
- Nicky was left alone in Switzerland in tears. The darling divorcee was madly in love with Ben. She thought he was beautiful and fun to be with; dating Ben made her realize how much she wanted to get married again. She confessed she was head over heels for him and he ditched her for Courtney. She was the fun and beautiful one though, and man did that boy blow it when he dumped her! The dental hygienist from Texas really loved him and the home town date convinced her he was the one. Chris Harrison brought up how natural the chemistry was between them, but Nicky thinks maybe he was too comfortable with her. She was shocked when he dumped her without cause, noting she had no clue the sudden dismissal was happening. She had the best response to Chris that any Bachelorette ever had — Nicky said she has questions for Ben about why they broke up but NOT about what she did wrong. Nicky says she knows she did not do anything wrong because she was 100% herself! And the audience agreed, cheered her, and offered huge applause.
- Kacie B the administrative assistant from Tennessee was the first one of the girls to tell Ben she was in love with him. A truly nice girl, she should have been one of the final two but their home town date seemed to wreck the relationship. She’s likely to be the next Bachelorette because she was the most open to finding love on the program. She even flew to Switzerland to confront him about why they broke up and to tell him to be cautious with Courtney. Watching the show, she’s learned that she and Ben have different core values because of where they are from geographically and their families. Kacie wants to fall in love again but with the right man the next time. Namely, not skirt chasing and duplicitous Ben.
- Courtney… oh dear. That woman is not even a hot mess. She’s used her trout pout and lady bits to lure Ben away from women who really did love him so she could make herself rich and famous. She hurt and frustrated ever woman in the house except for her single loser mignon. And she’s single-handedly done more damage to the producer’s reputations than even Ashley H’s frustrating crush creep Bentley Williams. Bringing her on the Women Tell All show before she and Ben are married in real life, she was on her best behavior (acting like she was the one who was wounded by all the other women), but it is really clear that nowadays when she is with Ben or on television she is play acting her emotions like a soap opera diva. Most viewers gut reaction is this woman is about as sincere as Rush Limbaugh was when he offered an apology to that college student he called a slut. Kacie B was the polar opposite of her — kind, sweet, genuine… but Ben likes nasty and insincere women apparently. Showing the recap of some of the things she said and ways she acted to the women makes some of the girls feel a bit sorry for Ben. When the day comes for her to switch that venom and direct it to him, can you imagine? What if they do get married and have kids? The power she will have to hurt him and the kids if they get divorced will be immense.
- Noting that Courtney seems to have a split personality, we had to give her her own bullet. Chris Harrison said the women were justifiably pissed. Lourtney blamed the women and said she came to the house not wanting confrontation. Blakely confronted her immediately about calling her a stripper and saying that sh was the kind of girl a boyfriend cheats with. The other women say her skinny dipping was absolutely trashy. She tried to back peddle about what she had done to Emily. Nicky confronted Courtney about what made her finally issue an apology — she said that realizing she was going to lose she apologized to Ben. At no point did she care about the harm she has done to the women. Kacie B confronted her about the constant jabs, and again Courtney blamed the women. Jen thinks the apology to ben was only to be top two; moreover, the girls unanimously say that the only reason Courtney was at the tell-all was to repair her image. The other women point out that everyone was just as nervous as Courtney but that did not make them lash out with verbal barbs or make them sneak around with Ben. Courtney sat and looked teary eyed, still blaming them for making her feel uncomfortable living in a house full of women and never owned the responsibility for initiating and saying all the nasty things about them. Since Ben believes her and not the other women despite overwhelming evidence he was being played for a fool, it makes him look like more of a villain — because after all, she’s never claimed to be a good person. He has, and isn’t. Now, she’s claiming it is their fault for not trying to get to know her better and saying that them questioning her sincerity with Ben is hurtful. She says she is not a mean-spirited person and that the situation brought out the worst in her. Now, she claims the mean things said about her are starting to affect her family negatively. She offered a half-hearted apology to the women while blaming them, denying being mean, and saying she has to work on things. She’s followed the playbook for an emotionally abusive person to wiggle out of a situation. When Blakely asked her to recant her words, she had to cover her mouth because she started to laugh. Then, the louder the women got, the more she wanted it to stop. She pretended to cry and apologized for hurting Ben. She claims she cared for and says she still does, but from the tone of her words, she and Ben — as the tabloid spoilers suggest — might have gone to the final rose ceremony for her to win the game, but there is a chance they have already broken up. By the time she exited to the limo she was not tearful at all — only when the cameras were rolling in front of the live studio audience did she seem to pretend cry about being sorry to the girls at all.
- Ben Flajnik started his bit saying, “Welcome to my nightmare.” Not good. Jennifer asked why he sent her home and kept Blakely. Ben said he never compared one woman against another. If he was not feeling a connection, he sent the girls home early rather than later. Emily wanted to know why he gave her no closure — and Ben continued to blame HER for telling him about Courtney Robertson’s split personality antics. Nicky is still blinded by love for Ben. She thinks he is the best guy ever… but he wants to know at what point in their journey his feelings for her ended. Ben claims he had no idea what was going on when he sent her home, but he was just going on instinct to ditch her and keep Courtney Robertson. He apologized to Casey S of all people for the curt way he sent her home. Jamie told him again she really liked him and gave him an open invite to hook up in the future. Chris Harrison said this had been the most unusual season ever. During the lighter moments video clip, Ben streaked in his vineyard. When the show panned back to him, he said, “See? That was not the only time I got naked.” Insert appropriate eye roll at big LOSER man.
- WHO WILL BEN PICK TO BE HIS WIFE? He claims Courtney Robertson, the shallow and vacuous mean-spirited model is a nurturing and sincere woman. He claims she is the total package. He loves that she is quirky and weird and that he sees his life with this woman. Nicky watched their love-fest video clip segment shaking her head — like the rest of America, she knows Ben is and was totally being played all season. Kacie B knows the same thing and you can see it in her face. No one thinks he will propose to Lindzi Cox (the horse girl from the wealthy family). He describes her as someone he thinks is a firecracker. He liked her positive spirit and attractive for that reason. Nicky softened watching them together but lots of the other women rolled their eyes hearing Ben describe his relationship with her; everyone knows he’s just setting her up to leave heartbroken in the end. Poor Lindzi (like the rest of the women) most likely won’t see the end coming. She truly wants to settle down and spend her life with someone, but there is really no way he could have a better relationship with her than he did with Nicky or Kacie B… and you see where that got them. To that end, having Courtney on the show to the end was not only unfair to do to the other women who were there for the right reasons, Ben has done indelible damage to his own personal and professional reputation (as no one in the future could ever trust his judgement about business dealings with other humans). Ultimately, one can only turn off the television knowing that Ben Flajnik following his vanity and lust helped him pick the exact kind of woman who would hurt him in a split minute — and will.
You don’t need to be a psychic to make that kind of prediction. She will only be sweet as long as he has something to offer her that she wants — whether that be fame, fortune, or a whipping boy who will babysit her and indulge every whim remains to be seen.
All we know is we feel sorry for his family, as they are likely to end up being treated the same way Courtney treated the rest of the women — his mother is especially at risk of being ousted. Next target sisters and women friends. Then business partners… she will weed friends and family out of his life until she has total control.
Then, if he acts up, she’ll divorce him, take all his money if they are married, and would only use kids to manipulate him for child support and to break his spirit. Will Ben have a season two like the previous Bachelor Brad Womak did?
NOT LIKELY.
If they re-hire him, they are likely to have such poor ratings no one will ever take the reality show seriously again.
ABC — if you are listening — never cast a Bachelor who is such a bad kisser ever again. That smacky-slurpy lip thing he’s done with all the women is disgusting… especially because you keep failing to mute his nasty sound effects. And don’t cast contestants that act anything like Courtney Robertson. She might be pretty on the surface, but she’s even lower than The Bachelorette villain Bentley Williams for staying and playing the game. At least he had the decency to reach a certain level of fame, then quit.
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