TV Grapevine has an extended video of Bachelor Brad Womack as he brings Emily Maynard and Chantal O’Brien to meet his family and on the last chance dates. It’s pretty obvious from the video that Brad is telling Emily she’s the one. He keeps saying he wants to be Ricki’s real father.
It’s also pretty obvious that Chantal knows on the last chance date that Brad is not choosing her. (Its usually the F2 who gets the shark date. ) I think she has known since their treehouse date — another unromantic date (Outdoors, lots of bugs, no jacuzzi, no real bathroom, no luxury. It was worse than a camping date.) Props to Chantal for being the good trooper and going through with the Final Rose Ceremony knowing she was being rejected. I’m not surprised she turned the Bachelorette part down, even before she had a new boyfriend. The show was not kind to to her in the editing.
Ashley Hebert, who will be announced as the next Bachelorette on the Jimmy Kimmel show Monday night, is a disappointing choice for the role. All we can do is hope the guys are worth watching in her season.
The spoilers ruined this season. First with Reality Steve being wrong about Chantal being F-1, then saying 100% that it’s Emily, and then that Ashley will be the next Bachelorette. Even if he turns out to be right about the last two spoilers, it doesn’t make up for the first false spoiler about Chantal. His cocky insistence it positively was Chantal colored our viewing the whole season, until we learned he was wrong (and he later confirmed it.) It was nice of him to do a mea culpa, but it doesn’t restore his credibility. The only good thing to come out of Reality Steve’s false Chantal spoiler is that next season we’ll return to sleuthing, because Reality Steve’s information just can’t be taken as the final word.
On the finale, filmed November 19, 2010, we’ll see Brad head over heels with Emily and the idea of a ready-made family. What will be their status now, almost four months later, filmed this week for the “After the Final Rose” show? Have Emily and Ricki moved to Austin? Are they living with Brad? Are Brad and Emily still together? Will they announce a wedding date?
Common sense tells us if Emily and Ricki are living in Austin, they didn’t just move in with Brad. Brad and Emily need to shop for a home together (his loft is too small), and they will want to bring Ricki along so she feels she’s a part of the process (and it comes of less of a shock when they do move in together. ) Nor could the Bachelor chance having some realtor spill the beans before the FRC. It took Brad and Emily took the whole season to show any emotion for each other. It was like watching paint dry. I suspect their post-engagement plans will be the same — deliberately slow, not rushing into anything, and keeping their cards close to the vest.
I think Emily is a better match for Brad than Chantal. I’m not sure Brad is so great for Emily, or that she won’t get bored by him over time, or want to return to Charlotte for the prestige that being part of the Hendricks clan brings. Had Brad chosen Chantel, I think she’d have fit in really well with his life in Austin. But if Brad wasn’t feeling it for Chantal, then he made the right decison…for him. Time will tell if it’s also the right decision for Emily and Ricki.