Face it. The Bachelor Pad sucked. Horrible show, torturous to watch. But, guess what? The finale was good. The right couple won, but the real winner is comeback kid of the year, Wes Hayden.

To recap: Congrats to Dave and Natalie. Of the two final couples, they were my fave by miles. I’ve always liked Natalie, she has so much moxie and not an ounce of fake goody-two shoes-ness. Dave really rehabilitated himself from his angry, psycho, over-macho performance on Jillian’s season, something I never would have thought possible. I actually liked him on this show.

But my favorite part, and I’ll bet I’m not alone, was Wes and Gia. They make a great couple, and he’s so due some love after the way the show trashed him with its hatchet-editing job on Jillian’s season. I’m glad Chris Harrison acknowledged it — and they let him sing at the end.

I doubt Kiptyn and Tenley will make it, she’ll drive him crazy with her helium voice and two note repertoire, little girl giggles or crying. I don’t care about them one way or the other, but I really hope Wes and Gia last. I think Gia is the best looking woman to appear on the show, all seasons combined, and she seems to have a big heart to match. Elizabeth? Yikes, run for cover. Nikki? Loosen up girl, you come across like a grandmother. Memo to Michelle: Karma’s a b*tch. Which is why you should have forgiven Tenley when she apologized (for the third time.) It will come back to bite you.

As to those who say the Bachelor shows are real just because they aren’t scripted: They may not be scripted down to lines people say, but it surely is the most manipulated reality show in television. Example: A finale contest with ballroom dancing when Tenley’s background is in dance. What was that about? The show needed her and Kiptyn to be in the final two, and the only way to arrange it, was to make the contest a slam dunk for her. Did you notice the judge’s scores for the other couples were a disconnect from their comments and facial reactions? They would have scored Dave and Natalie higher, and Jesse and Elizabeth, who had her typical alzheimer’s moment during the performance causing her to forget all her moves, much lower, but they had earpierces in. Is anyone naive enough to think they weren’t getting instructions in their ear from the control room?

Related: Melissa looked stunning. Even her “baby bump” was cute. She really should have gotten the hosting job on DWTS over the Princess of Blandness, Brook. At least Melissa’s spontaneous, happy, but not in a fake way, and can come out with the honest, unpredictable quip.

As for Natalie, I think she’d be great in a reality show about an LA bartender, kind of an updated version of Cocktail, where she has the Tom Cruise role. From there, who knows, maybe her own clothing and shoe line.

So while I’m really glad Natalie and Dave won, and I hope they stay friends, to me the real winner was Wes. He he didn’t get any money, so do yourself and Wes a favor and buy his album. It’s really good. If he ever comes to play in Denver, I’ll be there to hear him. You can friend him on FB and Twitter. He personally answers messages, and sometimes will write on your FB wall. I ‘ve known for a long time he’s the real deal. And just think, with the royalties he earns from your purchases, he might be able to afford more plane tickets to visit Gia.

One last note: In a post-show interview, Chris Harrisson was sounding the death-knell for Chris Lambert as the next Bachelor. He’s right: Just because a guy is nice and good-looking, doesn’t mean he’d shine in the role. If I were casting Chris, I’d put him in a network show, like a rerun of Lifeguard, where his job is to save little kids from drowning every week.

And that’s a wrap. I hope this is the one and only Bachelor Pad I have to suffer through.

ABC’s The Bachelor Pad wrapped up filming last week and is set to air beginning August 9.

Does Mike Fleiss have another winner on his hands? Probably. Especially if he can keep stoking the Jake-Vienna break-up flames until then, now that Jake has crossed over to the dark side and joined the Bachelor Pad in its waning few days. He’s going to need one when Ali picks no one at her final rose ceremony. Unless, of course, Ali reunites with one of the guys for the After the Final Rose Show.

As part of a happy couple, Ali can make a lot of money in post-show appearances. By herself, not so much. So don’t rule it out.

As to the Bachelor Pad, I’m still picking Kiptyn and Tenley as the final two. As for who will kicked off early, I’ll say Michelle and David Good. (Now wouldn’t it be something if they hooked up — the two contestants with the biggest psycho-edits since I started watching the show? ) Update 6/30: Reality Steve says the first two kicked off are Michelle and Juan. Go read the rest if you want to know more about who the final four are and if you don’t want to know how it plays out, don’t go there.)

Since they all left LA around the same day, I’m assuming they will be bringing the evicted contestants back to vote for the winner. Another reason why Kiptyn may win, they all seem to like him.

As for pair-ups, here’s what the 20th contestant, Matthue Johnson, had to say after he got canned the morning of filming. And from Reality Steve, look for Elizabeth, “the tease” from Jake’s season (who now is blonde) to heat things up with Jesse from Jillian’s season. Same for Natalie (and I suspect he won’t be the only one she’s drawn to.) I wonder who will find this guy’s tattoos attractive? Here’s a full list of contestants:

Ashley Elmore
‘Bachelor’ Season 14, Jake Pavelka
Age: 30
Occupation: Teacher

Craig McKinnon
‘Bachelorette’ Season 6, Ali Fedotwsky
Age: 34
Occupation: Dental Sales

David Good
‘Bachelorette’ Season 5, Jillian Harris
Age: 28
Occupation: Entrepreneur

Elizabeth Kreft
‘Bachelor’ Season 14, Jake Pavelka
Age: 30
Occupation: Sales

Gia Allemand
‘Bachelor’ Season 14, Jake Pavelka
Age: 26
Occupation, Project Manager

Gwen Gioia
‘Bachelor’ Season 2, Aaron Buerge
Age: Not given
Occupation: Project Manager

Jesse Beck
‘Bachelorette’ Season 6, Ali Fedotwsky
Age: 25
Occupation: General Contractor

Jesse Kovacs
‘Bachelorette’ Season 5, Jillian Harris
Age: 28
Occupation: Winemaker

Jessie Sulidis
‘Bachelor’ Season 14, Jake Pavelka
Age: 25
Occupation: Cosmetics Sales

Jonathan Novack
‘Bachelorette’ Season 6, Ali Fedotwsky
Age: 31
Occupation: Weatherman

Juan Barbieri
‘Bachelorette’ Season 5, Jillian Harris
Age: 37
Occupation: General Contractor

Kiptyn Locke
‘Bachelorette’ Season 5, Jillian Harris
Age: 32
Occupation: Sales & Operations Manager

Krisily Kennedy
‘Bachelor’ Season 7, Charlie O’Connell
Age: 30
Occupation: Personal assistant

Michelle Kujawa
‘Bachelor’ Season 14, Jake Pavelka
Age: 26
Occupation: Sales

Natalie Getz
‘Bachelor’ Season 13, Jason Mesnick
Age: 28
Occupation: Bartender

Nikki Kaapke
‘Bachelor’ Season 13, Jason Mesnick
Age: 30
Occupation: Administrative Assistant

Peyton Wright
‘Bachelor,’ Season 10, Andy Baldwin
Age: 27
Occupation: Cheerleader Apparel Sales

Tenley Molzahn
‘Bachelor’ Season 14, Jake Pavelka
Age: 26
Occupation: College Admissions

Wes Hayden
‘Bachelorette’ Season 5, Jillian Harris
Age: 33
Occupation: Country Music Artist

Will you be watching? I wouldn’t miss it for anything. I think it will be raunchy, and trashy, with a lot of backstabbing, — hopefully not to the debased level of Jersey Shore. My other faves: Wes and Gia.

Any predictions from you B fans out there?

Update 5/2/10: It’s not a certainty Jesse Csincsak will be on. He’s not saying one way or the other. Stay tuned.

1/12/10: “The Bachelor Pad”, a spin-off that will be kind of like ‘The Bachelor/ette Meets Big Brother’ is coming to TV in late August, MC’d by Chris Harrison. I wrote about the possibility back in August. Question: If Chris is the MC, will there also be a host and who will it be?

20 former contestants on the Bachelor/Bachelorette shows will live in a Big Brother type house, competing for a cash prize. One will be evicted each week.

No release of names yet, but I bet a bunch are in the photo above. And one is a certainty: Jesse Csincsak. Jesse proposed a similar idea for a Bachelor Reunion show (The Bachelor All Stars) last year that got everyone thinking about it.

Some of my predictions: Natalie Getz, Michael Stagliano, Holly Durtz, Robby D, Tanner Pope, Juan Barbieri, Jesse Kovacs, Nikki Kapelke.

Who I doubt you’ll see: Wes, Melissa, Jason or Molly. Or Deanna.

Question: Will Jeremy or Graham be in? I bet not. How about Kiptyn and Reid? Jillian and Ed? No idea yet. Stay tuned.