It was a daring move as well as a Bachelor first, but unfortunately Shawntel Newton’s bid to return to The Bachelor to win Ben Flajnik’s heart was over before it could even begin. On this week’s episode the 25-year-old funeral director, who was a final four contestant on Brad Womack’s season of The Bachelor, showed up unexpectedly at the pre-rose ceremony cocktail party hoping to talk Ben into letting her stay so they could get to know each other better. The 18 remaining bachelorettes were outraged and Ben was shocked.
"Ben's everything I want in a guy. If I didn't do this, I would always think 'what if,' and I don't want to live my life like that. In ways I think this could be a total fairytale, so here I am,” Shawntel explained before crashing the cocktail party in San Francisco.
"I want to be at the rose ceremony and if you are willing to give me a rose, I'd be really happy," the funeral director told Ben. "If you're not, don't give me a rose and we'll end it now. But I feel like you have more feelings."
To the relief of the bachelorettes, Ben sent Shawntel packing at the rose ceremony along with Erika and Jaclyn. He explains his decision in his latest blog for People.com.
“So I have heard from everyone that makes this show happen that this was truly the craziest cocktail party and rose ceremony in Bachelor history. Having only seen one other season (Brad Womack's), I would have to agree. Wow. Nothing in my life would have ever prepared me for the s––– storm that happened that night,” he writes.
“Shawntel and I had chatted a few times in between seasons and I thought she was an interesting, beautiful woman and she was right to assume that there was a connection. There was, but the timing was wrong. So, you can imagine how surprised I was when she showed up to the cocktail party unannounced,” Ben explains. “I knew if I kept Shawntel around I would lose all the credibility I had built with these women and it wouldn't be easy to dig myself out of that hole.”
“Let's put it this way – if Shawntel had started the journey with the rest of the women it might have been different. But I was already so happy with the group of women that I had that I wasn't about to jeopardize the rest of my experience in trying to find love. I do want to thank Shawntel though for coming. She gave up a lot to try this and I really respect her for it,” he adds.
Shortly after The Bachelor aired, Shawntel tweeted about the episode. "This was a very emotional night. I have NO regrets doing it! Thank you for all your support. You all made this easier for me,” she wrote.
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