Ben returns to the mansion for the first big cocktail party.
He explains to Chris Harrison that, as painful as his experience was last season, he has no regrets.
When Ben began his journey with Ashley, he was emotionally shut down due to his grief over his father’s death.
Ultimately, he was able to open himself up again to love. Because of that journey, he is a different man and ready to try and find love again.
As the limos pull up, Ben is overwhelmed by how excited these beautiful women are to meet him.
An attractive young law student informs Ben that he’s been found guilty – of being sexy! A germ-conscious epidemiologist sanitizes both herself and Ben, and then promptly steals the season’s first kiss.
But nothing can prepare Ben for the moment the limo door opens and a senior citizen steps out.
Who is this mysterious septuagenarian, and why is she confessing that she is madly in love with him? And just when it seems he has seen it all, a horse trots up with the last bachelorette in the saddle.
Once inside the mansion, the competition for Ben’s attention heats up. An easy-going woman and a sweet divorcee both make an early play for the Bachelor, while the sexy equestrian proves she is equally as charming without the horse.
But Ben’s older admirer advises him that he needs a family-
oriented woman. The pressure mounts when Chris brings out the “first impression” rose, as one woman after another attempts to win Ben’s heart and the rose.
One athletic woman corners Ben for a quick soccer game; a sassy personal trainer demands he do pushups; a gorgeous model seduces him and a charming scholar demonstrates her “gangsta” side by performing a rap she wrote just for him. But drama erupts when the pressure proves to be too much for one sensitive young woman.
Another outgoing bachelorette seems like she might be more interested in one of the other women than in Ben. Gossip flies and the conflict escalates, leaving one woman in uncontrollable tears.
After Ben awards one vivacious beauty the “first impression” rose, he thanks the bachelorettes for calming his nerves.
He regretfully must send seven women home, leaving 18 to begin an extraordinary adventure with him.
(source: ABC)
