3 "likes" and yer out !!

Lauren B- the front runner  but what color are her eyes??

Bachelor Nation has the enjoyable voyage tagging along on Ben's journey to find a soul mate. Now we get ponder his choices and actions as we await his destiny.  

Malcolm Gladwell wrote with some insight into  the college selection process. Gladwell puts forward the notion that students should not necessarily go to major, prestigious universities just to take advantage of that prestige. Instead, students should go to universities where they are likely to truly and notably excel. Our boy Malcolm draws upon a principle called “relative  deprivation”.  This principle describes how we measure ourselves against the people  immediately around us.  We tend to compare our successes to their successes, as well as are our failures.  The  weaker students at an elite school may rank in top  of lower ranked school but by comparison to their elite school peers  they feel less capable and unsuccessful. They may have been better in a non elite institution where they have better chance of being successful  than have dreams and confidence crushed.

This concept has relevance to more than college selection discussions. The bachelor is many things –  primarily it is a TV show conceived to be entertaining  and draw viewers and advertisers . But the Bachelor is a  program about the mate selection process among other things.  Bachelor Nation enjoys the process and the personalities while the mate selection process plays out.

So,  you may ask, does Gladwells’  theory have relevance to our boy Ben? We all have a sense of our personal level of attractiveness which generally evolves by comparing ourselves to averages or others we know. We can also see what Hollywood  deems attractive. With that sense it seems that we attempt to qualify our dating pool to those we think are in our same category of beauty/attractiveness. There was a HOUSE episode years back where a beautiful lady was married to a very plain even unattractive guy who was ill. HOUSE  remarked you are a “9” what are  you doing with a “4”?  This is not natural, he continued  “ 9’s’ belong with “9’s” , “4’s” belong with “4’s”.  Given that all the bachelorettes are very attractive as is Ben, there is a parity of sorts in terms of appearance.  The producers do a good pre selection on the basis of attractiveness plus make it pleasant for Bachelor Nation.  Now that attractiveness does not create a relative  deprivation for Ben , we have to move on to the next predictor. So in addition to physical presentation what else can be the next best predictor of mate selection choices?  Or on what basis will Ben make his choices as he continues his journey and will the lady be a good choice?

We have “ the birds of a feather flock together”  theory which we can describe as  the tendency for dates, mates and spouses to pair off with someone of similar attraction, background, interests and needs.  The contra theory  is “opposites attract” but even in those matches we often  see couple develop similarities  and finish  each other’s sentence while they  evolve into common activities , and parent together. 

While we ponder which Bachelorettes are establishing  connections with Ben we realize the choice is going to be on the basis of what Ben gets out of the relationship in terms of how his needs are  met. It seems Ben grew up in a home where he was nurtured, and supported by his parents. They sustained his growth and development. Ben is a birds of a feather guy  and he is going to be more comfortable with someone of similar background, interests and needs. He will look for someone who promises growth and support in fulfilling his potential in all areas of his life. Eventually I think Ben is going to pick the one most like his mother. ( although in his age group J) . By the way "find someone like your mother" is the same advice I offered young master Shea!  

 

Ben opens the week with a one on one  date with Amanda . They go on a hot air balloon flight across some pyramids  in Mexico.  Ben offered some appreciation  of  the construction skills of the builders of the pyramids  but neglected to bring up the Aztec ritual ripping  human hearts  from the chest of young ladies.  Not getting a rose from the Aztecs had a lot of downside for the bachelorettes.

Amanda will not have her heart ripped out by Ben today either.  The entire Bachelor Nation  would happily volunteer Olivia as favored  candidate for the human sacrifice but this date is Amanda’s window. Amanda has gotten out of the blocks with some difficulty. She is divorced with 2 kids and is trying her best to give the kids a start. However, every phrase she expresses  interposes  “like”  in the sentence  to the point where I am counting the number of times she says “like”. Ben is no better and the producers have to get these people out of “like” high school.  Amanda gets a rose but I think of it as a courtesy rose  as our boy is kind and does not want to hurt her. However, she will relate to the human sacrifice victims  who had their hearts ripped out in a couple weeks or so.  She is doomed despite her pleasant personality and will likely be gone before the final four. She does not fit in Ben’s world and several of the candidates are much better fits and just as attractive.   For Amanda it is  3 “likes” and yer out !

 

Amanda

Next , Ben takes nine girls on a group date where they practice a couple Spanish language expressions and then go off to cook some Mexican food. The show this far seems to be to make sure everyone is worn out by Olivia but of course to make us all roll our eyes Olivia gets the group rose. This episode is similar to watching a movie where you want a character to just get whacked. Where is Ray Liotta when you need him?  We would pay to have Ray show up and "take care of the problem".

Ray Liotta

But not only has Bachelor Nation had enough fun with Olivia, the girls are sick of her as well. But we need conflict to make this interesting and Olivia  brings that to every scene. Stephen Cannel was a Hollywood writer  for many action shows. He used a theme in his writing showing  ‘what are the bad guys up to? . I think the bachelor producers have adopted a similar mantra as Olivia get more time than anyone . It seems the producers perceive Bachelor Nation is happy engaging in rooting against someone as it is to root for someone.

 
Jubilee, who has nothing in common whatsoever with Ben's mother, took the occasion to press Ben on his commitment level and walked the plank .  The maidens on the pyramid awaiting the sword had more of a chance to survive than Jubilee. And Ben has whittled the field to ten.  

Finally, Lauren H ( my personal favorite) gets her day in the sun with a one on one date with Ben and Mexico fashion week. Our young couple takes spins as a runway models and sip margaritas. Lauren H   demonstrates  warmth and sense of humor. I have to concede she is a charmer and easy to like. Ben could be happy with Lauren H .

Enthusiasm counts !

She seems to fit Ben well and she has blue eyes to go with her blond hair. I see her making the final four although Lauren  B and Calia seem to be running 1-2 on Ben’s leaderboard. But I am concerned that Lauren B has brown eyes to go with her blondish hair. In that case -- she cant get to the finish line. Nature does not support  the Blond hair- brown eyes combination !! ( the second piece of advice I imparted to young master Shea)

 

Lauren H has blue eyes

Although we are presented as this is Ben’s journey for love, it is really an audition for the next bachelorette. The next Bachelorette has to win the hearts of  Bachelor Nation while managing  to come close but not “win” Ben’s final rose.

At this point I see Lauren B ( only if she has blue  though) as the leader for Ben and Calia as the  next Bachelorette . It is time for Ben to drop 4 or five girls to bring the field  down to Jo Jo , Becca, Lauren B , Lauren H and Calia .

Maybe we can say goodbye to Olivia next week too!

What starts out in Vegas....stays in Vegas

Our favorite mate selection story  continues with Ben taking the ladies to Las Vegas . Ben will continue to build connections while simultaneously culling the troop of candidates. Nature can offer some advise to Ben as he continues his pursuit. We are reminded of female crocodiles hanging around and picking the biggest and strongest croc to mate with in order to pass along these survival traits to the next generation of crocodiles. This strategy has proven effective over a time tested 275 million years. Hopefully for the species sake , the crocodiles  avoid  getting politically correct and   chastising  the biggest and strongest crocs that may not be  sensitive to the feelings of  less “strength privileged  crocs”,  and we can expect the mate selection process for crocs to remain intact. In this case, the female just needs to hang around for the winner to establish himself in the battle among the males to earn the win in the mating sweepstakes. But for the emperor penguins , much  as we see in the Bachelor, the females are the ones that compete for the males and select with whom they want to mate.  As we watch the Bachelor we wonder how these ladies can distinguish themselves. So perhaps the female emperor penguins efforts can serve as a guide.

There are generally three ways that penguins attract their mates:
Trumpeting ( by males) is done to tell other males to stay away, to attract females, and to show possession of their nest site.
Mutual- This is done after the male and female are paired up and it strengthens their bond. They stretch their heads and necks upward and they vocalize.
Bowing- This is also done to strengthen a bond and is when one or both penguins bows to each other. When they are bowing they may also "quiver" which is when they vibrate their beaks and make a low hiss or growl noise.

 

I think we can make some parallels and offer the troop some guidelines to help them navigate the treacherous waters of the Bachelor’s journey.

Trumpeting : The best manifestation of this  skill was demonstrated by Courtney Robinson during Ben’s season. While Ben was chatting casually with another candidate, Courtney walked by in her bikini and stretched  out by the pool distracting Ben to  the point he lost his concentration and simple had to stare.  Not everyone is ready to adopt this strategy but among this years crop it seems Calia is suited to give this a shot

Mutual: this is where “hot tube skills” come into play. It seems all are pretty well equipped to compete here. Ben seems to like this arena even more than helicopter rides. Any location however is deemed “in play” where hot tub skills are involved

Bowing : although I do not expect hissing or growling we can chat about how the conversation flows with Ben and our candidates. Some are comfortable ( Lauren B) while others are strained  ( Olivia) .This is the arena where quiet confidence and poise matter the most. This is a tiebreaker category and one that can end or perpetuate the journey.

 

This week Ben opens with a helicopter flight with JoJo. Jo Jo is emerging as a nice friendly sort and seems to be comfortable with our boy. For Bachelor nation she doesn’t offer much conflict so we expect her to move on for a while  but we are not suggesting she go pick out curtains.

Ben finally acknowledges  the twins Emily and Haley who as it happens live in Las Vegas. Ben gets them in the limo for a drive and all we need is for Ben to feature a 70’s porn star mustache to complete the image. Our twins list their occupation as “Twin”. This loose classification suggests next year we will see a candidate with an occupation of “Middle Child”.

The twins look exactly alike of course  seems to be presented in a manner to resemble Taylor Swift.  As we know in the journey to find love the bachelor takes helicopters, yachts  and stays in luxury hotels. But Ben takes the Vegas twins  home to meet their mother. The mother greets us and she is exactly what the twins will look like in 25 years. Also she is alone so we are left with a bit of Disney movie mystery as to where is the other parent ? We recall Belle only had her dad. Bambi’s mother got killed, Ariel is another and of course we watched as Simba lost Mufasa. Now the twins as in same boat.

In the Disney movies we  often witness a character  who is growing up and taking responsibility. These youngsters  overcome adversity. Now our twins are in the same boat and I find myself rooting for them. ( I still get chocked up when Mufasa dies and Simba is there trying to revive him)

Ben has not engaged too much with them and determines he needs to see them as individuals and  not as “the twins” and one has to say home. He chooses Emily to stick around and Haley is left at home with Mom and the beautiful dogs. Overall I have to give Ben credit for this as he is not able to proceed and see if he can develop a relationship. However, Emily will not be singing Hakuna Matata  with Ben.

 

The rest of the show is focused on presenting  Olivia in the worst light possible. To be fair  this effort did not take much manipulation and she has firmly established  herself as the one the girls cant stand ( nor can we in bachelor nation) but given the screen time and amount of conflict she had to advance for another week.

Ben let Amber and Rachel go which didn’t surprise anyone especially as we never saw Rachel and I think Mexico is on the agenda next week.  so lets see where we are:

Lauren  B : has to be top seed at this point. Unless they find a dead girl scout in her room she is a shoo in to final four

  

Calia : Ben classified  her as sex panther. For emperor penguins this skill would be a winner so she skates into the final four. I am warming up more to her as time goes on.

 

Lauren H : the observer effect  refers to changes that the act of observation will make on a phenomenon being observed. On opening night I thought this kindergarten teacher might be best match for our midwestern  lad  from Warsaw Indiana. But much like Simba had to move on so has Ben and I think he leaves Lauren  H behind at some point  to the final four.

 

Jo Jo: seems to be on good path,  I give here a chance to be on the  cusp of final four but ben will not have sleepless nights when he lets her go.

 

Olivia:  this chick has collapsed  from “great first  impression” to “ most likely to be murdered by a family member” in three  short weeks

 

 Amanda:  She was rarely seen this week because I think she is out working for Bernie Sanders to get elected to take care of her kids college expenses

 

Jubillee; I think the producers are keeping her around  for balance reasons but Bernie has a better chance of being elected than Jubillee does of making the final four

 

Jennifer: I know she is out there but we better see more of her soon before she is packing up

 

Leah:  Rarely seen  thus far but a dark horse

 
Becca: Final four possibility but cant compete with Lauren H for warmth  

  

Next week we will continue our journey.

 

 

 

"Yes, you see, she was very clumsy, she had fat toes, ”

Our boy Ben will be trying to establish his connection with some of the ladies while reducing the field of potential mates from 17 to 14 in this weeks’ competition.

 

Chris Harrison has arranged   two one on one dates along with a group date where we see more of our candidates in action as they begin to feel the pressure shrinking number of roses.

Ben opens with a one on one with Lauren B, our flight attendant from California. So after a flight in old barnstorming plane they settle down in the desert where a hot tub awaits.  We developed doubts about the Bachelorettes geography skills last week but we do know these ladies are well equipped for whatever the hot tub can throw at them. Lauren B emerges from the tub with a rose and Bachelor Nation concurs Lauren B is a down to earth chick with a nice sense of humor that seems to be a good fit for our all American boy Ben.

 

Next we have a group date with soccer on the agenda .  Strangely, every girl concedes they have never played soccer. How can this be? Where were their Moms???  Last week we learned they never took geography (if they did they didn’t remember much) now we hear they didn’t play soccer-even a little. Where we these girls raised ??? Antarctica?? These chicks must be like Liam with a particular set of skills … but beyond at this point I am not sure what these skills are beyond hanging in a hot tub in a bikini and making out. To be fair, to 26 year old Ben, hot tub skills are likely higher on his hierarchy than geography or soccer so maybe they are on the right track.    

 

 While watching the ball get kicked around I kept waiting for an injury so Ben could ride to the rescue to comfort our ailing soccer star. Sure enough Rachel, a competitor we don’t know who has survived  without much camera time,  pulls up lame but after Ben encourages here , she  gamely decides to finish the effort. All this really does is identify Rachel as a candidate who should not be buying green bananas.  Alex Morgan who plays on the American world cup team as was there to coach the ladies somehow escaped Ben’s eye. I am sure the troop of bachelorettes would have all gone home if Alex were to join the “team”.    

 

Eventually Ben goes for a one on one date with Jubilee. Jubilee is not a perky blond and recognizes Ben seems to warm up to the perky blondes. Being a Haitian adoptee and a war veteran  does not exactly fit the profile of Ben’s taste to this point but it does open the window to be the next bachelorettes in case the producers want to try a season with a black bachelorette. I figure Jubilee has to figure out how to hang around  for a few weeks to get Bachelor Nation behind her.  To her credit Jubilee opens up a bit about being orphaned in Haiti and we get the sense she is being sincere as she offers her favorite food is hot dogs.  She makes enough of an impression on Ben to keep her around a while but this relationship has about as much chance to go the distance as a chicken burrito does of  getting past Bartolo Colon.

 

We have seen Olivia several times during the show and she has surged to uncontested lead in chick most despised by the other girls.

 

She seems to have won this honor on merit as she seems to jump on each chance to get Ben alone work her game. She likes to proclaim she wants to be Ben’s wife but to Bachelor nation she seems to just want to win and Ben is the means to this end . I think she would really want to play “Billionaire Bachelor” and chat up rich old guys who are close to the end.  I would not expect Olivia to travel with a defibrillator in this contest- so the old guys would be on their own in treacherous territory. The other girls seem united in their critique and mention bad breathe, fake boobs and even "fat toes”. We need conflict in the show and thoughtfully ,Olivia is making sure we have plenty.  

  

At this point as we approach the rose ceremony Lace , our vaunted top seed in crazy chick hierarchy , grabs Ben for a word.  She takes this window to explain the show brought out the worst in her and she thinks it is best she leaves to go work on herself. She seems to redeem herself as Bachelor Nation looks on her more sympathetically although Ben is not putting up a fight to keep her. Cheers Lace, good luck ,  but now we need to find another villain.

  

We get to the rose ceremony and Ben only needs to send two girls packing. We get to the final rose and Olivia is still standing along with Shoshanna and Jami. At this point while Ben is pondering, I would like to allow Ben the chance to talk with his future 56 year old Ben for some guidance.

 

Young Ben: “what do you think? Should I keep Olivia? She seems to be all about Olivia and I am not feeling the love.”  

  

56 year old Ben: “You are going to want to avoid the conversation…”

Young Ben: “What conversation?”

56 year old Ben: “The one that will take place in a barn in Indiana. It will go something like this ”

Sheriff ( standing in barn with Ben next to Olivia on the floor with a pitchfork sticking out of her back and blood everywhere) : ‘So Ben. you want to tell me what happened here?”

Ben:   “well Sheriff , ….she fell……. it was an accident ”

Sheriff: “So, your story is she fell….. accidentally………..  37 times ….. backwards  ????”

Ben: “Yes,   you see, she was very clumsy, she had fat toes you know”

 

Of course Olivia gets the final rose, so we get to have a villain!

"A Murder of Bachelorettes"

While Ben is stepping into his week of dates with his bevy of bachelorettes, I have been wondering what to call this “ group of bachelorettes” as they seem to require a unique classification given they have very specific goal –which is to be the next bachelorette.

 

Anthropologists would define this as a show about mate selection process in the human species albeit under unusual conditions. I happen to enjoy the nature shows with the  British accented narrators so let us reference some naming possibilities from the animal world.

We all are familiar with “a school” of dolphins  and a “herd’ of buffalo but  we also have  possibilities  such as:

 A bask of crocodiles

A siege of herons

An exaltation  of larks

A bloat of hippopotami


A  troop of monkeys

A pandemonium of parrots

A muster of peacocks

An unkindness of ravens

A crash of rhinoceros

A murmuration of starlings

and my personal favorite :

A murder of crows

 

I have a feeling many of these might apply to our young ladies. Certainly “a siege of bachelorettes” is a valid candidate  as our boy Ben is almost assaulted when he enters the room full of the ladies. And we already know that it will not take long for the sniping to begin amongst our “unkindness of bachelorettes” as they jockey for position on the Ben leader board. Clearly a “muster of bachelorettes” deserves consideration as our ladies have something in common with a peacocks as they strut their stuff at every possible occasion.  

Anyway this gives me something to ponder while Ben begins his journey for love.

We open with a group date to a high school where Ben seems to have some challenges set up for the ladies to overcome on the way to one of the “pandemonium of bachelorettes” being anointed the homecoming queen. One of the events was a real tough one- place Indiana on a map. Stunningly Becca and her teammate placed Indiana horizontally where Pennsylvania is located and shrug when notified where Indiana actually is located in the midwest.  Now we know how the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND program had its roots. Bachelor Nation however ignored this because it was fan favorite Becca. I have to think the producers will be reluctant to send Becca out on her own to get some salsa or chips while hanging around though. I don’t recall giving any geography tests when I was in the mate selection sweepstakes back in the day but I think I might have drawn the line at not knowing where Indiana is located. Maybe if the lass were from Kazakhstan I could understand but Becca is from California. At this point Becca’s status dropped down from “good shot at final four” to “let her go gently after a few rounds” (and don’t ask her for directions).
 

Ben seems to have taken a fancy to Jo Jo from Dallas and takes her up to the roof for a view of LA. Jo Jo gushes at the view because enthusiasm counts as part of the grade and Ben vaults  her status  up from “who is that?”to “ Hmm she seems nice and maybe his type”.  The good news is Ben did not take crazy Lace up to the roof. If he did then he may have endured enough whining to nudge her off the  roof and they we would have really had a “murder of bachelorettes”.  ( you had to see that coming J )

Ben also takes a few ladies to a chemistry love test where Olivia shines and glows to earn yet another nod from Ben. Olivia is quickly assuming the role of the chick all the other ladies will despise.

She channels Charlie Sheen by announcing “winning” as she displays her rose but we are all seeing her build up animosity among the “crash of bachelorettes”.

Lace gets a few opportunities to show the entire nation how not to be the bachelorette by heading straight into whine mode during her time with Ben. Last season we had the crazy lady who I am convinced killed her 27 year old husband to create eligibility for the show, given the rules preclude a wife from competing . She handled that pesky rule by poisoning the hubby as she reported he dropped dead  while walking to work.  We know that is a lie because no one walks to work. Anyway, the producers seems to anoint a crazy one and Lace is an early adopter of the crazy one role. She has the world record time in the category of “ hey she is a stunner”  to “jeez can we please put a fork in her  now"  in  the history of the show.

We get to the rose ceremony and Ben has a surprise when LB( who we don’t really know )  gets a rose and decides this show is not for her and leaves. Mercifully Mandi and Samantha say goodbye but Lace survives to whine another day.  

 

   

So you are saying there's a chance???

The Ben Higgins as The Bachelor season has begun and I am reminded of the scene from Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carrey asks his love interest these questions:

Lloyd:  What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me…ending up together?

Mary:  Not good.

Lloyd:  You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?

Mary:  I’d say more like one out of a million.

Lloyd:  So you’re telling me there’s a chance.  Yeah!

 

In our new season  Ben enjoys the attention of 28 ladies who vie to win the final Rose from our boy Ben who seems destined to assume the mantle of all American boy . Working In the ladies favor is a 1 in 28 shot which makes the probability about 3.5% . So in general ,their idea should be to enjoy the ride as opposed to think destiny is overcoming these odds.  Of course the real competition is not to win Ben but to win the next season as the Bachelorette so let’s make sure all the chicks are here for “the right reasons”  J

The tradition is for our Bachelor to meet and greet the new candidates for the Higgins sweepstakes  after being dropped by limo at the Hollywood mansion .

We meet the ladies simultaneously with Ben and learn something about our candidates:

• We meet a dentist, Mandy  who wears a huge rose on her head as part of her first impression .When she grabs alone time  she opts takes a close look at Ben’s teeth. Somehow she made it pass the opening round but the producers it seems have opted to have a few crazies and Mandy is a top candidate for the nomination of most wacky.
• Next up in the crazy category is Lace. Lace is a head turner with a big smile but after entering the mansion she drinks too much and her true colors emerge as a needy whiner. She got the last rose but she transitioned from  “sure final four candidate”  to “get her out now Ben”  faster than Trump responding to a request for a TV interview.
• We meet Tiera “ a chicken enthusiast”  in opening  but sadly she seems to disappear after the limo entrance. Maybe the producers will bring her back later to give love one more chance. I have to imagine the occupation of chicken enthusiast had to be meant to be a joke. But this is the type of thing that will follow her forever. Eventually her kids will have to deal with that “Your mom is the chicken enthusiast ???”  on the other hand dating her might be an issue for some guys if they go out to dinner. My guess is sweet and sour chicken might elicit a grimace in case this “enthusiasm” is authentic.
• Twins- of course--Ben has a new wrinkle to deal with here. The twins who have helpfully defined their occupation as “Twin” seem to think this is funny stuff . For my part I cant figure out how Ben is supposed to deal with this. Take them both on group dates? Split them up ? Give one a rose but not the other. Take a bachelor trip to Utah and marry both of them? The producers will milk this dilemma as long as possible so we should plan on seeing them for a while.
• Becca is back. After behaving in a lukewarm manner to Chris  last season she seems to have expanded her personality and wants to take another run at love. Frankly her first run was one she seemed to go thru the motions so maybe she missed the cameras capturing her every move.. Ben would seem compelled to bring her thru a few rounds otherwise it is embarrassing to come back and get tossed in opening round . I do not see her getting to the final four though.
• We bring back Amber as well from the farmer’s season. But since we forgot about her I suspect we will forget about her again and I doubt she makes sweet 16.
• We meet Caila who shares Ben’s work with a gig in software sales but also has a unique spelling to her name which drives me nuts . But our candidate confesses she dropped her boyfriend after seeing Ben on the  bachelor . Ben better hope she doesn’t watch the new Brad Pitt movie. Even though she does not make my final four I have a feeling the producers favor her.
• We meet Lauren a flight attendant who makes a nice first impression and a nice cheerful sort and almost can be classified as “perky” . But then we learn there are four Laurens so this will be tough to keep straight. Our  flight attendant would seem to be more than a dark horse but less than a clear favorite .
• The first impression rose went to Oliva a newscaster from Texas who speaks clearly ( read: does not say like every other word unlike Ben who really needs to “like “work on this ) but has enhanced her presentation with enough eye makeup to wonder if her job classification might have been raccoon enthusiast.
• Jami hails from Canada where she allows she is friends with Kaitlyn because everyone in Canada knows each other. I don’t even know the guys on the train I take every morning but our girl knows everyone in Canada . However ,she has a little bounce in her step so I figure she can make it thru a few rounds
• One chick  from Texas brought a miniature horse to meet Ben but that idea seems to have exhausted her tricks and Ben passed on bringing her back and possibly showing up with a goat.
• Ben picked Samantha from Florida to have another week despite her whining from the opening that everyone she has ever  met has been hit by a bus. I am rooting for Ben to send her out in the traffic .
• We have a chick from Russia or the Ukraine that has not said a word of English-yet. Ben seems to understand her though and gave her a pass into next week. No word yet on how she gets along with the others .
• We have a chick with two kids who of course are the most incredible kids in the world. I would have given her more points if she didn’t suggest these kids were  on the way to Rhodes scholarships.  At least she has not admitted to killing her husband  ( yet) as a means to create the eligibility to be on the show.
• There are some other girls who moved to the next round and I suspect we will have more exposure to them as we take the journey with Ben.   

Ben has survived the first round of cuts and toasted the survivors as he preps for his upcoming adventures   I look forward to the journey.