There’s nothing like watching someone watch themselves on TV — especially when that someone is busy kissing hot bachelors.
I got that chance Monday night with Bachelorette Jillian Harris, who watched her hit reality show with 30 girlfriends at Calgary bar Crush.
“I can’t talk about the show,” said Harris as soon as I was introduced as a reporter. “I can’t tell you who I pick in the end or even if I picked anyone.”
Although she was tight-lipped about the show, Harris is as friendly in person as she is on TV. Soon after meeting her, she invited me to join the group and watch The Bachelorette — as long as talk of the show was off the record. I jumped at the chance to hang out with her group — partly because I hoped I might get some insight into her final choice and partly because it just looked like a great night out with the girls.
“I don’t know the outcome of the show — there’s no way she’d tell,” says Kendra Bryant, who led the cheering as Harris got closer to the crowd’s favourite Bachelors. “The girls and I are guessing it’s Ed or Reid.”
Let’s get the guy thing out of the way right now. With the exception of two men Harris has known for decades, there were no bachelors in sight Monday evening. There was no sign of a ring on her finger or even a tan line from a ring that had previously been on her ring finger. She didn’t blush during any particular make-out scenes. She texted someone at one point, but gave no hints as to who it was.
For those who missed the show Monday night, the final four bachelors joined Harris in Spain for one-on-one dates and a chance to spend the night with her in the fantasy suite. Unlike several previous Bachelorettes, Harris decided not to “sleep” with anyone saying she “wasn’t emotionally ready.” She did go back to the suite with Ed, but she used that time to catch up with him since he left unexpectedly a few weeks ago and returned last week.
It’s also worth mentioning that Harris wore the cutest flamenco-style black dress on the televised rose ceremony Monday. Initially knee-length, she says the stunning strapless was cropped to fit. And, yes, she has a stylist.
The biggest drama of the evening, however, came when Harris’ relationship with bachelor bad-boy Wes finally came to a head.
As a cowboy singer, Wes has always had a leg up on other contestants with the Alberta-born Bachelorette. But like many fans online, Harris’ friends turned on him when they felt he may have a girlfriend at home and was only on the show to promote his music career.
The Calgary crowd booed after Wes invited Harris to spend the night in the fantasy suite and they all looked to their friend for her real-time reaction.
Harris just smiled.
“Yah, I think I’m going to have to skip it,” she said on the show. Girlfriends everywhere cheered.
As if the possibility of him cheating was not enough, Wes made some outlandish comments throughout this episode that may stop him from getting a date ever again. While sharing an evening with Harris, he squirmed under pressure. He was as unconvincing in his denials of having a girlfriend (“my girlfriend, I mean, ehm, my ex-girlfriend”) as he was denying he was only on the show to promote his music career. (I know at least 30 women who won’t be buying that album.)
While waiting for the rose ceremony to begin, in which suitors are sent off the show by Harris, Wes inspired another roar of disapproval from the Calgary crowd when he turned to the other bachelors and said: “If it’s me, boys, know that I’ll be at home having lots of sex.” Then, on his way home in the limo (albeit, looking like he had been drinking beer for hours) he said slyly: “I was the guy with the girlfriend who made it to the final four on The Bachelorette.” Adding — wait for it — “I’m cutting off the chains and going out in Spain.” (Are we sure this man is a songwriter?)
Could it be that our Bachelorette really misjudged Wes that much, or did the show’s editors take him down in the end? Maybe a little of both. Since the show aired Monday night Wes has come forward to confirm that he does not have a girlfriend, yet his comments in the limo appear to be a confession. Perhaps the producer asked: “How do you think you’ll be remembered?” To which, he replied: “I was the guy with the girlfriend who made it to the final four on The Bachelorette.”
Then again, that might be giving Wes a little too much credit. And besides, Harris has better bachelors to worry about now.
Wearing a black, fitted, one-piece tanktop pantsuit — not many people can get away with that — Harris is prettier and more petite in real life. When I ask her about her fitness routine she confesses that she works out every spring enough to get into bikini shape and then flakes out for the rest of the year. When her friend says Harris never has to worry about gaining weight, she interrupts and says she put on 20 pounds after The Bachelor. “People thought I had a bee sting,” she said. “I was a little depressed.”
Although Harris watches the episodes a few days before they air so she can blog about it, she doesn’t shy away from watching herself onscreen. At times she watched the episode intensely, other times she joked and told silly, inconsequential back stories about what happened after the cameras stopped rolling. She held court with her friends, laughed and blushed the few times she was censored for swearing during a conversation with Wes.
“Who could blame her?” quipped one friend.
“Poor guy,” said Harris of Wes. “I wish the world could have seen him as I saw him.”
As promised, Harris gave nothing away. But I wouldn’t tell if she had. I don’t want to risk my next invite.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Entertainment/girls+night+with+Bachelorette/1768440/story.html
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Who do you think she picks? Who do you want her to pick??
Much love,
Allison
