The Bachelor 20 - Ben Higgins - Episode 6 - Discussion - *Sleuthing - Spoilers*

I'm the queen of eye rolling (still excited about the eye rolling emoji) and I honestly didn't see her rolling her eyes. IF she rolled them, I'd say it was a reaction to the absurdity of the allegations, not towards Ben at all.

Heck, I'd roll my eyes! But then again, it's a natural reflex of mine

Mommyof1 wrote:^^  When Ben questions her, she clearly rolls her eyes.  It's at the 1:47 mark on the YouTube video uploaded by AnnMarie.  I can't link it at the moment, so I apologize.  

My interpretation of that scene is rather different. As Ben approaches Lauren with the accusations that Leah had just made about her, Lauren either looks at Ben or looks up and to her left. Referencing this Guide to eye body language:

In short: Looking up is thinking, left and up is thinking about experiences and emotions.

IMO given what Ben just said to Lauren, a very natural reaction would have been to sort back through things she'd experienced to see if there's something she can remember that fits the situation Ben is talking to her about.

Now Lauren interrupted Ben's conversation with Leah where Leah said those things to Ben. It's my opinion that at the 1:47 mark when Lauren looks away she has just figured out who had said those things to Ben (that he is now questioning her about) and her eyes again go up and left - recalling just who it was that she had just interrupted and who it was that probably said those things to Ben about her. Lauren is merely doing natural things to process what Ben has just said to her.

Mommyof1 wrote:^^  When Ben questions her, she clearly rolls her eyes.  It's at the 1:47 mark on the YouTube video uploaded by AnnMarie.  I can't link it at the moment, so I apologize.  

I see: 
At 1:42 to 2:09 she looks away from him when he's telling her he just wanted to give her the opportunity to speak to the accusations and she lets out a sigh and rolls her eyes.

And when he says, "Hey.....hey" at 1:53 while she is turning her head back toward his, I see the glint of a smile, right after she licks her lips, which I interpret her to be thinking, "haha, I've got him; he likes me so much". (Easiest to see with two pauses both within the 1:53.) 

Next she blinks open her eyes at him in a still mad, sucky manner and he finishes, "I care about you". She nods at 1:57 and diverts her eyes again and then another sly smile escapes her before returning her eyes back to his (1:57-1:58; pause often). 

He says, "You have to understand, this gets in my head and I don't know what to do with it." More cold looks at him at 2:03. And him, "I just want to tell you so you know"; her looking away again with sly smile from 2:06-2:09.

When she "rolls" her eyes, I can hear the sound of someone opening or closing a door. She may have rolled her eyes thinking they're going to be interrupted without resolving anything.

I think she was acting like someone who's just been accused of something she hasn't done by the person she was falling for. If I were in her position I would be just as upset and also disappointed that he'd even entertain such thoughts about me after how close I thought we'd become. It's a pretty sucky feeling when the person you care about the most is suddenly doubting you and you can't do anything to prove those doubts are unwarranted.

So I watched the eye roll again, and there was someone's shadow and a door closing right before she rolled her eyes. Ben probably asked them to give them a minute to continue their conversation.

Rdjbb wrote:So I watched the eye roll again, and there was someone's shadow and a door closing right before she rolled her eyes.  Ben probably asked them to give them a minute to continue their conversation.

I re-watched the scene after reading this and I did see a shadow and heard the door closing so you might be correct in that. If someone did try to interrupt them then I think it might have been Jojo because she was the one that asked if Lauren B was ok as soon as Lauren B and Ben came into the room where the women were waiting.

Rdjbb wrote:So I watched the eye roll again, and there was someone's shadow and a door closing right before she rolled her eyes.  Ben probably asked them to give them a minute to continue their conversation.

Good catch on both the shadow and the door closing - on re-watching I saw both of them. While it might seem as though they were alone, they weren't and some of her eye motion is probably attributed to other things going on around them. Later on when Lauren is talking to the girls about what happened, Leah enters the room and as she walks by you can see Lauren look to her right - at Leah - or at least because she had reason to see something with her peripheral vision, so I think this might be something she does - for that matter most of us do. IMO some of what's being interpreted as rolling her eyes is simply looking at things going on around her.

I spent a bit more time looking at her smile, and the point at which she licked her lips. Now licking lips (ignoring times when your lips are chapped) is often interpreted as  either a need to pacify or, in the right context, show sexual interest . IMO in this context sexual interest was not the likely meaning but I think that a need for pacification probably is. Expecting a nice chat with Ben after a nice day on the GD Lauren walks headlong into Ben's questions about her actions and to an extent her character. Her reaction to that is what I would characterize as a nervous smile (mouth only) and the lip licking. I would actually give her pretty high marks for staying composed in a situation that had to have made her nervous - IMO it would make anyone nervous if they were put in that situation. She only broke down (and cried) after she left and went back to the other girls.

All I know is that if I was in Lauren B's position and was told that people were saying false things about me, I'd be annoyed and pissed off. And I'd be annoyed at Ben too and be like "well, what do you want me to say?" when I can't prove what's true and what's not.

Lucas15 wrote: snipped..
I would actually give her pretty high marks for staying composed in a situation that had to have made her nervous - IMO it would make anyone nervous if they were put in that situation. She only broke down (and cried) after she left and went back to the other girls.

I snipped the post, although it was a good post and IA, but I also wanted to mention, while watching, I thought the same thing. IMO Lauren was very composed dealing with that conversation. I can relate to that. You keep composed during a difficult situation you didn't see coming, deal with it, then later fall apart. The other thing I admired, is she didn't, or at least we didn't see her, grill him, asking who said it. I know I would have in that situation. I would have dragged him to the person to confront them in front of him. I can think of a lot of former contestants who would have handled it with much more drama than Lauren.

ETA: if she did roll her eyes, I could see her thinking, oh boy here we go, someone in the house is jealous or whatever.

I wonder if a lot of people would read my face how many different conclusions they would come to?!! When I watch Laurens expressions she makes these small sad smiles coming from a place of uncertainty or trying to be nice to him but really only feelings sad/confused. Some people smile when they are nervous (for me it can be terrible, I sometimes laughs out load when I get really nervous eg. when someone falls bad) Others read them as calculating… I would say we all interpret what we see from a place within us. We often, but not always, see what we want to see.

Good post Milaya!