The Bachelor 20 - Ben Higgins - F1 to F4 - *Sleuthing - Spoilers* - #2

Lucas15 wrote:Coming a bit late to the party (bust day) but to add a few comments to recent discussions:

1 - Who was Ben calling on the phone? I did an audio edit and spliced together the "Hello" from the FRC phone call and the voice of Ben's mother when he called her during the M&G. A link to my post and audio edit file that you can all listen to and form your own opinions on is here - Link. IMO that's the same voice and Ben calls his mother just before he proposes to his F1 - it's a "bookend" to the first phone call to close the loop - and tell his mother he has resolved his confusion over who to choose.

2 - In this preview there are several interesting things:

At :26 we see Ben talking to Lauren and hear (but not see) him saying "I knew I loved you but my mind is in 1000 places"
At :41 we see a shot of Lauren (presimably pre FRC) - praying. IIRC Ben has said he prayed in the time leading up to the FRC so I can understand why the gave us this clip of Lauren doing the same thing.
At :45 we see and hear Lauren saying she can't picture her life without Ben which interestingly seems to mirror the basis that Ben has explained for his final decision - he chose the girl he couldn't live without.
At :52 we see a very distraught Lauren in a helicopter - IMO probably heading to the FRC. IMO the sun which is providing mosty of the lighting on Lauren is near the horizon, consistent with late in the day

3 - On this page there is an analysis Sophie did and also one I did of the original preview from the last Bachelor Live show - much of which is also used in the above preview link. It shows where we both agreed edits were done to take scenes and words out of context and make things seem different than they probably really were. In some cases we've now seen the episode where those words were spoken and IMO we were right. Simple example - we heard Ben say "Honestly I do love you" and felt the word Honestly was edited in. We have now seen the scene and he didn't say honestly - only I do love you. I remain cautious about drawing any conclusions based on the sequence of things seen in the preview - it is so sliced and diced.

4 - It seems that JoJo is approaching the FRC quite confident and Lauren is scared out of her skin. IMO this is exactly what the show wants at the ending - an F2 who believes she is F1 and an F2 who greatest fear is she's F2. For accomplishing this I have to tip my hat to the producers for a job well done. IMO it sucks that they have done it so well.

5 - In the above mentioned preview where Ben says "I knew I loved you but my mind is in 1000 places" it seems to me that he is telling Lauren something about his confusion (likely over his feelings for JoJo) so he may not have told Lauren he had said ILY to JoJo until after the finale, but he did tell her something. I know a lot has been said about his conversations with JoJo and how well they communicate, but they haven't communicated about anything this complicated and difficult to talk about. That Ben and Lauren seem to have been able to have this conversation with that degree of honesty on Ben's part makes a huge statement to me about their ability to make a relationship work.

JMHO

mindless wrote:

Jeepers wrote:I have yet to see any significant proof of who Ben says that ILY to .. The one he sounds drunk

You can see he's saying it to JoJo in the preview for the finale.

Rolly wrote:

nutty1 wrote:Maybe....he told TPTB that he was going to tell Lauren that he loved her, no matter what, no matter if she told him. So maybe the deal was "OK, you can, but you have to tell Jojo first".

But honestly, I think his ILY's to Jojo sounded sincere. I do not think Ben is that good an actor. And saying it multiple times make me think the same thing.

Yes his ILY to JoJo seemed sincere and would Ben deliberately mislead JoJo with ILY just so he could say it to Lauren? That seems like a terribly mean thing to do to JoJo. Especially knowing how hard it is for her to trust and open herself up.

It was terribly mean regardless imo. I haven't heard him acknowledge or regret that he made it more hurtful than necessary. His "I couldn't hold it in any longer" is just pitiful. He also didn't need to tell Caila he was in love with the other 2.

provenceguy wrote:I don't think Lauren is necessarily praying in that clip.

NCGalBecca wrote:

It was terribly mean regardless imo. I haven't heard him acknowledge or regret that he made it more hurtful than necessary. His "I couldn't hold it in any longer" is just pitiful. He also didn't need to tell Caila he was in love with the other 2.

I keep waiting to read or hear his mea culpa in one of these interviews. Quite surprised that his talking points don't include a little more sorrow about it and empathy towards the F2. His only acknowledgement is about how he felt. I get that he's excited and needs to sell the engagement ending but it appears that he's a little blind to how his actions soiled that, too, regardless of who is chosen..jmo.

Fingersandtoes wrote:Do you guys think any of the cast knows who's the F1? Becca due to her closeness to JoJo or Amanda with her being Lauren's BFF?

rhondam wrote:And Ashley said on AfterBuzz, I read here (but haven't listened to myself yet) that she thinks Caila will be the Bachelorette but she hopes  it will be JoJo. 

Do you know what thread the video of WTA is in? I haven't stumbled across it yet. TYIA