Lauren Bushnell - Bachelor 20 - *Sleuthing - Spoilers* - #4

I wish he wasn't so confident with jojo

Lauren has no reason to blame herself IMO. she's been true to herself and that's what I admire about her

I just wish she would have told him how she felt after hometowns that way maybe this mess wouldn't have happened

Producers probably stopped her from telling him. They were probably whispering doubt into both their ears- "he's really torn, he doesn't know where his head is at," "Lauren doesn't know if she can fall in love in this setting, she's struggling." Causes Lauren to hold back validating the fears the producers are planting in Ben's head, and BOOM. They have their conflict.

limoncello wrote:Lauren has no reason to blame herself IMO. she's been true to herself and that's what I admire about her

Yep. She can express her feelings and her fears and insecurities when she's ready. Pushing herself in this already short time frame, when she's isn't ready, wouldn't be right for her. If Ben decides to chose JoJo because Lauren held back for a week, that's on him, not Lauren.

We can all wish things didn't go down like the way we saw last night or might continue to show on LCD. But it did. Like how Des's raw emotion when Brooks left, or Jason wanted Molly. I got a good dose that this show is not built on fairy tales . But truly shows what a couple has to go through to find each other . I am happy to know it continues well off the show thus far. I read an article earlier where Ben said post show, you just have to be confident in your choice. So, through all his confusion and conflict etc......if he's confident in Lauren and vice versa, good for them! Because as was expressed here , the real love story begins after the show.

I've made a decision to skip over Jojo's LCD date and only watch Lauren's. I don't really care what what happened between Jojo and Ben anymore . No matter how intense and steamy it may seem, Ben didn't choose her for the main fact that he loved Lauren more. Nuff said imo. The true order of how the filmed the dates is telling . Jojo was never first in Ben's mind no matter how close the margin was. Caila was always third in Ben's mind ,so how they filmed her section was as it played, behind Jojo and Lauren. So, Jojo was able to erase the memory of Caila no matter how the date seemed to end, and Lauren was able to erase the memory of Jojo, no matter what happened between them too. Jmho. In the Finale it's going to be the same if after seeing Jojo and saying all that he will, he still can express the same to Lauren. If I sound confused , this has been confusing and it's not easy to explain clarity from confusion. It's the post show comments that help me understand , Ben did find his clarity in this, and is happy . The FRC has peaked my interest though .

ForeverLove wrote:We can all wish things didn't go down like the way we saw last night or might continue to show on LCD. But it did. Like how Des's raw emotion when Brooks left, or Jason wanted Molly. I got a good dose that this show is not built on fairy tales . But truly shows what a couple has to go through to find each other . I am happy to know it continues well off the show thus far. I read an article earlier where Ben said post show, you just have to be confident in your choice. So, through all his confusion and conflict etc......if he's confident in Lauren and vice versa, good for them! Because as was expressed here , the real love story begins after the show.

I've made a decision to skip over Jojo's LCD date and only watch Lauren's. I don't really care what what happened between Jojo and Ben anymore . No matter how intense and steamy it may seem, Ben didn't choose her for the main fact that he loved Lauren more. Nuff said imo. The true order of how the filmed the dates is telling . Jojo was never first in Ben's mind no matter how close the margin was. Caila was always third in Ben's mind ,so how they filmed her section was as it played, behind Jojo and Lauren. So, Jojo was able to erase the memory of Caila no matter how the date seemed to end, and Lauren was able to erase the memory of Jojo, no matter what happened between them too. Jmho. In the Finale it's going to be the same if after seeing Jojo and saying all that he will, he still can express the same to Lauren. If I sound confused , this has been confusing and it's not easy to explain clarity from confusion. It's the post show comments that help me understand , Ben did find his clarity in this, and is happy . The FRC has peaked my interest though .

Do we know who has the 2nd LCD?

I'm posting my analysis of last night's episode on this thread, because I am first and foremost Team Lauren more than anything. (I won't even talk about Ben and Jojo, just because it is irrelevant to me at this point. I didn't watch their part that much because I really don't want to hate Ben. Jojo? Who's Jojo?) Anyway, here goes:

Ben aside, I feel that last night's episode only proved how much of a fangirl I am of Lauren. She's very rational, very grounded, has nice style, has genuine laughter, very confident and beautiful. Everything that Ben and Mollie said about her was true. Even in explaining her worries and fears, she is graceful and I think she influences Ben to be the same. I want to quote Tracy Millman on this, "If a guy says 'you're too good for me' it means she wants to be a better man for you." And that only adds to why Lauren will be perfect for Ben. Don't we meet our significant others to help bring out a better versions of ourselves?

Ben on their date was very different. I admit that watching the turtle clip before last night made me think he was distant. But seeing the full thing, despite the edits, I am certain that he was not distant. He was just really brimming with pure emotions. Almost to a point that one light tap on his shoulder and he will start ugly man crying. Especially that look on his face on their "dinner" date. His face said it all! His intense stares, it was consistent all throughout the date. He's also really quiet. He's watching closely, almost like DVRing Lauren and the way she explains herself infront of him. The perfect explanation is, "He's just BEING with her". He didn't need to say anything much, because everything he needed was just divulging infront of him. Did you see the way he handed CH letter to Lauren? He didn't ask like the other girls what she thought. He just looked at her with love and amazement and watched her read the letter. He had that look in his eyes saying "Whatever you want to do, I will go with you."

And I also want to go back on Lucas' concept of "following the footsteps". This date proved one thing to me, too, that Lauren is his Bachelorette. The way he talked about his crying to Mollie while they were at the beach, if that wasn't vying for affirmation I don't know what is. The fact that Lauren asked "Shall we go?" to their Fantasy Suite. It's like he wants to be led by her. Like what he said, a schoolboy head over heels for his school crush.

Their moment of admitting their love for each other was just the cutest and most heartfelt declaration ever. Ben's face this moment was his face on their First Date. He's drowned in love!! And he didn't want the moment to end. These two just blow me away every time. Ben shocked me when he cried in front of Mollie. But I am more shocked by how cute they acted after the ILYs, once they laughed at how crazy it must all be to be in love with each other and say it out loud. I loved that Lauren quickly followed with "Ben, I love you!" after her shock and "Whaaatttt", almost like she wanted to make sure she's not dreaming. I liked it when she said, "I think I'm gonna cry." And holding Ben's face in her hands. How can you stage this? This is real REAL and most GENUINE as could ever be. Lauren really revealed herself in this date. I just wish they told us what Ben said before Lauren declared her love. They drowned it out with Lauren's ITM. Can anybody cut it into pieces and let me know? 

I loved everything about their date. I wish they showed more of the raw ones of their morning after. I just want more and more and I won't stop wanting more. UNEDITED FOOTAGE, if I must say. My head and heart's in the clouds... And Ben's interview today only put me higher!

Love you Charm! If Ben can be so aglow after you know who's date, that's says it all.

sosleepy wrote:Producers probably stopped her from telling him. They were probably whispering doubt into both their ears- "he's really torn, he doesn't know where his head is at," "Lauren doesn't know if she can fall in love in this setting, she's struggling." Causes Lauren to hold back validating the fears the producers are planting in Ben's head, and BOOM. They have their conflict.

From what I was told back then, there was one season of TB where neither the F2 or the F3 girl wanted to leave the country and go on the FD / LCD / MTP dates at all. The producers believed it was because the lead told them he wasn't picking either of them, but I never heard that they confirmed this.

IMO, this season was headed the same way. The girls were all starting to shut down after seeing Ben and Lauren together and this spanned two of the GDs (the second being the swimming with pigs date) and I think the producers had to really put their best efforts in to get the show to go to the actual end. Had Lauren told Ben how she felt too early Ben would have shut down and the typical manipulations at the end would not have worked. They were manipulating Lauren to get her to hold back and Ben to be uncertain of Lauren. Perhaps this is one reason why Ben kept on chasing her even this late into the process - he simply didn't know and with only producer input was probably expecting Lauren to leave - he even said so. It wasn't just about a story board obstacle - it was about keeping two magnets from getting too close to each other that they couldn't be separated.
JMHO

One thought during this episode for me was 'WOW, no wonder they didn't show him talk about Lauren in ITM!' And I looooved their talk about Mollie and Ben saying he cried. I have no doubt in my mind he told Lauren about his feelings for JoJo very soon. He even told Caila he loved two women, lmao!

Love your thought Cham! And yes Ben interview makes me like back on the track again. I still in #BenLo team