Does anyone else watch Bachelor Pad? It’s so ridiculous and most of the time I am only half watching while doing other things, like writing or switching the channel to the Olympics or baseball. The participants have the biggest egos ever and I really can’t stand any of them. Almost none of them have the same personality they had while contestants on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette (not that they were much better on those shows) and, yes, I know it’s scripted. But still. Anyway, Jamie has a crush on Chris and they’ve made out a few times. As far as I know, that’s all they’ve done but I’m probably being naive to assume they haven’t had sex just because it hasn’t been broadcast. Chris is playing both sides of the fence – he knows that Blakely is a good competitor and he wants to remain her teammate because of it (and probably also because she’s a bit psycho) but he’s not interested in her on a romantic level. He assures Blakely that he’s loyal to her but he also wants to score with the ladies. Initially, he seemed to like Jamie – when they were just flirting and shared a mutual crush. But Jamie made the mistake that so many of us women do and assumed that just because he showed some interest in her, he owed her a relationship and just because they made out, he had deep feelings. A kiss does not equal a relationship and an initial spark of chemistry does not come with the promise of a true emotional connection. And beyond that, even if Chris did like her at first, he might have changed his mind. It happens in the real life dating world so why wouldn’t it happen on Bachelor Pad? Just as a women’s prerogative is to change her mind, a man can do it as well. And regardless of his initial intentions, Chris has now made it clear that he’s no longer interested in her. He told her it wasn’t her, “it’s me” and she responded by accusing him of never initiating, never pursuing her, making her do all the work, blah, blah, blah. Duh, Jamie – he just told you he wasn’t interested. If a guy is not interested, he is not going to initiate or pursue. It’s totally normal to feel bad and maybe even shed a few self-pity tears but don’t let him (or the rest of the world) see it.  You’re a cute girl – hold your head up high, stand up straight, stick your huge boobs in the air and move on. Game over. Except that the coming attractions for next week show them hooking up again! Chris rejected her on national television and she’s coming back for more. My stomach cringes in agony as I imagine Jamie explaining away or simply shrugging off Chris’s previous rejection and playing right into his hands. STOP IT!!

OK, I’ll admit that I’ve given some guys more chances than they deserved in my past due to wishful thinking on my part and some denial of reality but it wasn’t on television in front of millions of people and I felt beyond stupid after the fact. I’ve also made the mistake of assuming that some expressions of interest would ultimately morph into something more, like dating or a relationship. And I felt completely rejected when the guy seemingly lost interest and started dating someone else. It hurt, but even then I knew I had no hold on the guy, no basis to yell at him or even confront him about it because he didn’t owe me anything. All he did was express interest but he was never mine to lose. It’s not easy to get over someone you feel a connection with, especially when he dangles the goods in your face and then pulls them away without warning. When someone shows no interest at all, it’s much easier to accept than when something seems to start and then never takes off. It makes you wonder “what did I do wrong?” but the danger there is you start to give the guy more credit than he probably deserves, you start to romanticize what could have been, and you lose complete sight of reality. I’ve been there. Jamie is making so much of this “relationship” with Chris when in truth, all they shared was a casual hook up. She doesn’t even know him, other than that he looks amazing with his shirt off. He blows hot and cold with her. She saw him with another woman in his bed and most importantly, he already rejected her. He’s not worth her emotions. I really hope she sees him for what he is before she wastes even more time and makes an even bigger fool of herself on television but if I was a betting woman, my money would, sadly, be on Chris.

I still have to ask myself – why do I watch this show???