Arie Luyendyk Jr. is opening up about his awkward dates with Lauren Burnham on The Bachelor and addressing criticism their connection doesn't appear to be an emotional or particularly deep one.
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"I think on the dates you're not seeing a lot of our personality, so it's hard because you're not seeing our entire relationship. That's going to play out in the time to come for sure," Arie told Glamour.
Bachelor Nation has noticed that Arie is different around Lauren than he is with other women. Not only does he get incredibly nervous around her, but he put a lot of pressure on himself when meeting her family and went to great lengths to finally make her feel comfortable.
Arie also gave Lauren back to back one-on-one dates in two of the best locations this season -- Paris, France and Tuscany, Italy.
So what are viewers missing exactly? Because as Glamour magazine pointed out, Arie's alone time with Lauren seems a little boring and shallow.
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"There was a moment we're covered in pigeons. We took Polaroid pictures all around Paris. There were a lot of cute moments. The way the Bachelor dates are shown, it is really a summary of the date. There were awkward moments on that date, maybe some more than on other dates," Arie explained.
Arie has even admitted on the show Lauren is "hard to read."
"In the beginning, yeah. I think she had trouble opening up in front of the camera and being herself," Arie said.
"So that is why she got that second date in a row. I thought, 'Hey, there could be something really amazing here. I need to see if I can bring that out of her and see her personality.' I feel like she's a little uncomfortable on camera, so let's have another date."
If that's the case, why does Arie think Lauren signed up for the show to begin with? After all, the whole point of The Bachelor is to date a man on-camera.
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"It's hard. I mean, no one really knows how they're going to act or react when they're in front of cameras," said the 36-year-old pro racing driver.
"For some people, like myself, those cameras sort of melt away after the first few days. Some people are uncomfortable the entire time. I think that's just something that you'll never really understand until you're in it."
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Arie has also been shown excusing himself in the middle of conversations while on dates with Lauren. After the blonde beauty admitted she was falling for The Bachelor star in Italy, he got up and left the table to compose himself and gather his thoughts.
And then during Lauren's hometown date in Virginia Beach, Arie had to leave the dinner table at one point when getting grilled by her concerned family members.
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"I think there's this unspoken rule that the Bachelor isn't allowed to express how he feels. Watching previous seasons back, I didn't know what I could or couldn't divulge in that moment," Arie recalled to the magazine, adding that he asked The Bachelor producers for permission on what he could say back to Lauren in Italy.
"So I feel like [Tuscany] was sort of a pivotal moment for me, because it was the first time I was having these strong feelings in this environment. I wanted more than anything to just tell her how I felt. Some editing was done there."
Arie did confess, however, that his nerves also probably "got the best" of him with Lauren because their dynamic challenged him to chase her.
"I was always a little bit more shy or nervous around her just because I felt my feelings were further along than hers, which is an awkward position to be in as the Bachelor," Arie said with a laugh.
"You have all these relationships where people are so ready to fall, and then you have some people who you're trying to read and see where they're at. For me, it was a little anxiety and also questioning what I could and couldn't say in that moment."
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Arie also insisted to Glamour that he has a lot in common with Lauren, although the episodes make it seem like they have awkward silence and lack chemistry or flirtation.
"We are very alike," Arie pointed out. "I think we're very alike in the way that -- our perception on things, our mannerisms, the things that we say."
The next The Bachelor episode on February 26 will feature Arie enjoying overnight Fantasy Suite dates with Lauren, Becca Kufrin and Kendall Long in Ica, Peru.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski