Bachelor Pad eliminated five contestants and determined its final six competitors during Monday night's broadcast of the fifth episode of The Bachelor franchise's new Big Brother-like reality competition in which former bachelor and bachelorettes compete for a $250,000 cash prize.

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Bachelor Pad's fifth episode began with host Chris Harrison surprising the contestants by announcing the show would resolve its season-long bachelor/bachelorette imbalance by having each of the four remaining bachelors select one of the seven remaining bachelorettes as their new "couples" teammate and eliminating the three unselected women.

"One of the first things I told you when we got here is that there are more women than men.  The reason for that there's been more Bachelors than Bachelorettes.  I also told you there'd come a time when those numbers would be evened up... that time is now," Harrison said.  "Ladies, I'm sorry but three of you will be leaving Bachelor Pad this morning."

All of the pairings were predictable given the bachelors' previous romantic relationships and alliances with the bachelorettes.

Kiptyn Locke began by selecting Tenley Molzahn, who he had already slowly been developing a romantic relationship with prior to Bachelor Pad, while Jesse Kovacs picked Elizabeth Kitt, who he had been dating for several months prior to the show's filming.

Jesse Beck then selected Peyton Wright, who he had previously gone on two Bachelor Pad dates with, and David Good chose Natalie Getz, who he had previously taken on an overnight fantasy date.

The selections eliminated Ashley Elmore, Gwen Gioia and Nikki Kaapke -- the remaining bachelorette members of the cast's "outsider" group -- from the competition.

"Coming into this, I had no idea what to expect.  But I definitely didn't think it would be such a disadvantage to not be part of a couple," Ashley said afterwards.  "And I would have loved to have found a romantic connection here and been coupled up... every girl loves to be swept off her feet."

"You know, I wasn't a girlfriend of someone in the house, I wasn't a romantic interest of anyone in the house.  So I knew from the minute it came down to that line that I was in jeopardy," Nikki said.  "It is lonely not being in a relationship.  This sucks." 

"I came on The Bachelor, Season 2.  It was many years ago, and I came looking for love and I am still single and still looking for love.  People find love at all different ages.  I hope I love soon, we'll see," Gwen said.

After the women's elimination, the four remaining couples participated in a balloon-toss competition.   Dave and Natalie won the competition, giving them immunity from Bachelor Pad's fifth elimination vote as well as the right to go on an overnight private one-on-one date.

Jesse Beck and Peyton then immediately began anticipating they would be the couple voted out of the competition at the upcoming Rose Ceremony given the three other couples were already previously allied.

"Nobody seemed too torn up about losing this competition because they know they're safe," Peyton lamented afterward.  "It's very clear that we're going to be going home."

However after discussing the situation, Natalie and Tenley decided Jesse Kovacs and Elizabeth's six-month relationship made them a big threat to win any potential relationship-based competitions and began conspiring to vote them off instead of Jesse Beck and Peyton.

While the plan seemed sound, it appeared to hit a fatal snag when they assumed each couple would be voting together and Natalie discovered Dave wouldn't go along with the plan, citing his alliance with Jesse Kovacs.

"It puts a wrench in my plans that Dave made a pact with Kovacs," Natalie lamented.

But Chris then surprised the cast by announcing each contestant would still be voting for a couple individually -- opening the door for Natalie, Tenley and Kiptyn to potentially team with Jesse Beck and Peyton and vote Jesse Kovacs and Elizabeth off via a 5-3 vote.

"It's so perfect!  I don't give a sh-t about the pact.  We have a pact -- 'women code,'" Natalie gushed to Tenley, taking a shot at Dave's infamous "man code" philosophy.

Jesse Beck then approached Kiptyn and appeared to successfully convince him that Dave's alliance with Jesse Kovacs meant he would be going home next unless he joined the group in voting for Jesse Kovacs and Elizabeth's elimination.

However when the voting took place, Natalie suddenly decided against the plan, resulting in Jesse Beck and Peyton being eliminated from the competition.

"I could easily have kept Jesse and Peyton around tonight but it's not going to keep me ahead.  At this point in the game, I can't go against my partner," Natalie explained afterwards.  "If I don't have his trust, there's no way we'll be the last ones standing."

Jesse Beck and Peyton's both seemed surprised by their elimination.

"I'd like to say Peyton, I'm so grateful for having you as a partner and I wouldn't trade you for the world," Jesse Beck told Peyton after Chris announced their elimination.    "I think there are a couple of people that are fairly fake, but I just want to say good luck to everybody here."

"It really feels (expletive) to be going home now," he added during his exit limo ride.  "I feel I played this game exactly the way I should have and I wouldn't have changed a think.  I really don't know how the votes went, but Peyton and I are going home, so it's obvious Natalie, Kiptyn or somebody definitely stabbed me in the back.  They sat there and gave us some kind of hope, but actually voted for us.  That's (expletive).... and I have zero respect for that.  I feel like those people are fairly fake."

"I can't believe this is over, this a huge letdown," Peyton added in her own limo.  "Coming into the house, I was for sure an outsider.  And making it into the group of cool kids and feeling a part of them, then to turn around and still be on the outside, it's tough.  It's a game -- I wish it was me still standing there, but I'm heading home."
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