The Bachelorette star Ashley Hebert has grown to dislike controversial and deceptive bachelor Bentley Williams more and more as she's been watching the season's footage unfold for the first time alongside viewers.
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"I can't help but feel betrayed, lied to, and made a fool of," Hebert wrote on her People blog. "I can tell you that from the bottom of my heart, I don't remember ever feeling this depth of hurt and embarrassment."
"This episode was a huge turning point in my view of Bentley. Throughout the first two episodes, I was very surprised by the things he said, but a part of me still looked for the good in him, and wanted to, once again, give him the benefit of the doubt. After watching this episode... I know many people wonder why I kept him around after the warning I got."
The Bachelorette host Chris Harrison and viewers have questioned what Hebert saw in the 28-year-old businessman from Salt Lake City, UT, and how it was possible for her to fall in love with him in such a short amount of time, however Hebert says she simply only saw Williams' positive traits during the show and wanted to live in the moment.
"People may speculate I was attracted to the 'bad boy,' or maybe they thought I wanted what I couldn't have. The truth is that I always look for the good in people, and I saw that in him. I only knew what he showed me, and I felt it to be real at the time," Hebert explained.
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Although Hebert said her relationship with Williams led to hardships and heartbreak during the show -- especially after he was shown quitting the season during last night's broadcast -- the 27-year-old former fifteenth-season The Bachelor bachelorette admitted her experience made compelling television.
"I had feelings of nostalgia, excitement, hurt, betrayal and embarrassment. Stepping aside from the fact that I was visibly emotional throughout the episode, I could not stop watching. I was glued to the screen and even though I lived it, I quickly learned that I did not know many things that were being said when I wasn't around. As I watched, I found myself both laughing and crying," Hebert said.
Throughout the first three episodes of The Bachelorette's seventh season, Hebert found Williams' personality sincere despite fellow former fifteenth-season The Bachelor bachelorette Michelle Money's pre-show warning he would be coming on the show for the wrong reasons.
However, Williams was shown saying he believes Hebert is unattractive and not his type in his private interviews, while he also secretly discussed how he wished Emily Maynard -- whom previous The Bachelor star Brad Womack proposed to and chose over Chantal O'Brien during the show's finale -- stood in the place of Hebert.
While Harrison has declined to confirm whether Williams ended up returning to The Bachelorette later during the season's filming, Hebert apparently has no such qualms.
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"Unfortunately, it's not the last you will see of Bentley," she teased.
Last week, Harrison told Reality TV World that Hebert's personal desires would be the show's justification for potentially letting the uncouth bachelor return to the show later in the season.
"The only thing we would ever do is what Ashley wants to do, and so our justification for anything we do is that it's up to Ashley... We kind of really let [the Bachelors and Bachelorettes] call the shots and go with it. It makes for not only better TV, but it makes for a better Bachelor/Bachelorette to give them that control and give them that power," Harrison explained.
"It was her job to say, 'I don't want that guy in the limo the first night,' or 'Yeah, leave him in the limo. I want to meet him.' And that's what we do. We don't step in and say, 'No, no no. That's the wrong decision.' That's not for us to do. We never have. We play it out -- and you watch along with us."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski