Ben Higgins on Lauren Bushnell wedding: I have "cold feet" and am "disconnected" from the "suffocating" plans

Ben Higgins has contemplated backing out of his wedding to fiancee Lauren Bushnell -- at least according to Tuesday night's episode of Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?.


The Happily Ever After? broadcast was filled with ups and downs for Ben and Lauren as they house hunted, established their career goals and began planning their wedding. And in the final scene, Ben let off some steam by hitting some baseballs in a batting cage with a friend he confided in.

"The wedding stuff, you know, it's going. I just feel like I'm getting overwhelmed," Ben told the friend.

"[The wedding planner] from The Bachelor called and she's talking us through all of this stuff we have to do for planning and Lauren's sister [Mollie] is talking about the wedding registry, and I don't even know what a registry is! They are talking about getting all of these little crazy things in our house."

In a prior scene, Lauren and Mollie sat down with Ben to go over their wedding registry, and the girls bounced ideas off each other for items including a bar cart, an ice-cream maker and a waffle iron. Ben, however, pushed back on everything and became defensive over the idea of accepting items they don't need.


"Our talks -- when we're talking about all this stuff we need to get in our house -- lead to our kitchen being too small," Ben told his pal. "So then talks lead to us getting a bigger kitchen and then that [means] getting a bigger house."

Ben confessed, "It feels like it's suffocating at times, like I can't get away from it."

Because Ben was "so overwhelmed" with the wedding plans, he explained, "There's so much going on that I feel like my mind just keeps racing, and in a sense, it's turned into cold feet."

The episode featured Ben and Lauren sampling different kinds of cake for their wedding and taking engagement photos -- another tradition Ben argued was unnecessary since they already have pictures of themselves all over the house.

"I'm very disconnected from wedding planning," Ben told the cameras.


A house-hunting adventure with Lauren also did nothing to warm up Ben's feet since they want completely different things from their ideal future home.

Real estate agent Lace Morris from Bachelor in Paradise showed the engaged couple two different possibilities. The first house was a vacant, fixer-upper Ben absolutely adored with the price tag of $187,500. However, the place was in rough shape, as flies covered the floor and there were pee stains from animals everywhere.

Lauren, who loves interior-design projects, insisted there was "no potential" in that house.

But Ben told the cameras, "This one has the potential to be really pretty and really homey. And I think a place we could call home."

Lauren said she'd "rather sleep in a cardboard box" than live in that house, which prompted Ben to accuse her of "overreacting."


"This place gives me the creeps," Lauren vented. "I'm getting sick to my stomach."

"I'm concerned that if we buy this house, I'll be living in it alone," Ben said as Lauren nodded her head.

The second house was a beautiful four bedroom, three bathroom place with an asking price of $895,000. Ben was immediately turned off by the price and the fact the home was turn-key ready.

"This house is absolutely beautiful. It's really everything I would ever want in a house," Lauren told the cameras as Ben stared at the ground in disappointment.

"We don't have the finances to purchase a perfect house," Ben told his fiancee. "This house is too expensive. At this time and place we are in life, this isn't the house for us."


Lauren argued it could be their "forever" home, but Ben wanted nothing to do with it and went outside for some air and space.

"There's a difference of what we want and what we can have," Ben said, telling Lauren that she's strong enough to find joy in the simple things.

Ben ultimately called the house-hunting excursion "a disaster."

Previews for next week's Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? episode suggest Ben is going to call off their wedding, leaving Lauren devastated and in tears.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski