Bentley Williams' The Bachelorette return visit affected his remaining fellow bachelors even more than it impacted Bachelorette Ashley Hebert, according to Chris Harrison.
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"A lot has been made about Ashley's meeting with Bentley, but in my opinion, the bigger story next week is how the other men react when Ashley comes clean and tells them everything that happened," the host wrote on his Entertainment Weekly blog about next Monday's The Bachelorette episode which will feature the return of Williams, the two-faced bachelor who feigned affection for Hebert when they were together but repeatedly bashed her in private before eventually deciding to leave the show and break her heart.
"Next week is an episode not to be missed from start to finish. It will absolutely shape everything that will happen the rest of this season and maybe the rest of Ashley's life."
While Monday's episode will feature Hebert -- who wasn't aware of Williams behavior when the show was filmed this spring -- intending to clear the air with her remaining suitors about how she had been sincerely missing Williams, The Bachelorette star is now also asking viewers to forgive her former obsession with the divorced 28-year-old Salt Lake City businessman.
"During this deliberation, you saw me talk about 'thinking of Bentley.' As much as everyone (including myself) is annoyed with the mere mention of his name, I hope people will understand how mystified I was when he left," Hebert wrote on her People blog.
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"At that point, I was almost beyond the intensity of feelings I had for Bentley with other guys and in fairness to them, needed to be sure that the 'dot-dot-dot' Bentley gave me became a period."
The former fifteenth-season The Bachelor bachelorette also agrees with Harrison's comments which suggest Williams was standing in her way of allowing herself to open up to the other bachelors -- many of whom were actually there for the right reasons -- and find love.
"When I sat down with Ashley at deliberation, I could tell she was in a bad place... I will admit I was a little disappointed that she had slipped back into this place and was still so hung up on Bentley. I was brutally honest with her at deliberation. I firmly believed we reached a serious breaking point. If things continue down this path, this isn't going to end well. There is absolutely no way possible Ashley can find love like this," Harrison wrote.
Hebert also admits she needed closure from Williams to give the remaining bachelors the treatment and attention they deserved.
"I still felt like Bentley was an obstacle that prevented me from fully committing to other guys, and I was starting to become concerned that the guys were feeling my hesitation as well. I needed to be sure that I could still trust my instinct and that this journey would work for me. I needed answers," the 26-year-old dental student added.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski