When does a rose not smell particularly sweet?
When it remains sitting there mockingly on a silver tray, as Ben Flajnik decides whether or not it's time for you to go home!
The Bachelor's symbolic flower also doesn't smell that great when it reeks of fish...
Ragingly self-confident Courtney Robertson was the one woman who caught a trout during the outdoorsy group date, which also included a hip-wader-wearing round of fly-fishing. She smugly emerged from the stream hoisting her catch.
"I think Ben was impressed with my fishing skills," she said later. "I feel like, in many ways, I caught him today."
And later on that night, Ben tossed Samantha Levey back into the sea after she complained about having three group dates and no alone time.
Who knows why she was still there in the first place, because the Bachelor didn't even hesitate to tell her it was time to nip their lack-of-relationship in the bud.
"It's so great to see Ben sending girls home," smirked Courtney. "I'm just really happy. [Samantha's] a little abrasive and she just rubbed me the wrong way. It's like he's making choice for both of us. Another one bites the dust!"
And yet she was just so full of doubt when she cornered Ben in the hot tub later and told him she was having a "hard time" when she wasn't with him.
Mission accomplished: After telling Kacie B. how much he wanted to kiss her during the fishing trip, he went and gave the rose to Courtney, because "she needs that reassurance."
True, she does need reassurance. She only said "Winning!" about three times tonight.
Oh, Ben...
Earlier in the episode, it appeared that Ben was on the fence during his first one-on-one because Rachel Truehart was a little on the quiet side (i.e. not throwing herself at him, thereby making him "not sure" about her feelings for him). But he let the mutual attraction take it's course, and Rachel lives to date another week.
Jennifer Fritsch also had a successful one-on-one, even though it started with them trespassing over a fence so that they could drop through a 300-foot crater into the water (that Jennifer had to just trust was there) down below.
Very 127 Hours.
The pretty even-keel week on The Bachelor ended with the usual cocktail party—which kicked off with Emily O'Brien seemingly shooting herself in the foot by using her alone-time with Ben to purportedly warn him about Courtney.
Emily O'No.
"What an idiot!" Courtney said when Casey S. informed her of what went down. "I'm a nice person. Don't f--k with me."
But kudos to Ben on this one, he kept Emily in the game, though she broke the cardinal rule about telling the Bachelor he may be mistaken about a woman he particularly likes. Whether it was at the producers' behest or because he suspected that just maybe she was right about Courtney, we don't know—but we like it!
Ultimately, ABC wanted us to care for a second that Monica Spannbauer was going home, but...Back to the other women!
Ben announced that they were off to Vieques, Puerto Rico, to which Courtney announced matter-of-factly, "I was there two months ago."
We await the resurgence of Emily next week.