CRAIG SJODIN / ABCIt actually wasn't really about the two finalists.
This is what I can tell you, after talking to a very reliable Bachelor insider, who told me the real reason for Brad's unexpected decision to choose neither Jenni nor DeAnna in the season finale. (Yes, while some people spent their holidays gobbling turkey, I spent mine trying to hunt down scoop on this particular TV turkey. What can I say? My need to know is a sickness.)
So, why did Brad freak out and run for the hills? Honestly, it's pretty surprising!
Turns out, it didn't have much to do with The Bachelor's long-lived bed-notch competition I told you about last week, but rather that the girl he really had fallen for had fallen out of the running.
Her name? Bettina.
Says my rock-solid source: "Brad was really into Bettina, who made it to the final four. But when he went to visit her parents, Bettina's father was so awful to him, Brad knew it wouldn't work. So, he was just sort of over the whole thing."
For you who weren't keeping up on The Bachelor this season (and I'll admit, I wasn't and had to do some research), Brad visited Bettina's father's home in the sixth episode of the season. And Daddy Bettina apparently sealed his daughter's fate when he said he was "disappointed" by Brad's lack of a bachelor's degree and his career choice of owning a bar, and then, um, laughed at him.
Sure, a truly smitten guy would look past that, but this is reality TV. Brad had only known her a few weeks, and you have to admit, being humiliated on national television is not exactly the makings of a long-lasting family bond.
Anyway, this new intel sorta paints this Bachelor scandal a whole different shade of crazy, does it not? I'm not sure if this makes Brad's actions better or worse (obviously it's still painful for DeAnna and Jenni, who pretty much had their hearts ripped out and fed to them with a spoon), but it would seem that Brad was stuck between a two-carat rock and a hard place.
So now I'm curious...What do you think? Did he do the right thing? Comment below!