ABC/Craig Sjodin, Getty Images Could Ben Smith be the next Bachelor?
After Tayshia Adams sent the fan favorite home during the Dec. 15th episode of The Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin shared what they really think of the eliminated suitor.
"Out of the four remaining guys, he's obviously been the one that has always kind of been off in timing and emotions and, like, being able to verbalize," Becca said during the Dec. 16th episode of their podcast Bachelor Happy Hour. "But like, if it's hard for me as a viewer, I can only imagine how hard it would have been [for] Tayshia. It would've been like pulling teeth trying to get any sort of emotion or feeling or anything out of him. And I get it, rightfully so, after watching all of this, like, I understand why he was the one to not get the rose that night."
In fact, Rachel said Ben reminded her of someone from her past. "He does just enough to stay by," she said. "He reminds me of Peter Kraus….He reminds me of him in the way that, like, he gives you just enough. But if you really break down what he's saying, it doesn't match up. So, it's like, 'I don't believe you. Like, I'm into you. I like you. I feel it, but there's something that I can't explain that's not adding up here.'"
As Bachelor Nation will recall, Peter was the runner-up on Rachel's season of The Bachelorette back in 2017. He didn't want to propose, and he and Rachel ended up calling it quits before the rose ceremony in a tearful goodbye. She gave the rose to finalist Bryan Abasolo, who she married in 2019.
During the podcast, Becca also asked Rachel if she thought Ben just wanted to be in the running to be the next Bachelor. "Ben 1,000 percent wants to be The Bachelor," she replied.
Becca seemed to think so, too. "And that's why I think he kind of knows how to play—not that it's a game—but like, kind of how to play it to give us enough," the season 14 star said, "to open up just enough but to not, like, fully commit to this relationship that you, you know, say you're in love."
Rachel then pleaded with producers to not give Ben the rose distribution duties. "I beg producers, please don't do it," she said. "We've been here before with the person who is so desperate to be the lead. It never works out. When they want it so badly, when they've been planning for it, calculating, made certain moves to get to that point and then you give it to them, it always messes up. There are so many great men from the Clare [Crawley]/Tayshia season. Don't pick him. I don't want to see it."
Tayshia eliminated Ben after their hometown date. While the army veteran told friend and Top Chef alum Antonia Lofaso he loves Tayshia, he never uttered the words to the Bachelorette herself.
"In true Ben fashion, I just blew it," he said. "I'm in love with her, and I should've told her."
Ben said he was "terrified" he wouldn't get a rose and get to tell her how he feels. In the end, Tayshia gave her final three roses to Zac Clark, Brendan Morais and Ivan Hall.
"Sorry Ben," she said after he was eliminated. "I think you're incredible, and I feel like you have taught me so much being here, truly. I really care about you. And I appreciated this week so much. I just feel like, I don't know if our pages are necessarily aligned at this time."
While Ben said he would have "liked it to go a different way," he also acknowledged "it is what it is." "Like, I'm heartbroken," he added, "but I'll be all right."
After Ben's car drove away, Tayshia said "it was extremely disappointing" that he didn't show "one ounce of emotion." "There was no emotion at all," she said. "He wasn't angry. He wasn't mad. He wasn't sad. It kinda felt empty, and I just felt like, 'Please make me feel like these past few weeks meant anything to you.'"
She also admitted she didn't expect their relationship to end this way. "I really did consider Ben someone I could end up with at the end of this," she said. "But, like, I've put a lot of my, like, time and energy into pulling things out of Ben, and I can't do that every single time."
In the car, Ben reflected on the breakup. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to fall out of love with her," he said. "Maybe she loved me and she thought I didn't love her back. And then if that's the case, I f--kin' blew it."
Fans can see how Tayshia's journey to find love ends by watching The Bachelorette this Monday and Tuesday night on ABC. Matt James' season of The Bachelor then begins in 2021.