She gets it. Former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky defended current Bachelor Ben Higgins after he broke an unwritten rule of the reality series and told both of his two finalists, JoJo Fletcher and Lauren Bushnell, that he loves them on the Monday, February 29, episode. Not only that, but Higgins has also garnered criticism for inviting Caila Quinn, who was sent packing on Monday, into the Fantasy Suite after their insanely awkward date. Fedotowsky had a response for it all.
“They shouldn’t call it the fantasy suite because that’s not really an accurate description of what happens there,” Fedotowsky, 31, wrote on her blog on Monday. “It’s really just ‘off-camera time’ with a person you have been dying to talk to without a camera, audio engineer and producer 10 feet away. So I’m glad each girl took that time to be with Ben.”
Like Us, Fedotowsky felt — and cringed — for Caila. “Watching her date knowing that she was about to be let go was heartbreaking. She tells him she loves him and kisses him goodbye the morning of their overnight feeling like she was on cloud nine,” the season 6 Bachelorette noted. “Want to know how I left the fantasy suite of the guy that I didn’t pick in the end?”
Fedotowsky knew at the time who she was going to end up with (her former fiancé, Roberto Martinez), but she still invited runner-up Chris Lambton into the Fantasy Suite. Unlike Higgins, Fedotowsky was well-equipped going into the situation, and even prearranged an escape route for the following morning.
“I had a producer call the room in the morning (EARLY – like 5am) and say that I had to leave to shoot stuff for the show. We set this up the night before,” Fedotowsky recalled. “I remember laying in bed waiting for that call because I felt so uncomfortable spending the night with another guy even if we were just hanging out all night (at this point I already knew who I was choosing in the end). So I can’t imagine what Caila must have felt, getting let go after that incredible night and morning with Ben. Poor thing. We love you, Caila, and guys will be line up at your door (or in limos – he he) wanting to date you.”
Fedotowsky also acknowledged that the current discourse surrounding Higgins isn’t exactly, ahem, favorable. “Let me say this about Ben before I end this blog, cause I know many of you are really upset with him for saying ‘I love you’ to two girls,” she wrote. “And know, I feel super strongly about what I’m about to say even after only chatting with him a few times. Ben is one of the most genuine, loving, sincere men I have ever met. Telling two women he loves them truly came from a sincere place. I think he’s a romantic. He loves love! Most men who tell two people they love them do it because they are playboys. Not Ben though. He couldn’t be further from that.”
She brought up Higgins’ confession in the first episode of season 20. “I think his fear of being unlovable has made him open up to loving more than one person,” Fedotowsky said of the reality star’s confusion, which had other former Bachelors (Sean Lowe, Ben Flajnik and Jake Pavelka) all tweeting that it was a terrible idea. Fedotowsky agreed with her reality TV peers.
“Should he have told both of them? No, I don’t think he should have,” she wrote on Monday. “He should have done what all us other Bachelors and Bachelorettes did and kept his cute little mouth shut until the final rose. And I get it, I’ve been there! It’s hard not to tell someone how you feel when you’re in the moment. In the end, Ben followed his heart and he is being as open and vulnerable as he can be with all of us watching him and judging him. I for one am going to give him a pass for being that vulnerable with us. You’re the best, Ben!”
Though things didn’t pan out for Fedotowsky and her final pick, Martinez, she’s now happily engaged to Kevin Manno. The two are currently expecting their first child together, and even celebrated their babymoon in Hawaii this past week.
Watch Us Weekly‘s video above.
