Not everything came up roses! Ben Higgins doesn’t feel bad about most of his decisions on The Bachelor, but saying “I love you” to two contestants admittedly wasn’t his finest moment.
The “Almost Famous” podcast cohost, 31, made Bachelor history when he told both JoJo Fletcher and Lauren Bushnell that he loved them on season 20 of the ABC dating series in 2016. Looking back, he exclusively told Us Weekly why it was a bad choice.
“I just wish I would have communicated it. Maybe if you phrase a question like that: ‘Do I regret saying it?’ Yes,” Higgins said in latest installment of Us Weekly’s “Bachelor Regrets” game. “But it felt at the time like the right thing to do. It was validating.”
He added: “Now it feels like it was manipulating as well, because it just made me feel a little bit better about making sure they both knew where I was at. So, I probably could have been wiser not saying it.”
The Generous Coffee Co. cofounder, who is now engaged to Jessica Clarke after calling off his engagement to Bushnell, 31, in May 2017, also revealed the biggest date fails that he had on TV took place in hot tubs.
“They’re awkward. They’re weird. And a lot of times a hot tub is not hot,” he told Us, adding those scenes to the regret column. “It’s, like, cold, especially when it’s sitting out in the middle of the desert and, like, there’s a random hot tub. It’s not like they have heat going to it. Those are never helpful.”
When it came to sending women home, however, Higgins is confident in how and when he let each contestant go.
“Everywhere from like Becca [Tilley] to Caila [Quinn], like, that was just hard because you’ve been with them for a while,” he said, noting he doesn’t regret any of his cuts. “Becca and I’ve stayed great friends, but I remember how much she invested into coming on that experience. And then to send her home was hard because it just, you know, she was so great to be around.”
Higgins explained that letting go of Amanda Stanton was also hard because “I met her kids and that was awkward.” He added that Quinn, who was in his final three, was “tough” as it was so close to the end, but “no,” he doesn’t think any goodbyes were timed wrong.
Watch the video above for more of Higgins’ Bachelor regrets, including why he rarely ate during one-on-one dates and how he feels about going on Bachelor Winter Games.
