Memo to all present and future Bachelor hopefuls: Making someone else look bad in an effort to make yourself look good is not as effective a tactic as you might think. Case in point? This preview clip from the fifth episode of The Bachelorette — airing Monday, June 24 — in which Michael G. attempts to expose Ben as this season’s villain while on a two-on-one date with Desiree Hartsock.
Ben has been the odd man out since the very beginning of the season; none of the other guys competing for Des’ affections like him, trust him, or think he’s there “for the right reasons.” Until now, however, Des has remained in the dark about his reputation, and Michael wants to change that.
“Ben is this absentee father who mentions his son and uses his son when it serves him,” Michael says in a confessional. “It’s sickening.”
With that in mind, Michael uses his and Ben’s date with Des in Germany to grill Ben about his ex and his son, prompting the single dad to admit that he hasn’t had any contact with the little boy since coming on the show. (He chalks it up to the time difference.)
Michael then proceeds to tell a story about his own experience with an absentee father, which annoys Ben. Des, for her part, is mostly silent throughout the interaction, but she appears visibly uncomfortable to be caught in the middle.
“What I thought was going to be fine and we were going to be able to be civil…I was totally wrong,” Ben says in a confessional. “I don’t know how much more of what he’s saying I can take.”
Watch the tense two-on-one date now, and tune in to The Bachelorette on Monday, June 24, at 8 p.m. EDT to see Des and the rest of the guys in Germany!
