To say I was unhappy about this season of The Bachelor ending would be an understatement. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that Colton Underwood has found love with Cassie Randolph (and potentially lost his V-card), but I’ve gone into full panic mode over what I’m supposed to do with my Monday nights for the next two months. (The Bachelorette premieres May 13, but who’s counting?)
So I started scrolling through Hulu the other night to see if I could find something to fill my Bachelor void, and let me tell you, I struck gold. Can I Steal You For a Second? The Ringer’s Guide to Colton’s Season—starring former Bachelor Ben Higgins, former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, The Ringer’s Juliet Litman, and E!’s Lauren Zima—is a hilarious one-off special that recaps the latest season while providing some juicy behind-the-scenes info about the show.
Let’s recap what I learned, shall we?
“I think it’s more like, ‘Enjoy it,’” Rachel revealed of the advice she received before kicking off season 13 of The Bachelorette. “Everybody’s nervous. It’s the first time, you know, for some people, you’re ever on camera. For the lead it’s the first time you’re holding this role. You don’t get any direction.”
Ben agrees: “Zero direction. Chris [Harrison] is standing there like, ‘All right, here you go’ and the limo pulls up. No coaching, no direction.”
This worked for Rachel when she competed on Nick Viall’s season of The Bachelor. “I was like, ‘No, I sweat easily. Like, I can’t. I’ve got to be the first one out to meet Nick.’ They were like, ‘OK,’” she recalls.
“I think it’s a big misconception that we know about all the drama that’s going on in the house,” Rachel said. “They truly do separate us, and the only time we know that there is drama is if you just happen to hear it in the house, like if someone is yelling like crazy, or if someone comes and tattles on the next person.”
Ben added, “When somebody does come to you with, ‘Oh, these people aren’t here for the right reasons’ or ‘This person’s mean and they’re fighting in the house,’ it’s good for us because it gives us information that we wouldn’t have and it allows us to make a fair judgement when it comes to rose ceremonies.”
“I would go with general terms like, ‘Hey boo, hey you, hey there,’” Rachel admitted, confirming that it wasn’t until midway through her season of The Bachelorette that the names fully started to register for her. Ben, however, took a more strategic approach to remembering names when he was the Bachelor: “I did word associations. So when somebody would come up out of the limo and say, ‘Hi, I’m Rachel and I like sports,’ I would, in my head, come up with a little song.”
Ben admitted that during his first one-on-one date with Lauren Bushnell, they filmed in a hot tub that was completely cold. “It was cold because there was no electricity,” he confirmed. “So it was just like, cold water that you’re sitting in and acting like it’s hot.”
Ben revealed that when he was on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season of The Bachelorette, he was never told if he was the first, second, or third person that she had a fantasy suite date with. “I didn’t know what order I went and I didn’t care,” he said. I don’t think I’d want to know.”