Dish Of Salt: Wednesday TV Round Up (Meet “The Bachelor’s Babes)

Meet “The Bachelor’s” Babes
This morning ABC announced the 25 women who will be competing to win “The Bachelor’s” heart when the new season begins January 4 on ABC. Among the group are at least one single mom, a swimsuit model and a homemaker. During the show’s first episode Jake Pavelka will meet his bevy of beauties who will instantly try and compete for his heart. One woman causes a stir when she puts on a revealing flight-attendant costume to try and woo pilot Jake. Another woman attempts to show off her athletic skills by starting a private football game with Jake. Immediately though other girls catch on to their gridiron alone time and it turns into a battle of the brunettes versus the blondes.

And The 25 Bachelorettes Are:

Alexa, 25, an entrepreneur from Galloway, OH
Ali, 25, an advertising account manager from Williamstown, MA
Ashleigh, 25, an account manager from North Potomac, MD
Ashley, 29, a teacher from Pittsburgh, PA
Caitlyn, 24, a spokesmodel from Winfield, IL
Channy, 29, a mortgage loan officer from Santa Rosa, CA
Christina, 25, a restaurant manager from San Diego, CA
Corrie, 23, a wardrobe consultant from Kissimmee, FL
Elizabeth, 29, a nanny from Imperial, NE
Elizabeth, 29, a Captain in the Air National Guard, from Washington, DC
Ella, 30, a hair stylist from Lafollette, TN
Emily, 23, a fit model from West Chester, OH
Gia, 26, a swimsuit model from New York, NY
Jessie, 25, a cosmetic sales manager from Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Kathryn, 25, a corporate flight attendant from Lexington, KY
Kimberly, 24, an NBA dancer from Norman, OK
Kirsten, 25, a waitress from Aurora, CO
Michelle, 26, an office manager from Anaheim, CA
Rozlyn, 28, a model/makeup artist from Richmond, VA
Sheila, 25, a commercial pilot from San Juan Capistrano, CA
Stephanie, 24, a dance teacher from Morris, IL
Tenley, 25, a college admissions representative from Newberg, OR
Tiana, 31, a medical technician from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Valishia, 32, a homemaker from Carlsbad, CA
Vienna, 23, a marketing representative from Sanford, FL

Let the Internet sleuthing begin. I’ve already seen some last names revealed on message boards. “Bachelor” fans are rabid!

Jake’s Take
This morning, just prior to the names of the women being announced, Jake held a conference call with reporters about the new season. I have to say I’m very confused about whether or not he actually found love on the show. He seemed to contradict himself back and forth many times during the call. When asked about how he approached the show Jake told one reporter, “I went in and said, ‘You know, very honestly, if I find love you know I’ll come out engaged. If I don’t find love and have that feeling, I won’t.’ So I didn’t promise a ring at the end of this and I stayed true to myself and didn’t necessarily do what everybody wanted me to do.”

I know what he meant by that was that he didn’t promise the producers he would definitely get engaged at the end. However, saying he didn’t necessarily do what everybody wanted him to do then, I’m led to believe maybe he didn’t propose to anyone at the end of the show? Because let’s face it, everybody who works on the show wants him to get down on bended knee because it makes for a better finale. Soon after Jake said this though he seemed to express that he had found somebody by saying, “I went into it, you know, on cloud nine and, you know, basically came out the same way.”

Towards the end of the call someone asked him if he was emotionally ready for marriage. Jake hesitated with a very long “well…” But when the reporter who asked the question clarified that she meant, ‘not necessarily with whomever he may or may not have chosen,’ he stated he was indeed ready for the idea of marriage.

Then there were even more mixed messages. Jake told the reporters he felt like the producers and casting department did an amazing job with the 25 women they found because they know him so well. However, he added this interesting note, “But with all of the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed, if there is not just that magical spark, you know, that you can’t create, it’s never going to work.”

So did he not find a magical spark with anyone and therefore let the winning girl go? It sure sounded like it! But then later he admitted that he fell for several women during the process saying, “The women were incredible and so I had a lot of romance. My heart went out to multiple women and the rose ceremonies were very very difficult”

OK, so he had a lot of romance and gave his heart to many women so why then did he say this? “I can honestly tell you there were many women on there that were so close to being, you know, everything that I have ever wanted and I felt like it was vice versa on their part but for some reason there wasn’t a feeling or they would have to change this one little thing about them and I didn’t want to go on there and fix anybody. That’s been my whole thing in dating is — I don’t want to fix you. I don’t want you to fix me. Let’s just fall in love as we are. That made it easier. That’s how I got through.”

If anyone wants to decipher all this for me, I’d love to know what the hell he’s talking about! One thing I do know for sure is that Jake went into this with a very smart attitude. He asked producers to help him plan dates that weren’t all about over the top situations like the show usually does. “If I come on here and I do happen to find somebody, but we have done all of these just, you know, shoot-for-the-star-type dates that are all of a sudden going to come to an end… and now it’s just an ordinary life, you know, I don’t want my newfound relationship not to be able to handle, you know, going to Chilis.”

Truly profound.

And, for the record, I love Chili’s!