Ben the Bachelor Interview; Straight from the horse's mouth!

Ben Flajnik: I can’t reveal too much.  (All the dates) are over the top and outlandish.  But I found the dates to be the most normal to be my favorite.  You know,  the almost – closest to everyday kind of life.

Ben Flajnik: Normally,  I’m very cool, calm, and collected.  When that first limo pulled up,, I felt sheer panic and terror kind of set  in…It’s nerve  wracking on both sides.

Ben Flajnik: It’s important for me to be with someone who’s well rounded,  cultured, and inflexible,  and not someone that is so used to  routine.

Ben Flajnik: Yes, I mean, Jennifer Love Hewitt had reached out.  And wanted to come up to the winery with  some of her friends, which she did.  So my business partners and I  showed her around the winery.  And she tasted some wines.  And we went  out to dinner and just kind of chatted.

Ben Flajnik: I can’t tell you that.  I’m happy with the experience.  I’m happy that I decided to become The Bachelor again.

1. Elyse Myers :  Elyse Myers: 24, personal trainer/fitness instructor,  Tampa, Fla. Originally from Illinois, graduated from Eastern Illinois University w/ a degree in exercise  physiology.

 

2. Erika Uhlig : 22, Chicago, current Miss Chicago  2011

 

3. Heather Freshwater is just 25 but a  senior amongst this years young cast! She is a southern girl, from  Knoxville, TN. She is also a 7th grade language arts teacher at   Holston Middle School. She attended Carson-Newman College in Jefferson  City, TN and majored in  English.

4. Jamie Otis, age 23,is a maternity nurse at  Cortland Regional Medical Center in Cortland, NY.

5. Shawn Reynolds,  age 28, is from Phoenix,  AZ. She’s a financial advisor at Wells Fargo  Advisors. Shawn attended  Arizona State University on  a soccer scholarship. Shawn  has never married but she has a son 5 years ago named Gavin. She  is also the one in the Sonoma photo, third girl from the right  in  the first row of the Bachelor group picture in the pigtails.

6. Jaclyn Swartz , age 27, grew up in Massachusetts but now  lives in NY. She’s an account manager at CBS Interactive and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin 

7. Samantha Levey,  age 26, is from Pittsburgh,  lives in Los Angeles. She went to the  University of Arizona (This is also Ben’s alma  mater) She is the current Miss Pacific  Palisades, California.  She will be competing for Miss California 2012.

8. Casey Shteamer,  age 26, of Chicago, Illinois,  works at the Chicago Board -  of  Trade,  part-time model, and also graduated from  ASU Arizona State University in 2007 with a degree in Philosophy. As we  mentioned she loves to party also – check out the pics of her in the Bachelor Forum (Had a boyfriend back home while filming according to rumors!)

 

9. Courtney Robertson, no age listed, of Santa Monica,  California is a professional model. She was on the cover Fitness Magazine in April 2011 She’s also a hot chick in  this “Guys Never Change” commercial.

10. Rachel Truehart , age  27, is a sales rep at  Lucerne Textiles in New York. She is originally  from Massachusetts and  graduated from Roger Williams University in 2006.

 

10. Blakeley Shea - we may open a forum for her fans but she’s also not around long enough to really make a difference.  For you guys here are some blakeley Shea photos - Perhaps we will see her again as part of a Bachelor Pad Season 3 Cast!

11. Shawntel Newton – Do you remember her? Former  Contestant!