This week, Ben went on the hometown dates to meet the four remaining women's families.
He started off in Florida, visiting Lindzi and her family. She and Ben spend some time carriage-riding and talking. She compares getting your heart broken to falling off a horse and shares that she's ready to get back up on the horse again. She tells Ben about her previous relationship where she was engaged. She ultimately had her heart broken and says this is why she put up a guard in the beginning. Ben is glad that Lindzi is sharing more about her past with him and he remarks that he likes how vulnerable she's being.
They head to Lindzi's parents house and Ben hits it off with her family right away. It turns out that Lindzi's parents were married in San Francisco City Hall - the same place Ben and Lindzi shared their first date. That's a cute coincidence :)
Soon after this, a carriage race takes place - Lindzi and Ben against Lindzi's parents. The parents win and as their "punishment," Lindzi and Ben have to pull their carriage back to the house.
They enjoy dinner before Lindzi and Ben each spend some one-on-one time with her parents. Lindzi confides that she's falling in love with Ben. Lindzi's father, Harry, even gives Ben his blessing/permission to marry his daughter if Ben were to propose to her. It's very sweet. The night ends with a toast to Ben and Lindzi.
Next, Ben heads to Tennessee to visit Kacie B and her family. I just love Kacie B, she seems so sweet and genuine. She doesn't hold back regarding her feelings. Ben's greeted at the local high school by a marching band and Kacie twirling her baton. She's clearly thrilled to see Ben. They sit down to talk and she tells him that the field is named after her grandfather. She shares that her grandfather and grandmother were an awesome example of love and a long-lasting marriage. She says she wants that, too.
Kacie then shares some troubling things about her father with Ben. She tells him that her father never drinks alcohol (and Ben's a wine maker!) and that he is a probation officer who is very skeptical about this process. This makes Ben worry because he wants to get the blessing of the father of his future bride (whomever that may be) before he proposes to her.
During Ben's one-on-one time with Kacie's parents, her dad expresses concerns that the couple is rushing their relationship. He emphasizes how serious and important a commitment marriage is and that he does not want them rushing into it. Kaci's mother expresses concerns about the couple living together if they were to become engaged. Ben tries to reassure her parents, but it doesn't seem to do much good. Kacie's father even tells Kacie that if Ben were to ask for her hand in marriage, he would have to tell Ben no at this point!
After dinner, Kacie sends Ben on his way, and worries about what this means for their relationship. I must admit it doesn't look like the hometown date went very well for them.
Next, Ben travels to Texas to visit with Nicki. The couple set out to do some cowboy boot shopping. They wind up with both cowboy boots and hats and Ben's having a blast!
Nicki takes Ben to meet her parents, and even though they have been divorced for a long time, they seem to get along quite well. During Nicki's one-on-one time with her parents, she tells her mom she's in love with Ben. She also shares this sentiment with her dad. Her dad is anxious about her getting hurt again, and he apologizes for not taking more time to get to know her first husband before he and Nicki got married. It was really sweet to see a father who loves his daughter so much. He tells Nicki he always wants to protect her, but he knows he can't.
At the end of the night, Nicki asks to talk with Ben alone for a moment. She tells him she's in love with him. Nicki's dad expresses his hope that he will see Ben again in the near future and gives the couple his blessing.
Finally, Ben heads to Arizona to visit with Courtney. Courtney has honestly been my least favorite woman throughout this season. She tells the camera how she feels badly about how she treated the other women in the house and that she hopes it does not affect her relationship with Ben. Personally, I'm not sure if she's genuinely sorry or not. I would think her interactions with the other women in the house would be a big red flag to Ben, especially when she acts so differently around them and Ben.
Courtney's family isn't convinced that she has feelings for him, initially, but soon realize that she does love him. Courtney's dad, Rick, notices that Courtney is very happy and tells Ben he would love to have him as a son-in-law.
After dinner, Courtney takes Ben to the park for a surprise. She tells Ben she always wanted to get married here. She walks him over to where it appears a wedding has been set up to take place. Courtney pulls out a bow tie for Ben to wear and pen and paper for them to write down their vows. Ben writes some beautiful vows to Courtney. While Courtney recites her vows, it's hard not to notice her nervousness - stumbling and swaying from side to side. She gets through them, though, and at the end tells Ben that she loves him.
In Los Angeles, Ben sits down with Chris Harrison to have a talk before the rose ceremony. Ben recounts his hometown dates.
At the rose ceremony, Courtney, Lindzi, and Nicki get roses (in that order), which leaves Kacie as the woman who went home. I was pretty shocked by this outcome because it seemed that Kacie and Ben had a great relationship from the very beginning of the season. Kacie is in shock and doesn't understand what went wrong. When Ben walks her out, Kacie cries and all Ben can say is that he's sorry. He doesn't seem to have an explanation as to why he's sending her home.
In the limo, Kacie cries very hard and wants to know why she wasn't good enough and what went wrong. She says she was scared to get her heart broken and that's exactly what happened. She remarks that this is why she doesn't love.
Ben walks back into the mansion and tells the remaining three women that they are headed to Switzerland next.
What do you think of Ben's decision? Was it a good one or a bad one? Who do you see him proposing to in a few weeks and why?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section; I would love to hear them!
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