The Bachelorette's Ashley Herbert might have been devastated when contestant Bentley Williams suddenly dropped out of the dating competition, but she later returned the favor, rejecting Ben Flajnik's heartfelt proposal during last season's finale.
Now ABC has given the 28-year-old bachelor another chance at finding love as star of The Bachelor 16.
Flajnik lives in Northern California where the Internet-advertiser-turned-winemaker spends his free time crab fishing, sailing, golfing, skate boarding, surfing, playing piano, singing in a tribute band and playing with his Jack Russell Terrier, Scotch.
During the January 3rd premiere twenty-five bachelorettes were introduced and quickly narrowed down to his favorite eighteen. Here are the remaining women contending for Ben's heart on The Bachelor 16:
1. Lindzi
ABC
The 27-year-old business development manager knows how to change her own flat tires, says she loves to float in the ocean and, "used to be fearless but the older I get, I realize that I sort of love this life thing and I'm getting a little more conservative!" After giving her own modern, marvelous twist to a classic romantic image by riding in to meet Ben on a horse, he gave her the first impression rose.
2. Jamie
ABC
A 25-year-old registered nurse from Dryden, New York, Jamie is a fan of Danielle Steele romance novels and took custody of her younger siblings to help raise them. At the premiere's rose ceremony Jamie received the first flower.
3. Rachel
ABC
Rachel, a 27-year-old fashion sales rep from Southhampton, Massachusetts says she'd like to try life as a guy--for one day, just to see what it's like. She lists her greatest achievement as moving to New York on her own. Rachel received the second rose at the first flower ceremony.
4. Blakeley
ABC
A cocktail waitress, the 34-year-old Blakeley hails from Rutherfordton, North Carolina and has a long haired Chihuahua that Blakeley calls her "everything." Blakeley likes to cook and has four tattoos.
5. Emily
ABC
A doctoral student from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27-year-old Emily says her most embarrassing dating moment happened when an online dating service matched her with her own brother!
6. Kacie B
ABC
A Clarksville, Tennessee native, Kacie B is a 24-year-old administrative assistant who likes to cook and has three tattoos. During the premiere, while other bachelorettes were desperately trying to impress Ben, Kacie came across as a regular girl who promised not to sugarcoat anything. Will she be true to her word?
7. Casey S
ABC
Twenty-six-year-old Casey S. is a trading clerk from Leawood, Kansas. She says her favorite novel is Catcher in the Rye (a literary work also influential on Mark David Chapman, who killed John Lennon--hopefully an unconnected coincidence).
8. Brittney
ABC
Also 26-years-old, Brittney is a medical sales rep from Colorado Springs, Colorado. She hates finding out a date is married and says the most romantic thing she ever got from a suitor was a stuffed animal signed by football legend John Elway. That's cool, but why did Brittney bring her grandma on the limo ride with her?
9. Erika
ABC
A law student from Charlottesville, Virginia, Erika is 23-years-old who says, if she could change lives with any person for just one day it would be with professional football player Troy Polamalu "because I want to know what it's like to be a gentle giant off the field and unstoppable on it." During the introductions, Erika told Ben, she was, "guilty of being sexy." (Get it? Guilty? Because she's a law student? Ugh.)
10. Shawn
ABC
Twenty-eight-year-old financial adviser Shawn is a single mom from Cincinnati, Ohio with five tattoos (one more than any other Bachelor 16 contender. She'd trade places with someone from a third world so she could know just how lucky she is to live in the US of A.
