One of the most interesting players on The Bachelor this season is Jubilee. She was very quiet at first, just taking in the scene around her. She says she suffers from crippling social anxiety, and I totally get that — I would be even more anxious if I was in a room with some of these hyper-critical women. Anyway, Jubilee got her first one-on-one date with Ben, and that social anxiety totally came through. She made a weird comment about Ben being late, she was very nervous about riding in a helicopter, and was generally skittish the whole time. Eventually, she loosened up, though, and Jubilee shared her devastating life story with Ben.
Jubilee revealed earlier in the season that she was born in Haiti and later adopted by an American family. On her one-on-one date, Jubilee opened up ever further, telling Ben that she feels a great deal of survivor’s guilt because she is the only one in her family who is still alive. Jubilee has a lot of feelings about being the last of her bloodline. She had an awful childhood and past, and she’s overcome a lot to get to be the person she is today. Ben assured her that it was OK to have a lot of complicated feelings and layers — she worried earlier in the episode that Ben only went for the “everything is great all the time” girls, and I think this eased her mind. She also got a rose, so that also helped.
Contrast Jubilee’s story with the segment just moments later of Olivia crying that people make fun of her cankles, and the dissonance is astounding. Jubilee is a real person that has suffered some amazingly tragic things, and all the other women in the house want to do is snipe at her for getting a rose. As Bustle voiced in our Bachelor podcast, Jubilee is not the villain as much as the others want to make her one.
They’re all ganging up on Jubilee, and if they only knew her story they’d realize how stupid they all look for being petty. The real winner this episode was Jubilee who opened up about her difficult past and was wholly accepted by Ben who stood by her when people like Amber chided her. She's an incredibly brave woman, and I admire her strength — and I think Ben did too.
For everything Bachelor Nation, follow our Bachelor fan page on Facebook.
Image: Rick Rowell/ABC
