Ben Higgins was a 25-year-old-ish Bachelor on Season 20 of the show, and he got what he wanted at the end of it all — a fiancée whom he thought he was going to marry. Well, as we all know now, that's not how it worked out for Ben. Now, he's on The Bachelor Winter Games, and he's was so not ready to date that he left the show midway through. But could he be ready to date again, say, on a new season of The Bachelor? It may seem like Ben Higgins is getting the "Bachelor" edit on The Bachelor Winter Games, but Ben Higgins is not ready to be the Bachelor again.
Ben came on the wintery spinoff show with an open mind, and things started okay on The Bachelor Winter Games. Slowly, though, the pairs began coupling off, and Ben was all alone, pushing Yuki (who was cute but whom Ben was not romantically interested in) on a sled. What's a guy to do? Well, it turns out that at the time of filming, Ben wasn't ready to do this "dating" thing yet. (Well, why'd you go on the show, then???) Ben told his buddy Ashley Iaconetti, "The idea of going on a date sounds like a chore to me. It doesn't sound fun. When you get engaged ... I was so excited about the idea of, I'm going to spend the rest of my life with this person. I don't want to get hurt again."
This is understandable. He said the same to Chris Harrison before ultimately opting to leave the show. "Coming back to a place like this brings up a lot of weird memories. To try to engage in relationships here and know that the last time I did this was one of the best moments of my life ... it doesn't feel right... There's just not a place for me here." And like that, he was gone.
Loyal viewers of The Bachelor see Ben's tearful-yet-hopeful storyline as a setup for him becoming The Bachelor yet again. I guess the idea is, if Brad Womack can do it and Nick Viall can be on a Bachelor show, like, 18 times, why can't Ben? Twitter wants answers.
This is all a wonderful show of critical Bachelor thinking here, but it's not going to happen. Ben said so himself last year on the podcast he co-hosts with Ashley. He said:
"At this point in my life, I am not ready to be the next Bachelor, I will say that. It just doesn’t feel right. For whatever reason, it doesn’t feel like a time in my life that I would be the best man possible for the women that would come on this season. And you know, honestly, when you’re fresh out of a relationship, I just feel like that’d be almost disrespectful, too, right? It would be really hard for me to imagine — if I were to watch my ex go and be the Bachelorette and it’s all over TV, it’d be hard for me."
A little more time has passed since Ben said this, but, based on Winter Games, he's still clearly not over his breakup with Lauren. When you think you're going to spend the rest of your life with someone and that ends, it takes more than a minute to move on from it. Let's give Ben some time to heal completely before he gets thrown in the shark tank again — he had to go through a terrible breakup in public. Give him some space and let him live on his own.
As for being on The Bachelor Winter Games, it wasn't all a bad experience for Ben. "I made a lot of good relationships from when I stepped into the house to the time I left. If you ask me, ‘Did I take steps in the romance department?’ I definitely did. There’s not a question in my mind that there were steps made,” he told Us Weekly. “For me, personally, there was huge steps made. I’m excited for people to be with me in that story, through television.”
Ben cultivated some new friendships on The Bachelor Winter Games, and that's all that needs to be happening for him right now. He's not ready to be the Bachelor yet (or maybe ever again), so let's just wish him happiness and send him on his way.
