Hometowns are probably the trickiest week of any Bachelor season. Inviting the families of four women—who our leading guy obviously cares about with varying degrees of interest—to meet and greet with a man who is A) still dating other ladies, and B) likely nowhere near ready to settle on his final choice, is stressful. So, different families handle the situation with extremely different reactions.
There’s always the parents who nod along and never question their daughter’s declarations of love. Then, there’s the siblings that decide to cause a stir, whether it be for their benefit or their sister’s.
We saw all your standard hometown visit interactions in last night’s episode, but Amanda’s family stood out. Her parents interrogated Ben in the usual manner—not because of Amanda but for the sake of her two adorable daughters.
We knew going into Amanda’s hometown date that Ben’s willingness to become an “instant dad” would be a huge part of the discussion and his ultimate decision to keep or cut ties with Amanda. His beach playtime with the girls went well from what we could tell, but as soon as Amanda’s family brought up the matter of sudden fatherhood, Ben kind of shut down.
This is something we see almost every season. It’s like the fact that this woman has children wasn’t real for Ben until he saw them with his own two eyes. Now, Amanda didn’t have to introduce her girls to Ben. That made the blow a lot harder for both her and viewers later in the episode. But that also gave Ben a taste of what life with Amanda and her daughters would be like. Hopefully, it served as a reality check of his actual feelings for Amanda.
Did Amanda deserve better than the unfulfilling send-off Ben gave her? Of course. But there’s always that one girl who regrets introducing her family to the Bachelor. It’s an inevitable recourse of hometown dates.
It just seems that if there’s a single mother among the bunch during hometowns, she becomes an unavoidable target. That’s not always the case, and it’s certainly not fair when it is. But did you actually believe that Ben would give Amanda a rose after her hometown date?
Just the fact that Ben literally wept as he said goodbye to her shows how genuinely he cared for Amanda. That sweet moment of sincere affection doesn’t make her departure any easier, but it’s all a part of the process. Amanda will find what she’s looking for, and for now, she’s got those two lovely little girls to keep her company.