In Episode 7 of "The Bachelor," Ben Flajnik and his six would-be wives jump from Panama City to Belize, where Ben introduces the episode with some seriously distracting and loud tropical music.
Also distracting is Ben in a tanktop. Simply put: bwahahaha. I'm not loving Ben in a white striped tank, nor am I loving the awkward tan it gives him. But it does make for funny TV.
The girls show up to their palatial digs in Belize, a large house that elicits quite a few "OMG"s. But my major OMG moment was when I saw Courtney's outfit. Is that an Alexander McQueen skull scarf around the model's neck?? That would simply be too good to be true. The classic villain wearing skulls around her neck -- I'd love to hear Emily rant and Kacie rave about that one.
Aside from that, I love Courtney's outfit. The play with proportions, with the loose asymmetrical tank paired with the wide denim, shows daring style sense and she pulls it off expertly.
Lindzi gets the first date in Belize, for which she chooses another dark, flared-out minidress, just like her first one-on-one in San Francisco. But this date was more casual -- I liked her nearly-barefoot look.
When Ben swings by to pick Lindzi up, he's wearing another tanktop! Emily compares him to a yummy slice of cheesecake being dangled in front of her. I'd say that in this outfit, the emphasis is definitely on the "cheese."
On Lindzi and Ben's date they dangle from a helicopter over deep water, clinging to each other before they plunge several dozen feet into the deep. Lindzi looks freakin' terrified, but also adorable in her two-toned polka dot bikini. Not some trite neon thing, not some conservative one-piece -- nope, Lindz got it just right.
For evening, she slipped into a sweet coral dress that played nicely off her (very) tan skin. Only problem: the night portion of the date involves lots of bending over and sitting on the ground. Keep those legs together, Lindzi!
Emily had the next date. Just like her relationship with Ben, Emily's fashion has been middling at best: she rarely wears anything truly offensive/unflattering/ugly, but she doesn't exactly have an ace fashion sense.
This one-on-one date was more of the same: a basic cobalt minidress for the daytime with buttons up the front and a pink bikini sticking out the back. Fine, I guess. Not exactly sexy, but cute alright. Emily struck a similar note for dinner: a black, white and green print dress with a slightly too long hemline. It was almost dowdy and certainly not sexy, although her hair and makeup looked excellent.
Courtney, of course, got it just right on her one-on-one. On the third date of the episode, the controversial model wore an easy-breezy dark green tank and denim cutoffs with basic flip-flops. There was a bit of décolletage, a lot of leg... and a lot of interest from Ben. For evening, Courtney repeated the look she's been favoring for the past several episodes: a spaghetti-strap dress with an extremely low neckline, complemented by a long, flowy maxi skirt. The top provides the sex appeal, the bottom seems soft and feminine. The combo seems to be working.
After Courtney wooed Ben on the one-on-one, he got busy with a group date with Kacie, Nicki and Rachel. The girls were awoken at 4:00 AM, rolling out of bed and deliriously stumbling into the bathroom to get ready. I love when Rachel admits that she always takes at least an hour to get ready -- needless to say, the girls were scrambling this time. The image of Kacie and Rachel shaving their pits and bikini lines at top speed while half-asleep was priceless and so refreshingly real.
The girls spent most of the day in bikinis. Rachel, like Lindzi, won me over with a sophisticated print. The demi cup on her top was especially sexy, given that she has one of the larger busts among the women. The bra-style top was a perfect choice.
On the other hand, Nicki and Kacie went for basic brights, with the latter throwing on a print bottom for contrast. Eh. I'm tired of purple/teal/yellow/hot pink bathing suits. Gimme something interesting, girls!
With only one rose handed out during the episode (Kacie was the lucky recipient), the women nervously approached the Rose Ceremony in a mix of tropical-feeling frocks. Kacie and Nicki went with printed maxi dresses (a strong trend this episode -- maybe there's something about Belize?)
Rachel looked fresh in her white lace minidress, although she paired it with long feathered earrings, perhaps in homage to our dear, departed Blakeley. Lindzi went feminine and frilly, just like last week, with a one-strap pink thing... and tons of black eyeliner. Lay off the kohl, Lindz! And Emily, as usual, looked just OK in a two-toned blue halter dress.
Thankfully, there was one surprise to keep it interesting: Courtney was wearing lipstick! Her signature look up till now had been fresh-faced with little to no makeup, keeping the focus on her and not her cosmetics. But perhaps with her fate hanging in the balance she tried stepping it up a notch. While I didn't think the dark gloss worked, Ben decided to keep Courtney -- or, as Kacie likes to call her, the Black Widow -- around for one more week.
So Courtney, Nicki, Kacie and Lindzi will all head back to their hometowns to have Ben meet their parents. Will this bring better or worse style? I'm predicting the latter (did you see the cowboy hats in the preview for next week?)... but we'll have to wait till next Monday night to see.
In the meantime, browse the pics below. Who had the best looks of Episode 7?
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