You had to know the ‘Canadian Bacon’ jokes were forthcoming when 23-year-old Amber Bacon from Port Coquitlam, B.C. stepped out of a limousine as one of 25 women vying for Ben Flajnik’s heart on Season 16 of The Bachelor. The affable labour and delivery nurse even worked it into her first meeting with Ben, joking that friends call her ‘The Baconator.’ Sadly, the PoCo beauty’s stay at the L.A. mansion was short-lived, as she was one of seven women sent home that first night.
CityLine.ca caught up with Amber B. (not to be confused with cow balls-loving Amber T., also booted in the premiere) during her recent visit to Toronto. We wanted to know what made her take the reality show plunge, what her strategy was, and her impressions of Ben and the girls. Here are highlights from our conversation:
CityLine.ca: What made you decide to go on The Bachelor?
Amber Bacon: I’m a big fan of the show, I watch it every season. I was newly single and my girlfriends were like, ‘You should go on it. You’d be so good at it.’ I have no problem talking to guys when I’m out so they all thought I’d be good at it and I was like, ‘Yeah!’ You only live once, so, I was excited to be on it.
CL: Tell us about that first night at the mansion — what was it like?
AB: At the beginning it was really stressful because it’s so quiet and there are so many people watching you. It’s a bit nerve-wracking, but once I met Ben and got in there I felt pretty confident and thought I had a good chance.
CL: Going in, did you think at all about strategy, and that first meeting with Ben? How did you plan for that?
AB: Usually I play hard-to-get, so I thought I would try that. But I think it’s pretty difficult when there are 25 girls and I don’t know if that’s quite the best thing. So I just thought I’d be myself, and I was myself, and that’s all you can do, right? I just wanted to get across the kind of person I am — I don’t take myself too seriously, I’m kind of sarcastic, I like to have fun and joke around, but I also think I’m a sophisticated, smart woman. I don’t think I’d ever jab at the other girls or try to be the crazy, mean one to stand out. I’m laid back. If he likes it, he likes it, if he doesn’t, his loss, right?
CL: Did you have some one-on-one time with Ben over the course of the night?
AB: I did! I got some one-on-one time, they didn’t show it. We talked about babies and stuff and I thought it was quite funny and it went pretty well. Maybe he didn’t. It’s tough. It doesn’t mean I’m a bad person or Ben’s a bad person, sometimes you just don’t click.
CL: Do you feel that had you been given more time, something might have developed?
AB: If I was given a little more time I think we could’ve had something. You never know though. It’s so hard to know, that first night is so fast and stressful and there are so many people there.
CL: Did Canada, and the fact that you’re Canadian, come up in conversation at all?
AB: It did — he said that he was up here for the Olympics. He said he loved Canada. He was in Vancouver, so we talked about Vancouver a little bit. Everyone loves Canadians, right?
CL: What was your impression of some of the other women in the house?
AB: Some of them were a bit aggressive, I think that’s maybe just personal style or how certain girls are in those kinds of situations. More power to ’em, it worked for them, so… I was questioning (why some of them were still there) a little bit, but… [shrugs shoulders]. I was surprised he kept a lot of the girls, but if he kept those girls that’s something he likes and something that I’m not, so like I said we’re maybe not compatible. And that’s ok.
CL: Can you let us in on anything that may have happened behind the scenes that we may not have seen that first episode?
AB: Well, the Jenna crying thing. We did all see that. She was in (the bathroom) for awhile so that was the gossip amongst the girls throughout the night.
CL: Do you have any thoughts on who you might see Ben choosing at the end?
AB: I really liked Lindzi. I thought when I talked to her she had a good personality. Down to earth, really friendly. I really think she’s a good girl and whether Ben likes her or not, I guess we’ll have to wait and see!
The Bachelor airs on Citytv Vancouver at 6pm PT, Citytv Winnipeg at 10pm CT, OMNI 2 in Toronto at 8pm ET and OMNI Calgary/Edmonton at 9pm MT.