Love is blind.

So, pretty much, are we. We don't really know a thing about the women who will be part of what I'm just going to keep calling The Bachelor: Operation Lone Star Stubble until someone makes me stop or the series gets its own actual catch-title like Andy Baldwin's Officer and a Gentleman.

What we do know is just a set of key data points: name, age, occupation, hometown and appearance.  So okay, we're not completely blind.

More crucially, though, we also know what ABC said in the press release about the first episode of the show.  In this, there might be some key clues to who eventually might not be getting a rose on Monday's premiere of The Bachelor.

Here's how it works: eventually, The Bachelor will wind up with two women. One is usually a fairly straightforward apple pie-type woman, the other might have a little more complex of a story, or just somehow might be a little less tidy of a story than the other. The former will generally be the fan favorite of those who root for the more traditional “fairy tale” type of story, while the latter will usually find her way into the heart of those who normally like to root for the underdog.

The editors will start crafting this story early, so just because a woman might be cast in a slightly more negative light earlier one doesn't mean she's out the door. She might just be on the underdog track.

However, usually the women who wind up in the final two won't be painted in a really comically negative light early on. In other words, they're not usually fodder for the “freak show” element that happens in the first few episodes where there are all kinds of oddball behavior shown to amp up the entertainment value.

Therefore – and this could wind up being completely wrong – but one might be on the right track to think that the women who are singled out for humorous antics in the first episode (the ones included in the press release) are not longed for the world of The Bachelor.

Those include Juli, who “twists herself in a pretzel,” Morgan, who “shows off her webbed toes,” and “a tipsy Melissa [who] runs around the party searching for her lost fake breast enhancer.” Things don't look good for Melissa. That just doesn't sound like the kind of person ABC is building up to win Operation Lone-Star Stubble.

Susan is also called out for “interrupt[ing]” Brad Womack and another woman. The ladies who are shown interrupting dates are usually not headed for a rose, but there are some exceptions. We'll have to see how this one is painted. Same for Mallory stripping down to her bikini and jumping in the pool. Maybe she'll come off as a free spirit, maybe she'll come off as desperate for attention.

Fellow Texan Lindsey tries to bond with Brad by presenting him with a yellow rose and serenading him with "The Yellow Rose of Texas.” Things didn't go so well for singing Tina Wu last season, so this doesn't sound good.

Some other women are called out in the press release, but it's not entirely clear if their actions that night will be edited to seem “my eggs are rotting” back-away-slowly-from-the-crazy-lady-humorous like the infamous Allie J. from season 8 or “talking muffins” aw-shucks-harmlessly-kooky-humorous like Tessa Horst from last season.

These women include some who carry out some career-related shenanigans. Jessica, the anchorwoman, “interviews” Brad. Kristy, an acupuncturist, examines Brad's tongue. Jenni, the cheerleader, performs a dance for Brad.

We learn that DeAnna “wows the Bachelor right out of the limo by introducing herself in Greek.” So that looks good for DeAnna, unless we are being set up for a Rose Ceremony twist.

“Erin and Hillary tell Brad about freak sports injuries -- Erin broke her face with a football, and Hillary her nose while she was bowling.” Bevin Powers pointed out her scars to Andy last season on the first episode, so this might mean the girls make it through.


So to recap, based on the press release, I'm thinking things maybe don't look good for Juli, Morgan, Melissa, Susan, Mallory and Lindsay, so I would include those six in my list of the ten who won't get a rose that first night.

I think, actually, that acupuncturist Kristy might actually be a candidate for going home that first night. Not for examining Brad's tongue, but because of the sort of very different lifestyles one would think a bar owner and an alternative health practitioner would have. I'm thinking she's a little more wheat-grass-shots and he's a little more stinks-of-smoke-and-booze when he gets home from being in a bar all night. So she would be seven.

Then based on next-to-nothing at all, I would also pick Michele (no disrespect, but based on the relatively conservative-appearing women who've made it through The Bachelor in the past, I don't think those streaks are going to make it far), and Sarah (she's a bar manager and I am wondering if Brad might learn that and think “I came on The Bachelor to meet women outside of the world I am already a part of). That makes nine, and I am completely out of reasons to pick anyone else, so I am going to just arbitrarily say Bettina because she's first alphabetically and I haven't mentioned her yet.

So there are my picks for who we might be saying goodbye to tonight. Of course, it's possible I just put way more thought into than a Bachelor overwhelmed by 25 women will, and he might just pick the women he thinks are the hottest. Tune in Monday to find out for certain.

Who are your picks for getting the boot and getting the rose? Leave your thoughts in the comments below


- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of ABC)