Bachelorette Swooner Revealed!
OK, so we've all seen those TV ads for The Bachelorette's season premiere, featuring one of Jen Schefft's admirers fainting during a rose ceremony. Who is that swooning suitor?
This week, Schefft wasn't allowed to name the man while doing a press conference call with journalists to promote the show; an ABC publicist hushed her up, so as not to "give too much away." Puh-leeze. It hardly took the sleuthing skills of Sydney Bristow to determine the dude's identity. This nosy TV Guide Online reporter simply videotaped the ad (while watching Alias, natch), hit the pause button to freeze-frame the fainter, and then compared his face to the suitor photos on ABC's website. Voila! He's unmistakably David, the 30-year-old marketing consultant from Chicago.
Now that the mystery's solved, why'd he take the face plant on the floor? Sure, Schefft's pretty, but did she literally take his breath away? No. Turns out, he was exhausted. Rose ceremony tapings can take several hours; viewers at home only see the very abridged version of events.
"It's really difficult because that night goes on for so long," Schefft explains. "Everyone's trying to stay awake. There's food available, but I don't know if anyone really realizes how long it's gonna go, so I don't think people eat enough, and he was probably dehydrated and he probably had some Red Bull.
"I obviously feel horrible for him that he goes on TV and that's the first thing that happens," she says, adding, "It wasn't funny. It was really nice to see all the guys helping him out and giving him water, like, 'Oh my god, are you OK?' It was nerve-racking."
Whether David — who is fine now — survived that dramatic rose ceremony remains to be seen. Schefft insists his sudden pass-out didn't wreck his chances with her, though. "No, at that point, the people I had chosen were already determined," she says. "That didn't change my decision about him one way or the other."
Hmm... Guess we'll just have to tune in Monday night at 9 pm/ET to learn the fainter's fate!