http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2006/02/08/1430649.html
Dumped Canuck gal so over 'Bachelor'
By PAT ST. GERMAIN - Winnipeg
Sarah Blondin is back at home after her Parisian adventure. (Chris Procaylo, SUN)
WINNIPEG - Most Candid Bachelorette Ever! Winnipeg beauty Sarah Blondin finally got to speak her mind yesterday about The Bachelor: Paris after the cone of silence was partially lifted in the wake of her departure from the show on ABC and City TV Monday.
And guess what? She's so over it. And she's totally over Best Bachelor Ever Travis Stork.
"I don't even think about him. It's kinda like, it happened so long ago, and everyone's just seeing it now -- but for me it's kinda like old news you know?"
Blondin, 23, is a good sport considering she's been in the media spotlight since The Sun first revealed her identity back in December. She laughs frequently as she chats about Stork, bad egg Dr. Allie G., the show's selective editing and ABC's habit of bleeping her sometimes-salty commentary -- especially during her tearful farewell Monday.
"They tend to bleep me a lot, don't they? I don't know why I got bleeped last night, I don't know how that happened. I think it's more dramatic or something." Blondin has watched every episode with her mom Julie or close friends, and it's not always fun, although she laughed out loud at her first appearance, when she pronounced Stork's borrowed chateau as "not too bad, eh?" Until then, she didn't realize she'd slipped into hoserspeak -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Like many viewers, she was annoyed at ABC's habit of referring to all the women as "American beauties."
Since the infamous Allie G. was swiftly jettisoned from the pack, Blondin says she didn't get to know her but did experience Allie G's wrath at the first rose ceremony.
"She was standing beside me, and I had my rose in my hand and I was commenting on how hot it was because there were so many lamps and lights and whatever in there and I was saying I was hot or my feet hurt, and she was just like 'Shut the f-- up. You got the first rose, shut the f-- up.' Truly, truly bitter."
As for the final three contestants, Blondin says Nashville Sarah is sweet but doesn't have romantic chemistry with Stork. She figures Stork is "really crazy" about Moana, even though the bachelorettes found her appalling -- "She's not a horrible person but she just did a lot of things that made us completely confused about her character" -- and perennial frontrunner Susan is "over-dramatic." Blondin was surprised when Susan virtually admitted on Monday she was on the show to further her acting career. And she denies publicity had anything to do with her own participation.
"I guess acting has been one of my passions, but it's not something I'm really trying to pursue," she says, adding that when she was offered a role in locally lensed teen horror flick Tamara she signed on as an adventure.
Ditto for The Bachelor: Paris. Blondin applied via the show's website last summer and was surprised when she was chosen. She has no regrets -- "It makes you stronger as an individual to have to go through something like that, it gives you more balls" -- but says she wouldn't do it again.
And she cautions viewers that they're not seeing the big picture. For example, her hometown scenes were edited to play up the insecure, jealous bachelorette storyline. And viewers don't see how the women are encouraged to lap up cocktails -- makes for more drama -- or how their emotions are manipulated. Isolated from friends, family and other men, they're encouraged to make the bachelor the focus of their existence.
"It was a little much. But you kinda get wrapped up into it, that's why you see so many women getting so emotional ... you somehow get manipulated into believing that it's real, or brainwashed in a sense you could say."
Blondin is contractually obliged to keep mum about the amount of time she spent in Paris and whether she was financially compensated, although she says she is out of pocket for wardrobe -- "You've gotta buy all those dresses, and I do not wear dresses," she laughs.
She also can't discuss whether she has a new boyfriend, but can say how, in hindsight, ER doc Stork is more Dr. McBland than Dr. McDreamy -- well, OK, we say he's bland, but Blondin doesn't disagree.
"It got to the point where I kinda just wished he became more real in a sense."
She also wishes the local media had been more supportive -- hey, we find the mating show reprehensible, not the contestants -- and, by the way, online message boards that claim she's a high school dropout are wrong. She graduated from Kelvin in 2001 and will return to U of W next fall, possibly with an eye toward a career in PR. She's getting hands-on experience now but after today, Blondin just hopes her 15 minutes are up. "Hopefully, I won't be in the paper every week."
Just wanna know what these people are really like. LOL!
I know who got picked, but was wondering about any "updates" on previous couples. Besdies Trista and Ryan, did they talk about anyone else?
When they showed "never before seen" clips, you see Moana interacting with the girls in a friendlier way.
