Ali from 'The Bachelor' (ABC)

“I have like the most impossible decision to make right now,” Ali told The Bachelor star Jake Pavelka before the rose ceremony. “I just found out that I have to choose between staying here and going back to work.”

Ali pushed Pavelka to give her a reason to choose him over her job. “I can’t believe that I have to make this decision, I haven’t made up my mind. The reason I’m here, coming to you right now, is because I wanted to let you know, and I’ll need you to help me,” Ali said.

Pavelka refused to be tied down to any kind of commitment, despite his seemingly strong emotional response to her announcement. “I can’t right now guarantee you that I’m going to put a ring on your finger, but I can’t look you in the eye and tell you that I’m not going to,” he said.

With no commitment from Pavelka, Ali decided she had to return home to keep her job. Pavelka said he was wrecked when Ali walked out. “When she told me she was leaving, my heart stopped,” Pavelka wrote on his People blog. “I wish I could’ve had Mike Tyson punch me square in the jaw, because it would have felt so much better than what I feeling as I watched AliCat drive away that night.”

If Ali does come crawling back, proclaiming she was totally wrong for choosing her job over Jake and proclaiming that he is more important than anything else in her life – wouldn’t that just be the perfect set up for Ali to end up taking the final rose? Or it could be a nice staging for Pavelka to go all dramatic on Ali about her walking out on him and send her packing off for good – that would make for good TV too. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

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Bachelor Jake Pavelka (ABC)

Jake Pavelka first sent home 30-year-old hair stylist Ella and 26-year-old flight attendant Kathryn. After a shared date with both ladies, he told Ella that although she was “truly the complete package,” he was “developing feelings that are just a little bit stronger for some of the other women.” As for Kathryn, Pavelka said his heart was telling him he was just not the guy for her.

As both girls exited, Pavelka threw the roses in the fire and said, “I know in my heart that neither Kathryn nor Ella was the right girl for me.” We kind of feel bad about Ella leaving, she honestly seemed like she might be a tiny bit more than a shallow, vapid, cardboard cutout excuse for a human being. Not something we can say about most of the other girls on the show.

The big shock came during the rose ceremony at the conclusion of the show. Jake Pavelka asked if he could choose to send home two more ladies instead of just one. Host Chris Harrison told him he could do what he felt was best.

Pavelka promptly sent home 25-year-old cosmetic sales manager Jessie and 25-year-old account manager Ashleigh. Oddly enough, Pavelka kept 25-year-old Vienna, a choice that annoyed some of the other ladies. “Why Vienna?” Jessie asked. “He shocked everyone in there… I think he’ll regret it.”

Four ladies get the boot (ABC)

Ashleigh was seriously pissed by the choice, saying that if “he can’t see what kind of person Vienna is over me, then I pity him.”

We kind of have to agree there. We’d have booted Vienna out the first chance we got. That woman comes across as a viper just waiting to sink her poisonous teeth into someone.

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Jake Pavelka

Pavelka blogged about the first night and first elimination round of the new Bachelor — dubbed The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love — season on People.com. “The evening just flew by. There were some extremely wonderful and memorable women that went home the first night but after the evening was over, I was very confident that I had made great choices.”

“I am genuinely here to find my best friend, fall in love and get married,” Pavelka told the ladies when they arrived. At the first Rose Ceremony, Pavelka expressed regret for having to send some of the ladies home. “This is really, really tough. I want to say tonight if you don’t receive a rose, it’s nothing personal. I thank each and every one of you for being yourself.”

While in general we find The Bachelor to be rather insipid television fodder, Pavelka actually comes across as kind of a nice guy. Of course, television can always be deceiving, but we wish him luck in finding that perfect girl for the final rose.

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