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2008 Dexter graduate Lauren Himle was recently a contestant on the 2016 season of The Bachelor
By Katie Fischer & Taylor Smith
We all have seen the reality shows on TV, and have most likely imagined what it would be like to be on the show. Lauren Himle doesn’t have to imagine any longer.
Himle, a 2008 graduate of Dexter High School, was nominated by her friends, family, and coworkers to go on The Bachelor. Himle went through a long audition process where she traveled to Los Angeles for a casting weekend, and a two-week long wait to get the call that she was on the show.
It was going to be an experience like no other. Before Himle left her parents told her “to just be [herself] and to have fun with it. It would be a great adventure if nothing else.” That wasn’t all they shared either. When it came to tips on how to act on the show they said, “be nice to the other girls [and don’t do anything that would cause for a black box over any part of your body.” Eager to meet Ben Higgins and possibly fall in love Himle went and was filmed on the show.
Himle and 28 other women met Ben for the first time when they stepped out of the limo on January 4. Each girl greeted Ben in their own clever way. Himle tossed him a bouquet of flowers she had caught at a wedding a few weeks prior to The Bachelor.
Each week on The Bachelor, Ben asked out one of the girls on the show to go on a one-on-one date . When Ben asked her on a date, they were invited to walk the runway in front of millions showing off outfits in the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
“My one-on-one date was so fun!” Himle said. “It was very nerve racking to walk the runway, and I actually was really bad at it at first. Ben was great, of course, and natural throughout it all. I was just trying not to throw up or fall. It was also great to actually spend some time getting to know Ben,” Himle said.
The one-on-one dates were the only time the girls got to spend alone time with Ben.
“Barely any at all,” Himle said regarding her individual time with Ben. “On group dates, most of your time is spent doing whatever activity you’re participating in. And during the cocktail parties after the day portion, time is split amongst all of the women, so time is very limited.”
The girls got to know one another on a personal level as they spent more time with each other than with him. “I got along with everyone well,” Himle said. “Even though it looks like some of the women are crazy, they’re all real, genuine people who are generally kind to one another. I was close with Leah especially.”
To be apart of the show, the contestants had to follow a strict set of rules and regulations. “We weren’t really allowed to leave the hotel suite at all unless we were with a handler or producer going to do an interview,” Himle said. “We also had zero contact to the outside world; no TV, no movies, nothing.”
In the end, Himle did not win Ben’s heart, but she left with an experience she won’t forget.
“The best part of being on the show is definitely the friendships you make with the girls,” she said. “You spend every waking moment with them for the entire time you’re away, so you get super close. Also getting to experience so many awesome things you’d never experience in real life is something I’m so grateful for. The hardest thing is definitely the emotional roller coaster you go through during filming. Being there is absolutely a pressure cooker for crazy feelings, both good and bad.”
While she enjoyed her time, she said she would never go on The Bachelor again.
“It was too stressful, and the odds are so stacked against you to find love that way. Even though I definitely don’t regret it at all, I just don’t have another season in me. But I would go on Bachelor in Paradise if I was really interested in one of the rejected contestants from The
Bachelorette, and if it made sense in my career to do so.”
