While I don’t think James Case is going to make the final two on “The Bachelorette” (though I could easily be proven wrong), after last week’s one-on-one date, he established himself as a guy who just might be able to win Des’ heart for at least a little while. While the Chicago-based ad executive’s confession of cheating on a longterm girlfriend may have cooled her jets, she appreciated his honesty, and on this show that’s got to count for something. In a conference call with reporters, James talked about his helicopter tour over Superstorm Sandy devastation, why he isn’t jumping at “The Bachelor” just yet, and why he decided to confess his past to Des.
Though most people wouldn’t be overly excited about a date that included looking at storm-ravaged New Jersey and eating in a pizza joint, James said it was the perfect one-on-one for him and Des. “I was very excited. Des and I had been talking throughout the episodes, and I think she felt like the type of person I was. The Mr. America thing was a wonderful experience, but I come from an urban planning background, so I think she felt my heart and who I was. I was excited to be able to share that with her.”
As to why he confessed his cheating past, he said, “I’m a very honest, straightforward person, so it was a big part of my life. We were talking about relationships in general, and I explained to her one of the reasons I came onto the show, as a man, I know what I want in life now… I thought I should disclose that to her and I did.”
But, as those who watch the promos for the show know, it seems as if next week’s episode reveals reasons to suspect James is on the show for (gasp!) the wrong reasons. While he wasn’t able to answer questions about this directly, he did say, “I just hope people will judge me on my merits and who I am and what they see so far. You just have to roll with the punches. It’s just hard to answer some of these questions. Stay tuned, right?”
While some guys say they clamored to be on the show, James was actually recruited. “I was approached when I walked into the office here,” he said from his Chicago base. “I’d just taken a job at BankRate… I love what I do and I’m very blessed to be in the position that I am, and I didn’t want to affect that.” Still he decided to take a chance on love. “I talked to my parents about it. I’m single, and it’s hard to find a woman to date here, what with work. There [are] multiple reasons why I chose to go on the show. The whole experience in itself, it’s crazy. I got to travel the world, I got to do a lot of things people aren’t able to do and I had an awesome time.”
He also, as we know, had a bubble bath. “We were having some fun,” he explained. “All the guys were out of the house, I was enjoying… all of the testosterone out of the house.”
Speaking of the guys, he claims he got along with everyone famously — even Ben. “Everybody comes in to this show with a strategy, I would say. I think a majority of us just came in to see if we could find love, and I think Ben came in with a different approach, but who’s to say he’s wrong? He wasn’t there to make friends. He was there to find love. I think he just approached it a little bit wrong. Des has to be the judge of everybody’s character. Her intuition is very very strong.”
Still, he did cryptically hint at some drama on the show. “These are experiences, people have to understand, you’re trying to date one girl and there’s 20 something guys. The first few weeks, you don’t think of it, but it’s a competition. And then feelings really get all over the place. Things start to happen. If you’re not strong with your character and have a good sense of self, you can destroy yourself in a certain way, and people might start talking bad about someone else. It’s a competition, and the feelings start to get mixed around. But at the end of the day, everyone’s going to be friends.” Huh.
His best friends on the show were Mikey T. and Michael G., with whom he bonded over fitness issues. “Mikey is one funny guy and so is Mike G. I think I was asked in an interview about health and food, and Mike G. is a real funny guy, smart guy, so I said something to him about protein. And he was like, I would have named every single protein atom in the body, and he [proceeded to list them.0 I just fell out of the floor laughing. Mikey came in, and [we’re] just listening to him rattling off all these scientic words.” I guess you had to be there.
So, if James doesn’t get the girl, who does he hope (or at least suspect) will? “I feel like there’s a lot of attention to Brooks. I think she’s a smart girl, and I think she’ll pick the right person. But I think it might be Brooks. She’s looking for a good honest man, a Christian man, a loving person who has ambition, who has family values. Those are the top feelings I got from her.”