The Bachelor's Emily Manyard's Tragic Past

This week on The Bachelor we finally heard the sad secret that Emily had been holding back from telling anyone, not the girls or The Bachelor, Brad Womack.

That is the one love of Emily's life, on the left, NASCAR driver Ricky Hendricks, killed in an airplane crash on October 24, 2004, along with seven other family members and friends.

Emily did not go with Ricky that day. Staying behind because she felt ill. Later that day Emily learned Ricky's plane had crashed into Bull Mountain on its way to the Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. The crash was due to pilot error caused by a heavy fog.

A few days later Emily found out she was pregnant, giving birth in June of 2005 to Josephine "Rikki" Hendrick.

I believe Emily was 18 at the time Ricky died, 19 when the baby was born.

Emily telling her sad story had a profound effect on the other seekers of love, eventually causing the one with vampire fangs to leave. Which sort of made me think she was the best catch in the house.

Brad picked Emily for one of those coveted one on one dates. It was upon learning this that Emily told the other girls her story and her trepidation about telling Brad.

On their date the pair flew north to a California vineyard. Upon arrival there was a lot of awkwardness with Emily acting all reticent and Brad being a bit frustrated.

Then, later, while having dinner, Emily told Brad her sad story.

And that is where it got weird for me. Emily told Brad her story pretty much verbatim, word for word, precisely how she told it to the girls. I found that so odd.

Brad was properly empathetic and sympathetic. And gave Emily one of those coveted sacred roses.

I like Emily. How could you not? But, that verbatim retelling of her story troubles me. Why? I really don't know.

I can't believe I'm entertained by watching this trainwreck. This would not be possible were it not for the invention of the DVR and the Fast Forward button.

And I have to say, Brad Womack, well, is this guy good marriage/breeding material? Have we heard him have an actual conversation? Do these people actually ever actually talk about anything? But that damn journey they are all on?

Methinks it would make for some high hilarity television if Brad were to ask each of the girls for her opinion about Obama's Health Care Reform. Or what they thought the response to North Korea's bad behavior should be. And what about the rise of China? What do you think of that? How many kids would you think it wise to have in our current troubled economic times?

Anyway. Emily for the win? Probably not. Is marrying Brad winning? Probably not.