Kari Fajen, the 27-year-old advertising executive from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, was one of the three women eliminated from The Bachelor this Monday. Today, Kari spoke with members of the press in a telephone conference call today to reflect on her experiences on the show.
Kari was left roseless after the Rose Ceremony on Monday night. In her exit interview, she said that she came to show to fall in love with Jason, but mused that perhaps things would have turned out differently if she had let herself be more open and flirty with Bachelor Jason Mesnick. If she got a chance to do it over again, “I think I would have been more creative [in selling myself],” she said, citing Jillian’s hot dog theory as a creative way to get noticed.
Kari was one of the women selected to go on the big group date with Jason, in which they made casts of their torsos to raise money for the Keep Abreast Foundation. As she mentioned on the show, her step-sister Ginger had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and Kari was grateful for the opportunity to give back to an organization to help cancer patients. She reports that Ginger is in good health and is back at work.
Kari found that she had more of a chance to be herself on the group date because neither Natalie nor Lauren was there. “I was just intimidated by Natalie and Lauren because they are outgoing. I was a little bit more reserved,” she said, explaining that she is not accustomed to sharing a guy on a date.
Although there are some women on the show who seem to thrive on causing drama, Kari seemed to be a very stable, mature competitor who got along well with everybody. In the season premiere, when the women were asked to vote out one of their own, she voted for Erica because “she was kind of loud that night, and I thought, ‘I don’t know if [she and Jason] would be good together.’” But she ended up becoming very close with Erica after getting to know her better.
She was surprised that Megan didn’t get the boot as well in this week’s episode of The Bachelor because of all the drama she was causing in the house, but Kari admits, “I definitely did see the connection [between Megan and Jason].”
Kari is back home now, working at her advertising firm and catching up with friends. Although she is back to her normal routine, she still plans to continue watching the rest of the season of The Bachelor. Now that she’s out of the running, she’s rooting for Stephanie to win. “She’s a sweet girl, and she was my roommate on the show,” Kari said.
-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
